Open Source Decentralized Social Networks Software
Decentralized Social Networks software enables the creation of federated communities where users share posts, media, and messages across independent servers. These tools replace central authority with open protocols to allow different server instances to communicate with each other. This type of software is for individuals and communities who want to manage their own user accounts and interaction rules. By self-hosting these apps, you keep your chat history and social profiles on your own hardware instead of relying on a single corporate entity.
This page lists 17 open source tools in the Decentralized Social Networks category. The most popular are Mastodon, Bluesky and Lemmy. Most use the AGPL-3.0 or Apache-2.0 license, and 13 offer an official Docker image.
Mastodon
Host a federated social network where users share posts, media, and interact across ActivityPub servers.
Bluesky
A decentralized social network built on the AT Protocol to provide user control over data and experience.
Lemmy
A decentralized link aggregator and forum that connects independent communities through the ActivityPub protocol and fediverse.
diaspora*
A privacy-aware distributed social network that allows users to own their data across federated servers.
Misskey
A federated social media platform for microblogging that supports decentralized communication across different server instances.
Pixelfed
A decentralized photo sharing platform featuring chronological feeds and ActivityPub federation for sharing images across the fediverse.
Synapse
A homeserver implementation for the Matrix open standard for secure and interoperable real-time communications.
BookWyrm
A federated social reading platform for tracking books, writing reviews, and discovering recommendations through decentralized communities.
Quiet
A peer-to-peer team chat that syncs messages directly between devices over Tor without central servers.
Peergos
A peer to peer encrypted filesystem for secure file storage, sharing, and decentralized collaboration.
Movim
A federated blogging and chat platform that serves as a web frontend for the XMPP protocol.
RetroShare
A decentralized communication toolkit providing secure file sharing, chat, forums, and messaging without central servers.
Friendica
A decentralized social communication platform that connects users to the federated network known as the Fediverse.
Databag
A federated, self-hosted messenger featuring end-to-end encryption and topic-based threads for secure, decentralized communication.
Freenet
A peer to peer platform for censorship resistant communication and publishing via a decentralized encrypted datastore.
Idno
A social publishing platform for creating blogs and connecting with others via decentralized web protocols.
Loops
A federated short video sharing platform that utilizes the ActivityPub protocol to enable decentralized community ownership.
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