Comparison of Fediverse software

This article is a draft! A lot of info might still be missing and the page might change at any time.

Basic info

Main medium	Type	Based on	Name	Links
				Homepage	Wikipedia (en)	Fedi observer	FediDB	FediParty
Text	Microblogging	Mastodon	Mastodon	joinmastodon.org	Mastodon (social network)	mastodon	mastodon	mastodon
			Ecko	magicstone.dev		ecko	ecko
			Fedibird			fedibird	fedibird
			Glitch-soc	glitch-soc.github.io/docs
			Hometown			hometown	hometown
			koyu.space
			Smalltown
		Pleroma	Pleroma	pleroma.social		pleroma	pleroma	pleroma
			Akkoma	akkoma.social		akkoma	akkoma
		Misskey	Misskey	misskey-hub.net		misskey	misskey	misskey
			Firefish	joinfirefish.org		firefish	firefish	firefish
			FoundKey
		GNU social	GNU social	gnusocial.rocks	GNU social	gnusocial	gnusocial	gnusocial
		GoToSocial	GoToSocial	gotosocial.org		gotosocial	gotosocial
		Pump.io	Pump.io	pump.io	Pump.io
		Identi.ca	Identi.ca		Identi.ca
		Takahē	Takahē	jointakahe.org		takahē
		Epicyon	Epicyon	epicyon.net		epicyon
		Micro.blog	Micro.blog	micro.blog	Micro.blog
		Tumblr	Tumblr	tumblr.com	Tumblr	Centralised
		Bonfire	Bonfire	bonfirenetworks.org
		Swanye	Swanye
		Threads	Threads	threads.net	Threads (social network)	Centralised
	Social Network	Friendica	Friendica	friendi.ca	Friendica	Friendica	Friendica	Friendica
		diaspora*	diaspora*	diasporafoundation.org	Diaspora (software)	diaspora
			Acropolis
		Friendica Red Matrix Osada Zap... Roadhouse	(streams)	None, only code repository		Intentionally absent, impossible to crawl
		SocialHome	Socialhome			socialhome
		Honk	Honk	tedunangst.com/honk		honk
	Multi-purpose	Friendica Red Matrix	Hubzilla	hubzilla.org		Hubzilla	Hubzilla	Hubzilla
	Blogging	WriteFreely	WriteFreely	writefreely.org		writefreely
		Plume	Plume	joinplu.me		plume
	Website (CMS)	WordPress	WordPress	wordpress.org
		Drupal	Drupal	drupal.org	Drupal
Links & other	Content aggregation	Lemmy	Lemmy	join-lemmy.org		lemmy
		/kbin	Kbin	kbin.pub		/kbin	/kbin
Images	Photoblogging	Pixelfed	Pixelfed	pixelfed.org	Pixelfed	pixelfed	pixelfed	pixelfed
		Flickr	Flickr	flickr.com	Flickr	Centralised
Videos	Video hosting	PeerTube	PeerTube	joinpeertube.org	PeerTube	peertube	peertube	peertube
	Video streaming	Owncast	Owncast	owncast.online
	Video blogging	Goldfish	Goldfish
Audio	Audio Hosting	Funkwhale	Funkwhale	funkwhale.audio		funkwhale
		Castopod	CastoPod	castopod.org
		reel2bits	reel2bits	reel2bits.org
Events	Event Planning	Mobilizon	Mobilizon	mobilizon.org	Mobilizon	mobilizon
		Gancio	Gancio	gancio.org		gancio
Cataloguing	Book cataloguing	BookWyrm	BookWyrm	joinbookwyrm.com		bookwyrm
		Inventaire	Inventaire	inventaire.io

User interface

Name	Different Web frontends		Themes for Web frontends		Switchable dark mode	Public timelines
	for instances	for users	🎨	🔧		Local	Federated
Mastodon	✔️	✖️		✖️	Manual	✔️	✔️
Ecko	✔️	✖️		✖️	Manual	✔️	✔️
Fedibird	✔️	✖️		✖️	Manual	✔️	✔️
Glitch-soc	✔️	✖️		✖️	Manual	✔️	✔️
Hometown	✔️	✖️		✖️	Manual	✔️	✔️
koyu.space	✔️	✖️		✖️	Manual	✔️	✔️
Smalltown	✔️	✖️		✖️	Manual	✔️	✔️
Pleroma
Akkoma
Misskey
Firefish
FoundKey
GNU social
GoToSocial
Pump.io
Identi.ca
Takahē
Epicyon
Micro.blog		Single user
Tumblr	Centralised
Bonfire
Swanye
Threads	Centralised
Friendica	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
diaspora*
Acropolis
(streams)						Optional
Socialhome
Honk
Hubzilla	Currently only one supported frontend		✔️	✔️	Optionally automatic	Optional	✖️
WriteFreely					✖️	✔️
Plume
WordPress
Drupal
Lemmy
Kbin
Pixelfed
Flickr	Centralised
PeerTube
Owncast
Goldfish
Funkwhale
CastoPod
reel2bits
Mobilizon
Gancio
BookWyrm
Inventaire

