head to head · open source
Bluesky vs pump.io
Bluesky has 18,295 GitHub stars, 2,837 forks, 2,400 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pump.io has 2,238 stars, 328 forks, 679 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Bluesky leads on adoption by 717% (18,295 vs 2,238 stars). Bluesky is written in TypeScript under MIT; pump.io is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. Bluesky has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, pump.io 15%. 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 | pump.io | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-02-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.8K | ⑂ 328 |
| 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 pump.io if
- You want the pump.io feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and pump.io 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 pump.io
pump.io is a social server and stream server written in JavaScript for Node.js, and it lives in the open source ActivityStreams and social networking ecosystem. The project provides an ActivityStreams API, uses activitystrea.ms JSON as the main data and command format, and includes a web interface. Its documented purpose is to let a person post something and have followers see it, while also exposing social data in a machine readable form.
read the full pump.io overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Bluesky or pump.io more popular?
Bluesky has 18,295 GitHub stars and pump.io has 2,238. Bluesky has the larger community by that measure.
Are Bluesky and pump.io free?
Both are open source. Bluesky is licensed under MIT and pump.io under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Bluesky and pump.io?
Bluesky is written in TypeScript and pump.io in JavaScript. 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 pump.io?
Choose Bluesky if you want the larger community (18,295 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pump.io if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.