head to head · open source
Mastodon vs Nora
Mastodon has 50,299 GitHub stars, 7,498 forks, 4,525 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Nora has 1,092 stars, 36 forks, 61 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Mastodon leads on adoption by 4,506% (50,299 vs 1,092 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 | ★ 1.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.5K | ⑂ 36 |
| 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
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 Nora
Nora is an SNS browser for Android, iOS, and desktop that pulls Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Threads, X, and other social networks into a single ad free app, aimed at people who want to read and post across several networks without installing a separate client for each one.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mastodon or Nora more popular?
Mastodon has 50,299 GitHub stars and Nora has 1,092. 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 (50,299 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.