Apps

Note: The Mastodon API makes it possible to use apps developed for Mastodon with a project. However, the available features will be limited to only Mastodon features included in the app.

Name	Mastodon API support	Project-specific desktop apps						Project-specific mobile apps					OAuth support
		Official	Windows	macOS	Linux		Other	Official	iOS	Android		Other	OAuth		OAuth2
					CLI	GUI				Google Play Store	F-Droid		Client	Server	Client	Server
Mastodon	✔️	✖️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️		✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	3rd-party only; SailfishOS		✖️		✖️
Ecko	✔️	✖️						✖️						✖️		✖️
Fedibird	✔️	✖️						✖️						✖️		✖️
Glitch-soc	✔️	✖️						✖️						✖️		✖️
Hometown	✔️	✖️						✖️						✖️		✖️
koyu.space	✔️	✖️						✖️						✖️		✖️
Smalltown	✔️	✖️						✖️						✖️		✖️
Pleroma		✖️
Akkoma		✖️
Misskey		✖️
Firefish		✖️
FoundKey		✖️
GNU social		✖️
GoToSocial		✖️
Pump.io		✖️
Identi.ca		✖️
Takahē		✖️
Epicyon		✖️
Micro.blog		✖️
Tumblr
Bonfire		✖️
Swanye		✖️
Threads	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✖️	✖️
Friendica	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️
diaspora*		✖️
Acropolis		✖️
(streams)	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️
Socialhome		✖️
Honk		✖️
Hubzilla	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	Defunct	Defunct	✖️	Optional	✖️	Optional	✖️
WriteFreely	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️
Plume	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️
WordPress		✖️
Drupal		✖️
Lemmy		✖️
Kbin		✖️
Pixelfed	✖️	✖️						✔️	✔️	✔️	3rd-party only
Flickr		✖️
PeerTube		✖️
Owncast		✖️
Goldfish		✖️
Funkwhale		✖️
CastoPod		✖️
reel2bits		✖️
Mobilizon		✖️
Gancio		✖️
BookWyrm		✖️
Inventaire		✖️

Accounts

Name	Multiple identities/channels per account with separate content and separate connections	Account/channel role		Account/channel verification	OpenWebAuth single sign-on
		Variable role	Preset roles		Supported	Limit to only instances with connections
Mastodon	✖️	✖️		✔️	Planned
Ecko	✖️	✖️		✔️
Fedibird	✖️	✖️		✔️
Glitch-soc	✖️	✖️		✔️
Hometown	✖️	✖️		✔️
koyu.space	✖️	✖️		✔️
Smalltown	✖️	✖️		✔️
Pleroma	✖️				✖️
Akkoma	✖️				✖️
Misskey	✖️				✖️
Firefish	✖️				✖️
FoundKey	✖️				✖️
GNU social	✖️	✖️			✖️
GoToSocial					✖️
Pump.io	✖️				✖️
Identi.ca	✖️	✖️			✖️
Takahē					✖️
Epicyon					✖️
Micro.blog					✖️
Tumblr					✖️
Bonfire					✖️
Swanye					✖️
Threads	✖️				✖️
Friendica	✖️	✔️			✔️
diaspora*	✖️	✖️			✖️
Acropolis	✖️	✖️			✖️
(streams)	Unlimited	✔️	✖️	✖️	✔️
Socialhome					✖️
Honk					✖️
Hubzilla	Unlimited	✔️	✔️	✖️	✔️	✔️
WriteFreely	✔️	✖️		✖️	✖️
Plume		✖️			✖️
WordPress					✖️
Drupal					✖️
Lemmy	✖️	✖️			✖️
Kbin	✖️	✖️			✖️
Pixelfed					✖️
Flickr					✖️
PeerTube					✖️
Owncast					✖️
Goldfish					✖️
Funkwhale					✖️
CastoPod					✖️
reel2bits					✖️
Mobilizon					✖️
Gancio					✖️
BookWyrm					✖️
Inventaire					✖️

