Comparison of software and protocols for distributed social networking
projects generally develop software, protocols, or both.
Projects
| Project Name | Features | Software Type | Programming Language | License | Protocols | Privacy Support | Federation | Instances | Maturity | - | ||||||||
| Amplify | Trust-based search | Public Domain | HTTPS, Amplify Messaging Protocol | alpha | - | |||||||||||||
| Anahita | Anahita is an open source social networking platform and framework for building knowledge sharing apps and services | LAMP | GPL3 | stable | - | |||||||||||||
| Buddycloud | Personal and topic channels, Buddycloud directory, channel search, channel recommender, media server, friend-finder, mobile and email push service, location, messaging | server, client | JavaScript, NodeJS, Java | Apache 2.0 | XMPP, Buddycloud Protocol, Atom, Activity Streams, Location Query | Domains running buddycloud: 90 | stable | - | ||||||||||
| diaspora* | Status messages, blogging, photo sharing, privacy enhanced | server | Ruby | AGPL | Diaspora, Salmon | , through "aspects" | , own federation protocol | 232 'nodes/pods' listed on The-Federation.info | stable 0.7.12.0 | - | ||||||||
| DSNP | DSNPd, ChoiceSocial | Distributed Social Networking Protocol | , , | beta | - | |||||||||||||
| Friend2Friend | Strong encryption, XML for all data exchange, Data is digitally signed | LGPL | alpha | - | ||||||||||||||
| Friendica | Rich profiles, networking groups, community/group/celebrity pages, richtext status, photo albums, YouTube share, location, like/dislike, multiple profiles w/assignment to specific friends, single sign on to post directly to friend's profiles on co-operating systems. Communications encryption. Fans and one-way relationships. Local and global directory services. Ability to restrict connection endpoints. | server | PHP | AGPL | ActivityPub, OStatus, Diaspora, OpenID, DFRN, | more than 113 servers according to external statistics, more than 300 servers in total according to internal federation statistics. | stable | - | ||||||||||
| GNU social | microblogging | server | PHP | AGPL | OStatus, OpenID, partial Diaspora support | Around 200 servers | stable | - | ||||||||||
| Hubzilla | decentralised identity and community platform, also provides blogs, rich social networking, cloud storage and internet-scale access control/privacy | server | PHP, Javascript | MIT | ActivityPub, diaspora, OStatus, Zot, Zot6 | 279 | stable | - | ||||||||||
| Kune | real-time collaborative edition, XMPP chat, groups, calendar, lists, tasks, blogs, Apache Wave inbox, wave extensions, public webpages, profiles, galleries, maps, federation, usability | server, integrates Apache Wave | Java-based GWT | AGPL | XMPP, Wave Federation Protocol | , demo, 3 in total | stable | - | ||||||||||
| Lemmy | Link Aggregator, Social Network | server and webclient | Rust, Actix, Diesel, Inferno, Typescript | AGPL | ActivityPub | Development not yet complete, more privacy options are likely to be implemented. | In progress | , | beta | - | ||||||||
| Lipsync.it | Synchronization tool inspired by Dropbox | Simplified BSD | rsync, lsyncd, OpenSSH | planned | stable | - | ||||||||||||
| Libertree | Social network | server and webclient | Ruby | AGPL | 3 | beta | - | |||||||||||
| lotide | Social news or Internet forum | server, client "hitide" is implemented separately | Rust | AGPL | ActivityPub | , nodes supporting ActivityPub | alpha | - | ||||||||||
| Mammudeck | Social network client for servers implementing the Mastodon REST API, e.g. Mastodon, Pleroma | webclient | Elm | MIT | HTTPS | Client only | alpha | - | ||||||||||
| Mastodon | microblogging | server | Ruby on Rails, React.js | AGPL | ActivityPub | More than 1.200 servers | stable | - | ||||||||||
| Minds | Free, open source, decentralized, and based on a foundation of transparency and privacy | server, front, mobile app | PHP | AGPL | OpenSSL, RabbitMQ | beta | - | |||||||||||
| Misskey | Microblogging social-network | server, web-client | Node.js, Typescript / JavaScript | AGPL | ActivityPub | , nodes supporting ActivityPub | More than 35 instances | stable | - | |||||||||
| Movim | XMPP client + Microblogging | server and webclient | PHP | AGPL | XMPP | 16 'pods' | stable | - | ||||||||||
| Newebe | one user = one node ; microblogging, picture sharing, activity stream | server, web client | Python / Coffeescript | AGPL | HTTP, REST API | alpha | - | |||||||||||
| online storage, data synchronization, file encryption, calendar, task scheduler, address book, media streaming, content sharing, bookmarking, photo gallery, video viewer, RSS/Atom feed reader, drawing, polls, markdown editing, office suite, mind mapping, notes, PDF viewer, 2FA, custom terms of service, maps, | server, client, web client, mobile apps | PHP, JavaScript | GNU AGPLv3 | WebDAV, HTTP, OAuth, OpenID | service providers | stable | - | |||||||||||
