Open Source Self-Hosted Pixelfed Alternatives

There are many alternatives to Pixelfed as a self-hosted solution if you are looking for a replacement. The best open source Self-Hosted alternative is Mastodon. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Pixelfed and 11 are open source and available as a self-hosted solution so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source Self-Hosted alternatives to Pixelfed are Bluesky, GoToSocial, Sharkey and Wafrn.

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Alternatives
Pixelfed alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. Mastodon icon
     646 likes

    Decentralized and federated social platform with no ads, focusing on personal interaction, and offering 500 character posts, custom emojis, content warnings, and robust moderation tools.

    153 Mastodon alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2016

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Android Tablet
    • Cloudron
    • F-Droid
    • OpenAPK
    Good alternative?
     
  2. Bluesky icon
     132 likes

    An open social network that gives creators independence from platforms, developers the freedom to build, and users a choice in their experience.

    94 Bluesky alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2022

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Android Tablet
    • Cloudron
    • OpenAPK
    • US flagUnited States
    Bluesky screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  3. GoToSocial icon
     15 likes

    GoToSocial is an ActivityPub social network server, written in Golang.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2022

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Kubernetes
    • YunoHost
    Good alternative?
     
  4. Sharkey icon
     10 likes

    Sharkey is a Misskey fork following upstream changes when possible, with added features. Like any other ActivityPub software Sharkey can interface with the thousands of servers that form the fediverse, an interconnected social network, working in tandem with software such as...

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2024

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
  5. Wafrn icon
     15 likes

    Wafrn is a social network inspired by tumblr, that also can connect with other wafrn instances, or with mastodon, pleroma, firefish and other platforms that use activitypub.

    17 Wafrn alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2023

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • UNIX Web Browser
    • F-Droid
    Good alternative?
     
  6. Soapbox.pub icon
     11 likes

    Soapbox is customizable open-source software that puts the power of social media in the hands of the people. Feature-rich and hyper-focused on providing a user experience to rival Big Tech, Soapbox is already home to some of the biggest alternative social platforms on the...

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2022

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
  7. The IndieWeb Plugin for WordPress helps you establish your IndieWeb identity by extending the user profile to provide rel-me and h-card fields and optionally adding widgets to display this.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2021

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Wordpress
    Good alternative?
     
  8. Versia icon
     Like

    A simple, extensible federated protocol for building useful applications. Formerly known as Lysand.

    Cost / License

    Since

    • Since 2024

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
  9. murlog icon
     1 like

    Single user ActivityPub server.

    Cost / License

    Since

    • Since 2026

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
  10. Ktistec icon
     1 like

    Ktistec is an ActivityPub server. It is intended for individual users, not communities of users, although support for additional users will be added in the future. It is designed to have few runtime dependencies -- for example, it uses SQLite as its database, instead of...

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2024

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
  11. piclog icon
     Like

    Hi! Here you can share your JPEG pictures with your friends. You can customize the CSS of your profile, and even add a little widget to your site! The pictures are heavily compressed to keep the file size small.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Since

    • Since 2025

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
11 of 11 Pixelfed alternatives