head to head · open source
Mastodon vs Maskbook
Mastodon has 50,465 GitHub stars, 7,536 forks, 4,525 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Maskbook has 1,588 stars, 315 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. Mastodon leads on adoption by 3,078% (50,465 vs 1,588 stars). Mastodon is written in Ruby under AGPL-3.0; Maskbook is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Mastodon has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Maskbook 20%. Mastodon 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 | Maskbook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.5K | ⑂ 315 |
| 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 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 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 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 Mastodon or Maskbook more popular?
Mastodon has 50,465 GitHub stars and Maskbook has 1,588. Mastodon has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mastodon and Maskbook free?
Both are open source. Mastodon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Maskbook under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mastodon and Maskbook?
Mastodon is written in Ruby 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, Mastodon or Maskbook?
Choose Mastodon if you want the larger community (50,465 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Maskbook if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.