Takahe vs Wafrn
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Takahe | Wafrn |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 18 · At risk | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,172 | ★ 283 |
| First released | 2022 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Twitter, Mastodon | Tumblr, Twitter |
What are Takahe and Wafrn?
Takahe
Takahe is an ActivityPub server that can host multiple domains and identities from a single deployment. It is designed for those who want to run several fediverse personas without separate installations.
- Multi-domain hosting
- Multiple identities per user
- Stateless workers
- ActivityPub federation
Wafrn
Wafrn is an open-source, federated social network with a Tumblr-inspired reblog-and-tag experience. It connects to the fediverse over ActivityPub so users can interact with Mastodon and other servers.
- Tumblr-style reblogs
- Tag-based discovery
- Fediverse federation
- Custom themes
Takahe vs Wafrn: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Wafrn's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Takahe is actively maintained. Takahe is written in Python, while Wafrn is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for Takahe versus AGPL-3.0 for Wafrn. Takahe has the considerably larger community, at 1,172 GitHub stars versus 283.
Why pick each one
Choose Takahe if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Choose Wafrn if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Takahe or Wafrn better?
Neither is universally better. Takahe has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Takahe and Wafrn free and open-source?
Yes. Takahe is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Wafrn under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Takahe and Wafrn with Docker?
Takahe: yes. Wafrn: yes.