head to head · open source
Mastodon vs social
Mastodon has 50,312 GitHub stars, 7,503 forks, 4,525 open issues and last shipped today. social has 503 stars, 59 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mastodon leads on adoption by 9,902% (50,312 vs 503 stars). Mastodon is written in Ruby under AGPL-3.0; social is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. Mastodon has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, social 12%. Mastodon was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (activitypub, fediverse, mastodon, 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 | social | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 503 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-22 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.5K | ⑂ 59 |
| 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 social if
- You want the social feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and social 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 social
Nextcloud Social is an AGPL 3.0 Nextcloud app that turns an existing Nextcloud instance into a Fediverse server, giving every user a @[email protected] identity that people on Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, GoToSocial and Akkoma can follow, mention and reply to.
read the full social overview →
More in Community & Social
Related comparisons
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Compare either of these against the rest of the Social Networking field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mastodon or social more popular?
Mastodon has 50,312 GitHub stars and social has 503. Mastodon has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mastodon and social free?
Both are open source. Mastodon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and social under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mastodon and social?
Mastodon is written in Ruby and social in PHP. 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 social?
Choose Mastodon if you want the larger community (50,312 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose social if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.