head to head · open source
owncast vs Maskbook
owncast has 11,543 GitHub stars, 1,180 forks, 165 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Maskbook has 1,584 stars, 316 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. owncast leads on adoption by 629% (11,543 vs 1,584 stars). owncast is written in Go under MIT; Maskbook is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. owncast has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Maskbook 20%. owncast 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
| owncast | Maskbook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.2K | ⑂ 316 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick owncast if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Maskbook if
- You want the Maskbook 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 Maskbook fits your workflow better
About owncast
Owncast is an open source, self hosted, single user live video streaming and chat server written in Go, with a React frontend, released under the MIT license. It positions itself as a way to run your own live streams in a style similar to the large mainstream streaming services, while keeping complete ownership over your content, interface, moderation, and audience. The project lives in the fediverse: its topic list covers ActivityPub, federation, and decentralized networking, placing it alongside other federated social software rather than inside a proprietary platform.
read the full owncast overview →
About Maskbook
Maskbook is open source browser extension. It is TypeScript project. It carries AGPL 3.0 license. It sits in Community & Social / Social Networking. It presents itself as portal to new, open Internet. It bridges Web2.0 to Web3.0. It targets social platforms people already use. It adds encrypted posting, encrypted file sharing, NFT profile picture use, token trading on X (formerly Twitter), crypto lucky draws. It uses topics: arweave, blockchain, browser extension, crypto, cryptography, defi, dweb, encryption, ethereum, gundb, ipfs, nft. It has 1582 stars, 316 forks, 4 open issues. Repo age 7 years. Last push 2026…
read the full Maskbook overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is owncast or Maskbook more popular?
owncast has 11,543 GitHub stars and Maskbook has 1,584. owncast has the larger community by that measure.
Are owncast and Maskbook free?
Both are open source. owncast is licensed under MIT and Maskbook under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between owncast and Maskbook?
owncast is written in Go and Maskbook 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, owncast or Maskbook?
Choose owncast if you want the larger community (11,543 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Maskbook if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.