head to head · open source
owncast vs Maskbook
owncast has 11,644 GitHub stars, 1,195 forks, 165 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. Maskbook has 1,588 stars, 315 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 17 days ago. owncast leads on adoption by 633% (11,644 vs 1,588 stars). owncast is written in Go under MIT; Maskbook is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. owncast has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Maskbook 20%. owncast 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
| owncast | Maskbook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-26 | 2026-10-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.2K | ⑂ 315 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick owncast if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Maskbook if
- You want the Maskbook 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 Maskbook fits your workflow better
About owncast
Take control over your content and stream it yourself. Explore the docs » View Demo · FAQ · Report Bug · Report Security Issue Table of Contents 📒 About the Project 🚀 Getting Started 👨💻 Use with your broadcasting software 🛠 Building from source 🚨 Important note about source code and the develop branch 🗄️ Backend ⚛️ Frontend 👏 Contributing 💵 Donors Security 📝 License Contact About The Project Owncast is an open source, self hosted, decentralized, single user live video streaming and chat server for running your own live streams similar in style to the large mainstream options. It offers complete…
read the full owncast overview →
About Maskbook
Mask Network [![GitHub license][badge license]][license] [![Join the chat at [![Chrome Web Store][badge chrome]][client chrome] [![Mozilla Add on][badge firefox]][client firefox] [![Opera][badge opera]][client opera] [![FOSSA Status][badge fossa]][fossa] [![Crowdin][badge crowdin]][crowdin] Mask Network is a portal to the new, open internet, that bridge from Web2.0 to Web3.0 . With Mask Network, you can send encrypted posts to your friends, trade your best token on X (formerly Twitter), enjoy NFT pfps, participate in crypto lucky draws, and share encrypted files on the platforms you are already using. For…
read the full Maskbook overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is owncast or Maskbook more popular?
owncast has 11,644 GitHub stars and Maskbook has 1,588. owncast has the larger community by that measure.
Are owncast and Maskbook free?
Both are open source. owncast is licensed under MIT and Maskbook under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between owncast and Maskbook?
owncast is written in Go and Maskbook 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, owncast or Maskbook?
Choose owncast if you want the larger community (11,644 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Maskbook if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.