head to head · open source
Mastodon vs MaterialAbout
Mastodon has 50,299 GitHub stars, 7,498 forks, 4,525 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MaterialAbout has 1,511 stars, 208 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Mastodon leads on adoption by 3,229% (50,299 vs 1,511 stars). Mastodon is written in Ruby under AGPL-3.0; MaterialAbout is written in Java under MIT. Mastodon has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, MaterialAbout 14%. 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 | MaterialAbout | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-03-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.5K | ⑂ 208 |
| 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 MaterialAbout if
- You want the MaterialAbout feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and MaterialAbout 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 MaterialAbout
MaterialAbout is an Android library written in Java and released under the MIT license. It provides a material design about screen for Android apps, combining a developer profile and application information. The project lives in the Android ecosystem and is intended for mobile developers.
read the full MaterialAbout overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mastodon or MaterialAbout more popular?
Mastodon has 50,299 GitHub stars and MaterialAbout has 1,511. Mastodon has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mastodon and MaterialAbout free?
Both are open source. Mastodon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and MaterialAbout under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mastodon and MaterialAbout?
Mastodon is written in Ruby and MaterialAbout in Java. 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 MaterialAbout?
Choose Mastodon if you want the larger community (50,299 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose MaterialAbout if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.