# Lathe vs Mastodon

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | Lathe | Mastodon |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 52/100 | 82/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #7 of 30 in Education | #2 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums |
| GitHub stars | 1 708 | 50 456 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | — | +137 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 6 | 38 ✓ |
| Latest release | v0.5.0 · 20 Jul 2026 | v4.4.26 · 1 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Easy ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Go | Ruby |

## Which one should you pick?

Mastodon scores 82/100 against 52/100 for Lathe, so it is the safer default.

Mastodon ships more often: 38 stable releases in the past year, against 6 for Lathe.

If you want the quickest setup, Lathe is easier to run; Mastodon needs more configuration.

Mastodon is growing faster right now (+137 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [Lathe](https://selfhost.directory/project/lathe) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/lathe.md)
- [Mastodon](https://selfhost.directory/project/mastodon) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/mastodon.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/lathe-vs-mastodon