head to head · open source
Bluesky vs amethyst
Bluesky has 18,364 GitHub stars, 2,872 forks, 2,400 open issues and last shipped yesterday. amethyst has 1,617 stars, 227 forks, 114 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bluesky leads on adoption by 1,036% (18,364 vs 1,617 stars). Bluesky is written in TypeScript under MIT; amethyst is written in Kotlin under MIT. Bluesky has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, amethyst 14%. Bluesky was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Bluesky | amethyst | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 227 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Bluesky if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick amethyst if
- You want the amethyst feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and amethyst fits your workflow better
About Bluesky
Bluesky Social App Welcome friends! This is the codebase for the Bluesky Social app. Get the app itself: Web: bsky.app iOS: App Store Android: Play Store Development Resources This is a React Native application, written in the TypeScript programming language. It builds on the atproto TypeScript packages (like @atproto/api ), which are also open source, but in a different git repository. There is a small amount of Go language source code (in ./bskyweb/ ), for a web service that returns the React Native Web application. The Build Instructions are a good place to get started with the app itself. The Authenticated…
read the full Bluesky overview →
About amethyst
Amethyst Nostr Client for Android Join the social network you control. Download and Install Android Desktop Coming soon (separate PR): Scoop (Windows), AUR (Arch Linux). Build from source: see BUILDING.md. Install troubleshooting (Gatekeeper / SmartScreen / AppImage): see BUILDING.md § Troubleshooting installs. Verifying the APK signature If you sideload Amethyst (Obtainium, GitHub Releases, Zap Store), verify that your APK is signed by the official release key before installing. All official Amethyst APKs — both the googleplay and fdroid flavors — are signed with the same certificate, whose SHA 256 fingerprint…
read the full amethyst overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Bluesky or amethyst more popular?
Bluesky has 18,364 GitHub stars and amethyst has 1,617. Bluesky has the larger community by that measure.
Are Bluesky and amethyst free?
Both are open source. Bluesky is licensed under MIT and amethyst under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Bluesky and amethyst?
Bluesky is written in TypeScript and amethyst in Kotlin. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Bluesky or amethyst?
Choose Bluesky if you want the larger community (18,364 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose amethyst if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.