BackstagevsMastodon
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Backstage | Mastodon | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 78/100 | 82/100 |
| Rank in category | #8 of 166 in Developer Tools | #2 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums |
| GitHub stars | 34 732 | 50 456 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +50 | +137 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 14 | 38 |
| Latest release | v1.57.0-next.0 · 27 Oct 2026 | v4.4.26 · 1 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Typescript | Ruby |
Which one should you pick?
Mastodon scores 82/100 against 78/100 for Backstage, so it is the safer default.
Mastodon ships more often: 38 stable releases in the past year, against 14 for Backstage.
Mastodon is growing faster right now (+137 stars in 30 days).
Backstage details →Mastodon details →