head to head · open source
Bluesky vs Pixelfed
Bluesky has 18,295 GitHub stars, 2,837 forks, 2,400 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pixelfed has 7,102 stars, 880 forks, 116 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bluesky leads on adoption by 158% (18,295 vs 7,102 stars). Bluesky is written in TypeScript under MIT; Pixelfed is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. Bluesky has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Pixelfed 12%. Pixelfed 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Bluesky | Pixelfed | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 7.1K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.8K | ⑂ 880 |
| 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 Pixelfed if
- You want the Pixelfed feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Pixelfed 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 Pixelfed
Pixelfed is an open source, ad free photo sharing platform written in PHP and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It is built on the Laravel framework and lives in the fediverse, the federated social web, communicating with other servers through the ActivityPub protocol. The project describes itself as photo sharing "the way it should be," letting casual shots and creative photography find an audience without algorithmic barriers.
read the full Pixelfed overview →
More in Community & Social
Related comparisons
More Social Networking projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Social Networking field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bluesky or Pixelfed more popular?
Bluesky has 18,295 GitHub stars and Pixelfed has 7,102. Bluesky has the larger community by that measure.
Are Bluesky and Pixelfed free?
Both are open source. Bluesky is licensed under MIT and Pixelfed under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Bluesky and Pixelfed?
Bluesky is written in TypeScript and Pixelfed in PHP. 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 Pixelfed?
Choose Bluesky if you want the larger community (18,295 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Pixelfed if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.