head to head · open source
misskey vs Pixelfed
misskey has 11,326 GitHub stars, 1,615 forks, 2,535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pixelfed has 7,105 stars, 881 forks, 116 open issues and last shipped yesterday. misskey leads on adoption by 59% (11,326 vs 7,105 stars). misskey is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Pixelfed is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. misskey has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, Pixelfed 12%. misskey was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (activitypub, federation, fediverse), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| misskey | Pixelfed | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 11K | ★ 7.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 881 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick misskey if
- You weight community size — 11K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Pixelfed if
- You want the Pixelfed 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 Pixelfed fits your workflow better
About misskey
Misskey is an open source, federated social media platform that is free forever, released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It is written in TypeScript and lives in the fediverse, the network of interoperable social platforms built on the ActivityPub protocol. The project has been developed for roughly ten years and carries the topics activitypub, federation, fediverse, microblog, and misskey. Its homepage and documentation hub is hosted at misskey hub.net.
read the full misskey overview →
About Pixelfed
Pixelfed is an open source, ad free photo sharing platform written in PHP and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It is built on the Laravel framework and lives in the fediverse, the federated social web, communicating with other servers through the ActivityPub protocol. The project describes itself as photo sharing "the way it should be," letting casual shots and creative photography find an audience without algorithmic barriers.
read the full Pixelfed overview →
More in Community & Social
Related comparisons
More Social Networking projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Social Networking field.
Frequently asked questions
Is misskey or Pixelfed more popular?
misskey has 11,326 GitHub stars and Pixelfed has 7,105. misskey has the larger community by that measure.
Are misskey and Pixelfed free?
Both are open source. misskey is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Pixelfed under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between misskey and Pixelfed?
misskey is written in TypeScript and Pixelfed 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, misskey or Pixelfed?
Choose misskey if you want the larger community (11,326 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Pixelfed if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.