head to head · open source
Mastodon vs Nora
Mastodon has 50,473 GitHub stars, 7,537 forks, 4,525 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Nora has 1,177 stars, 41 forks, 61 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mastodon leads on adoption by 4,188% (50,473 vs 1,177 stars). Mastodon is written in Ruby under AGPL-3.0; Nora is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Mastodon has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Nora 3%. 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 | Nora | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.5K | ⑂ 41 |
| 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 Nora if
- You want the Nora 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 Nora 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 Nora
Nora: SNS browser Android, iOS and Desktop browser optimized for social network services. Install from App Store, Google Play, F Droid, or download APK from GitHub. Nora Desktop features a deck view to easily browse multiple timelines. Linux, macOS, Windows versions are available. Features No ads Multiple accounts with separate cookie storage Blocklist (EasyList and EasyPrivacy) Download image Download fb/ig/tiktok/x video Select text Zoom Remove tracking url query params Customize with CSS Supported SNS Bluesky Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Reddit Threads TikTok Tumblr VK X (Twitter) How it works Wrap the SNS…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mastodon or Nora more popular?
Mastodon has 50,473 GitHub stars and Nora has 1,177. Mastodon has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mastodon and Nora free?
Both are open source. Mastodon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Nora under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mastodon and Nora?
Mastodon is written in Ruby and Nora 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 Nora?
Choose Mastodon if you want the larger community (50,473 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Nora if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.