# Mastodon vs RSS Guard

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

| | Mastodon | RSS Guard |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 ✓ | 64/100 |
| Rank in category | #2 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #6 of 85 in Feed Reader |
| GitHub stars | 50 456 ✓ | 2 817 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +137 ✓ | +56 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 38 ✓ | 15 |
| Latest release | v4.4.26 · 1 Oct 2026 ✓ | 5.2.5 · 20 Aug 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Ruby | C++ |

## Which one should you pick?

Mastodon scores 82/100 against 64/100 for RSS Guard, so it is the safer default.

Mastodon ships more often: 38 stable releases in the past year, against 15 for RSS Guard.

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

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

## Details

- [Mastodon](https://selfhost.directory/project/mastodon) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/mastodon.md)
- [RSS Guard](https://selfhost.directory/project/rss-guard) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/rss-guard.md)

---
Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/mastodon-vs-rss-guard