Profiles

Name	Multiple profiles per account/channel			Profile fields
	Number	Assign to...		Number	Tag field
		Connections	Groups
Mastodon	✖️
Ecko	✖️
Fedibird	✖️
Glitch-soc	✖️
Hometown	✖️
koyu.space	✖️
Smalltown	✖️
Pleroma
Akkoma
Misskey
Firefish
FoundKey
GNU social	✖️
GoToSocial
Pump.io
Identi.ca	✖️
Takahē
Epicyon
Micro.blog
Tumblr	✖️
Bonfire
Swanye
Threads
Friendica	Unlimited
diaspora*	✖️
Acropolis	✖️
(streams)	Unlimited
Socialhome
Honk
Hubzilla	Unlimited	✔️	✖️	29 free-text fields 3 lists	✔️
WriteFreely	✖️
Plume	✖️
WordPress	✖️
Drupal	✖️
Lemmy	✖️
Kbin
Pixelfed
Flickr	✖️
PeerTube
Owncast
Goldfish
Funkwhale
CastoPod
reel2bits
Mobilizon
Gancio
BookWyrm
Inventaire

Moving

Name	Move from where			Take what with you						Account/channel import/export		Nomadic identity
	Instances of the same project	Instances with the same underlying protocol	Instances with a different underlying protocol	Posts	Profile(s)	Followed	Followers	Images, media, other files	Settings	Export	Import
Mastodon	✔️	✖️	✖️	✔️		✔️	✖️	✔️	✖️	✔️	✖️	✖️
Ecko	✔️		✖️	✔️		✔️		✔️				✖️
Fedibird	✔️		✖️	✔️		✔️		✔️				✖️
Glitch-soc	✔️		✖️	✔️		✔️		✔️				✖️
Hometown	✔️		✖️	✔️		✔️		✔️				✖️
koyu.space	✔️		✖️	✔️		✔️		✔️				✖️
Smalltown	✔️		✖️	✔️		✔️		✔️				✖️
Pleroma												✖️
Akkoma												✖️
Misskey												✖️
Firefish												✖️
FoundKey												✖️
GNU social												✖️
GoToSocial												✖️
Pump.io												✖️
Identi.ca												✖️
Takahē												✖️
Epicyon												✖️
Micro.blog												✖️
Tumblr	Centralised		✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️			✖️
Bonfire												✖️
Swanye												✖️
Threads	Centralised											✖️
Friendica	✔️			✔️	✔️			✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✖️
diaspora*												✖️
Acropolis												✖️
(streams)	✔️	✔️	Zot6	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Socialhome												✖️
Honk												✖️
Hubzilla	✔️	✔️		✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
WriteFreely												✖️
Plume												✖️
WordPress			✖️									✖️
Drupal			✖️									✖️
Lemmy	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️			✖️
Kbin												✖️
Pixelfed	✖️	✖️	Instagram	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️			✖️
Flickr	Centralised		✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️			✖️
PeerTube												✖️
Owncast												✖️
Goldfish												✖️
Funkwhale												✖️
CastoPod												✖️
reel2bits												✖️
Mobilizon												✖️
Gancio												✖️
BookWyrm												✖️
Inventaire												✖️

File uploads and file space

Name	File space with file manager	Maximum file size (green = adjustable)	Subfolders	Access permissions			Flag images/media as sensitive	WebDAV access
				Adjustable permissions	Access permissions control for images/media when embedded	Guest tokens
Mastodon	Uploads to posts	40MB	✖️
Ecko	Uploads to posts		✖️
Fedibird	Uploads to posts		✖️
Glitch-soc	Uploads to posts		✖️
Hometown	Uploads to posts		✖️
koyu.space	Uploads to posts		✖️
Smalltown	Uploads to posts		✖️
Pleroma	Uploads to posts		✖️
Akkoma	Uploads to posts		✖️
Misskey	Uploads to posts		✖️
Firefish	Uploads to posts	80MB	✖️
FoundKey	Uploads to posts		✖️
GNU social	Uploads to posts		✖️
GoToSocial
Pump.io
Identi.ca
Takahē
Epicyon
Micro.blog
Tumblr
Bonfire
Swanye
Threads
Friendica	✔️	Unlimited	✔️
diaspora*	Uploads to posts		✖️
Acropolis	Uploads to posts		✖️
(streams)	✔️	Unlimited	✔️	✔️	✔️			✔️
Socialhome
Honk
Hubzilla	✔️	Unlimited	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
WriteFreely	✖️
Plume	✔️							✖️
WordPress
Drupal
Lemmy
Kbin
Pixelfed
Flickr
PeerTube
Owncast
Goldfish
Funkwhale
CastoPod
reel2bits
Mobilizon
Gancio
BookWyrm
Inventaire

