hometownvsMastodon
Two self-hosted Social Networks & Forums projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| hometown | Mastodon | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 48/100 | 82/100 |
| Rank in category | #52 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #2 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums |
| GitHub stars | 819 | 50 458 |
| Stars, last 30 days | — | +139 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 11 | 38 |
| Latest release | v4.6.9+hometown-1.3.1 · 14 Oct 2026 | v4.4.26 · 1 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Ruby |
Which one should you pick?
Mastodon scores 82/100 against 48/100 for hometown, so it is the safer default.
Mastodon ships more often: 38 stable releases in the past year, against 11 for hometown.
If you want the quickest setup, hometown is easier to run; Mastodon needs more configuration.
Mastodon is growing faster right now (+139 stars in 30 days).
hometown details →Mastodon details →All Social Networks & Forums projects →