head to head · open source
Mastodon vs Ech0
Mastodon has 50,465 GitHub stars, 7,536 forks, 4,525 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ech0 has 2,085 stars, 161 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mastodon leads on adoption by 2,320% (50,465 vs 2,085 stars). Mastodon is written in Ruby under AGPL-3.0; Ech0 is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. Mastodon has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Ech0 8%. Mastodon was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (microblog, social-network), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | Ech0 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.5K | ⑂ 161 |
| 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 Ech0 if
- You want the Ech0 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Ech0 fits your workflow better
About Mastodon
[!NOTE] Want to learn more about Mastodon? Click below to find out more in a video. Mastodon is a free, open source social network server based on ActivityPub where users can follow friends and discover new ones. On Mastodon, users can publish anything they want: links, pictures, text, and video. All Mastodon servers are interoperable as a federated network (users on one server can seamlessly communicate with users from another one, including non Mastodon software that implements ActivityPub!) Navigation Project homepage 🐘 Donate to support development 🎁 View sponsors Blog 📰 Documentation 📚 Official…
read the full Mastodon overview →
About Ech0
Ech0 Preview · Official Site & Documentation · Releases · Ech0 Hub A self hosted personal microblog where your timeline can be shared, discussed, and fully owned. Tools like Memos are great for capturing quick thoughts. Ech0 is built for what comes next: publishing those ideas to a personal timeline that others can follow and interact with. Run it on your own server, keep full control of your content, and keep a personal space that still feels connected through optional comments and sharing. It stays lightweight, easy to deploy, and fully open source. Great fit if you want to: run a personal public or semi…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mastodon or Ech0 more popular?
Mastodon has 50,465 GitHub stars and Ech0 has 2,085. Mastodon has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mastodon and Ech0 free?
Both are open source. Mastodon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Ech0 under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mastodon and Ech0?
Mastodon is written in Ruby and Ech0 in Go. 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 Ech0?
Choose Mastodon if you want the larger community (50,465 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Ech0 if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.