Multimedia

Name	Supported formats			Image gallery	Playback/ Streaming			Limits						Media files modified upon upload
	🖼️	🎧	🎞️		🎧	🎞️	📺	Image file size	Audio file size	Video file size	Image size	Audio duration	Video duration	Lossy image compression	Image resizing	Lossy audio compression	Lossy video compression	Video resizing
Mastodon				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
Ecko				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
Fedibird				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
Glitch-soc				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
Hometown				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
koyu.space				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
Smalltown				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
Pleroma				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
Akkoma				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
Misskey				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
Firefish							✖️	See file size limit
FoundKey				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
GNU social							✖️	See file size limit
GoToSocial							✖️	See file size limit
Pump.io							✖️	See file size limit
Identi.ca							✖️	See file size limit
Takahē							✖️	See file size limit
Epicyon							✖️	See file size limit
Micro.blog							✖️	See file size limit
Tumblr							✖️
Bonfire							✖️	See file size limit
Swanye							✖️	See file size limit
Threads
Friendica							✖️	Unlimited						✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️
diaspora*				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
Acropolis				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
(streams)				Optional			✖️	Unlimited						✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️
Socialhome							✖️	See file size limit
Honk							✖️	See file size limit
Hubzilla				Optional			✖️	Unlimited						✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️
WriteFreely		None	None	✖️	✖️	✖️	✖️	No uploads possible
Plume							✖️	See file size limit
WordPress							✖️	See file size limit
Drupal							✖️	See file size limit
Lemmy							✖️	See file size limit
Kbin							✖️	See file size limit
Pixelfed		None	None		✖️	✖️	✖️	See file size limit	None	None		None	None			✖️	✖️	✖️
Flickr		None	None	✔️	✖️	✖️	✖️	See file size limit	None	None		None	None			✖️	✖️	✖️
PeerTube	None	None		✖️	✖️	✔️	✔️		None	See file size limit		None				✖️
Owncast	None	None		✖️	✖️	✖️	✔️		None	See file size limit		None				✖️
Goldfish				✖️			✖️	See file size limit
Funkwhale			None	✖️		✖️	✖️		See file size limit	None			None				✖️	✖️
CastoPod			None	✖️		✖️	✖️		See file size limit	None			None				✖️	✖️
reel2bits			None	✖️		✖️	✖️		See file size limit	None			None				✖️	✖️
Mobilizon							✖️	See file size limit
Gancio							✖️	See file size limit
BookWyrm							✖️	See file size limit
Inventaire							✖️	See file size limit

Features

Name	hover over emojis to see explanation
	Default limits per post (green=editable)
	🔠	📊	🖼	✏️	♻️
Mastodon	500	4	4	✔️	✔️
Ecko	500	4	4	✔️	✔️
Fedibird				✔️	✔️
Glitch-soc				✔️	✔️
Hometown				✔️	✔️
koyu.space				✔️	✔️
Smalltown				✔️	✔️
Pleroma	5000	20
Akkoma
Misskey	3000
Firefish	3000	10	16
FoundKey
GNU social	1000	5	1
GoToSocial	5000
Pump.io
Identi.ca
Takahē
Epicyon
Micro.blog
Tumblr				✔️
Bonfire
Swanye
Threads	500
Friendica	unlimited	✖️	unlimited; embedding	✔️	✔️
diaspora*
Acropolis
(streams)	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited; embedding	✔️	✔️
Socialhome
Honk
Hubzilla	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited; embedding	✔️	✔️
WriteFreely	✔️	✖️	unlimited; embeds externally hosted media	✔️	✖️
Plume	✔️		unlimited; embedding
WordPress
Drupal
Lemmy					✖️
Kbin
Pixelfed	500	✖️	4		✖️
Flickr
PeerTube		✖️	✖️	✖️
Owncast
Goldfish
Funkwhale
CastoPod
reel2bits
Mobilizon
Gancio
BookWyrm
Inventaire

Note: "Unlimited" for post length doesn't necessarily mean unlimited, but the maximum character number may be so high that it doesn't matter. Hence, it can be adjusted by the admin. "Unlimited" for file size is within the available space on the server.

