head to head · open source
Mastodon vs deltachat-desktop
Mastodon has 50,299 GitHub stars, 7,498 forks, 4,525 open issues and last shipped yesterday. deltachat-desktop has 1,614 stars, 246 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mastodon leads on adoption by 3,016% (50,299 vs 1,614 stars). Mastodon is written in Ruby under AGPL-3.0; deltachat-desktop is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. Mastodon has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, deltachat-desktop 15%. deltachat-desktop 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
| Mastodon | deltachat-desktop | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.5K | ⑂ 246 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mastodon if
- You weight community size — 50K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick deltachat-desktop if
- You want the deltachat-desktop feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and deltachat-desktop fits your workflow better
About Mastodon
Mastodon is a free, open source, self hosted social network server built on ActivityPub that lets anyone run a microblogging community which interoperates with the wider Fediverse, and it is aimed at individuals, communities, and organisations that want to own their social graph instead of renting it from a platform.
read the full Mastodon overview →
About deltachat-desktop
Delta Chat Desktop is the desktop application for delta.chat, an open source decentralized private messenger. The repository is written in TypeScript, licensed under GPL 3.0, and offers an Electron default, a browser edition, and a work in progress Tauri edition. Its public description presents it as a messenger with chat shared tools and games for desktop use.
read the full deltachat-desktop overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mastodon or deltachat-desktop more popular?
Mastodon has 50,299 GitHub stars and deltachat-desktop has 1,614. Mastodon has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mastodon and deltachat-desktop free?
Both are open source. Mastodon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and deltachat-desktop under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mastodon and deltachat-desktop?
Mastodon is written in Ruby and deltachat-desktop 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, Mastodon or deltachat-desktop?
Choose Mastodon if you want the larger community (50,299 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose deltachat-desktop if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.