head to head · open source
Bluesky vs Nora
Bluesky has 18,295 GitHub stars, 2,837 forks, 2,400 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Nora has 1,092 stars, 36 forks, 61 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Bluesky leads on adoption by 1,575% (18,295 vs 1,092 stars). Bluesky is written in TypeScript under MIT; Nora is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Bluesky has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Nora 3%. 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 | Nora | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.8K | ⑂ 36 |
| 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 Nora if
- You want the Nora feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Nora fits your workflow better
About Bluesky
Bluesky is the open source social application codebase for the Bluesky Social app. It lives in the AT Protocol ecosystem, also called atproto, and it is written in TypeScript as a React Native application. The project provides client code for Web, iOS, and Android, and it builds on open source atproto packages such as @atproto/api, which live in a separate repository.
read the full Bluesky overview →
About Nora
Nora is an SNS browser for Android, iOS, and desktop that pulls Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Threads, X, and other social networks into a single ad free app, aimed at people who want to read and post across several networks without installing a separate client for each one.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Bluesky or Nora more popular?
Bluesky has 18,295 GitHub stars and Nora has 1,092. Bluesky has the larger community by that measure.
Are Bluesky and Nora free?
Both are open source. Bluesky is licensed under MIT and Nora under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Bluesky and Nora?
Bluesky is written in TypeScript and Nora in TypeScript. 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 Nora?
Choose Bluesky if you want the larger community (18,295 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Nora if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.