Technical

Name	Inception	Federating since	last updated (red=ended)	Protocols	License (green=copyleft) (yellow=anti-capitalist) (red=proprietary)	Git repository (green=federated) (red=evil)	Main developer(s)	Written in
Mastodon	2016	2016		ActivityPub	AGPLv3	Github	Eugen Rochko	Ruby on Rails, JavaScript (React.js, Redux)
Ecko	2021	2021		ActivityPub	AGPLv3	GitHib
Fedibird				ActivityPub	AGPLv3	GitHub
Glitch-soc				ActivityPub	AGPLv3	GitHub
Hometown				ActivityPub	AGPLv3	GitHub
koyu.space				ActivityPub	AGPLv3	GitHub
Smalltown				ActivityPub	AGPLv3	GitHub
Pleroma	2016	2016		ActivityPub	AGPLv3	git.pleroma.social
Akkoma				ActivityPub	AGPLv3	akkoma.dev
Misskey	2019	2019		ActivityPub	AGPLv3	GitHub
Firefish				ActivityPub	AGPLv3	Codeberg	ThatOneCalculator	NodeJS (Typescript), Vue 3
FoundKey
GNU social	2008	2008		ActivityPub, OStatus	AGPLv3	notabug.org
GoToSocial				ActivityPub	AGPLv3	GitHub
Pump.io					Apache v2
Identi.ca	2008	2008
Takahē	2022	2022		ActivityPub	BSD3 new	GitHub
Epicyon				ActivityPub	AGPLv3	gitlab.com
Micro.blog	2017			ActivityPub	proprietary	-
Tumblr	2007	Announced			proprietary	-
Bonfire					AGPLv3	GitHub
Swanye
Threads	2023	Announced		-	proprietary	-
Friendica	2010	2010		ActivityPub, diaspora*, OStatus	AGPLv3	GitHub		PHP
diaspora*	2010	2010		diaspora*	AGPLv3	GitHub
Acropolis				diaspora*	AGPLv3	https://github.com/magicstone-dev/acropolis GitHub
(streams)	2021	2021		ActivityPub, Zot	Public domain + various free licenses for third-party contributions	Codeberg	The community; Mike Macgirvin	PHP
Socialhome				ActivityPub, diaspora*
Honk				ActivityPub
Hubzilla	2015	2015		ActivityPub, diaspora*, OStatus, Zot	MIT License	framagit	Mario Vavti	PHP
WriteFreely	2018	2018		ActivityPub	AGPLv3	GitHub
Plume				ActivityPub	AGPLv3	GitHub
WordPress	2003			ActivityPub, diaspora*, OStatus
Drupal	2001			ActivityPub, diaspora*
Lemmy				ActivityPub
Kbin
Pixelfed	2018	2018		ActivityPub	AGPLv3	GitHub
Flickr		Announced		-	proprietary	-
PeerTube	2018	2018		ActivityPub	AGPLv3	GitHub
Owncast				ActivityPub	MIT License	GitHub
Goldfish
Funkwhale				ActivityPub	AGPLv3	dev.funkwhale.audio
CastoPod
reel2bits
Mobilizon	2019	2019		ActivityPub	AGPLv3	framagit
Gancio
BookWyrm				ActivityPub, OStatus	Anti-Capitalist Software License	GitHub
Inventaire				ActivityPub

JoinFediverseWiki Info

Moved here.

more

Name
Mastodon
Ecko
Fedibird
Glitch-soc
Hometown
koyu.space
Smalltown
Pleroma
Akkoma
Misskey
Firefish
FoundKey
GNU social
GoToSocial
Pump.io
Identi.ca
Takahē
Epicyon
Micro.blog
Tumblr
Bonfire
Swanye
Threads
Friendica
diaspora*
Acropolis
(streams)
Socialhome
Honk
Hubzilla
WriteFreely
Plume
WordPress
Drupal
Lemmy
Kbin
Pixelfed
Flickr
PeerTube
Owncast
Goldfish
Funkwhale
CastoPod
reel2bits
Mobilizon
Gancio
BookWyrm
Inventaire