MastodonvsNATS
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Mastodon | NATS | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 80/100 |
| Rank in category | #2 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #2 of 12 in Message Broker |
| GitHub stars | 50 457 | 20 954 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +137 | +189 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 38 | 18 |
| Latest release | v4.4.26 · 1 Oct 2026 | v2.14.9 · 26 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Mastodon scores 82/100 against 80/100 for NATS, so it is the safer default.
Mastodon ships more often: 38 stable releases in the past year, against 18 for NATS.
If you want the quickest setup, NATS is easier to run; Mastodon needs more configuration.
Mastodon details →NATS details →