# marchat vs Mastodon

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

| | marchat | Mastodon |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 49/100 | 82/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #51 of 110 in Chat | #2 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums |
| GitHub stars | 139 | 50 456 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | — | +137 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 12 | 38 ✓ |
| Latest release | v1.3.8 · 1 Oct 2026 | v4.4.26 · 1 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Go | Ruby |

## Which one should you pick?

Mastodon scores 82/100 against 49/100 for marchat, so it is the safer default.

Mastodon ships more often: 38 stable releases in the past year, against 12 for marchat.

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

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

## Details

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

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