| Notabug | p2p reimplementation of open-source reddit ; Free, anonymity, privacy | server, web client | JavaScript | MIT License | HTTP, GUN | Partial/Anonymous contribution supported but no strong anonymity guarantees yet | , , | alpha | - | |||||||||
| ObjectCloud | customization, flexible hosting, security, application platform | SimPL 2.0 | OpenID, Particle | 2 | alpha | - | ||||||||||||
| OpenAutonomy | Micro-blogging, RSS aggregation, Cloud storage | server, web client, non-web applications, | PHP, Javascript, Java | MIT | OpenAutonomy, XML-RPC | 4 known | stable | - | ||||||||||
| OpenLink Data Spaces | Profile Management, Blogs, Wikis, Address Books, Calendars, Feed Aggregation, Discussion Forums, File Servers. | Dual | WebID, WebFinger, OpenID, OAuth, HTTP, SPARQL, Atom Publishing, PubSubHubbub, Semantic Pingback, OpenSocial, Social Graph API, Portable Contacts, more. | id.myopenlink.net among others | stable | - | ||||||||||||
| ownCloud | online storage, data synchronization, file encryption, calendar, task scheduler, address book, media streaming, content sharing, bookmarking, photo gallery, video viewer, RSS/Atom feed reader | server, client, web-client | PHP, JavaScript | AGPL | WebDAV, Federated Cloud Sharing API, Open Collaboration Services | service providers | stable | - | ||||||||||
| Pleroma | Microblogging social-network | server, web-client | Elixir | AGPL | OStatus, ActivityPub, Gopher | , nodes supporting ActivityPub and OStatus | Over 500 instances | stable | - | |||||||||
| Plume | Federated blogging engine | server, web-client | Rust | AGPL | ActivityPub | , nodes supporting ActivityPub | Around 12 instances | stable/beta Sharing personal data with companies/organizations 2) Sharing personal data with "friends" 3) Use of personal data for "personal applications" | TBD, likely Eclipse or Apache | OStatus, OAuth 2.0, WebFinger, hCard, Portable Contacts, XRI, XDI, PubSubHubbub, Salmon | alpha | - | ||||||
| Project Nori | OStatus, OAuth, Portable Contacts, WebFinger, and other open protocols | alpha | - | |||||||||||||||
| psyced | profiles, chat, microblogging | server, clients optional | LPC | GPL MIT | PSYC, XMPP, IRC, TELNET, HTTP, Applet, SMTP, WAP, RSS | 5 public known ones in 2016 | stable | - | ||||||||||
| pump.io | stream server supporting social networking capabilities | server, clients | Node.js, JavaScript | Apache 2.0 | pump.io API | 72, including | stable | - | ||||||||||
| Retroshare | Private messaging and VoIP, group chats, distributed forums, file transfers | client-server, web interface | Qt, C++ | Various Open Source licenses | GPG, OpenSSL | Yes | stable | - | ||||||||||
| RSSN | private messaging, groups | RSSN | alpha | - | ||||||||||||||
| Salut à Toi | multi-frontends, microblogging, group microblogging, file sharing, games, XMPP client | XMPP client, web server, SMTP/IMAP server | Python, C++ | AGPL | XMPP | demo | alpha | - | ||||||||||
| Secure Scuttlebutt | social networking, messaging, games, development tools | client-server, applications | JavaScript | Various FLOSS licenses | Secret Handshake, Scuttlebutt Protocol | End-to-end encryption for private messages. | Peer-to-peer network. Limited outside syndication. | stable | ||||||||||
| Socialhome | Microblogging, blogging, rich-text federated profiles, home page builder. | Server | Python, JavaScript | AGPL | Other servers findable from | alpha | - | |||||||||||
| Socknet Provider- FoolishMortal.org | profiles, messaging, enables internet content sharing | Socknet, OpenID | beta | - | ||||||||||||||
| Sone | microblogging, media library, decentralized spam protection | P2P client, web interface | Java, Javascript | GPL | Freenet | , Multiple Anonymous Identities, private messages via the Freemail plugin with Forward secrecy | , Sone messages can be read from the FMS Forum system | beta | - | |||||||||
| Sonic | Federation protocol for OSN services | API, SDK | PHP / JSON | MIT | beta | - | ||||||||||||
| Sparkleshare | Collaboration and sharing tool inspired by Dropbox | Python, C# | GPL | SSH | , encryption option | planned | alpha | - | ||||||||||
| Twister | microblogging | P2P client, web interface | C++, Javascript | MIT and BSD | Bitcoin, Torrent, DHT | End-to-end encryption for private messages | beta | - | ||||||||||
| twtxt | microblogging | Terminal | Python | MIT | HTTP, REST | Approximately 100 | alpha | - | ||||||||||
| Weestit | XMPP, HTTP, OStatus, SMTP, POP | alpha | - | |||||||||||||||
| Zap | social network, microblogging, cloud storage | server | PHP, JavaScript | MIT | Zot/6, ActivityPub | ? | stable | - |
Dead or stalled projects
| Project Name | Features | Software Type | Programming Language | License | Protocols | Privacy Support | Federation | Instances | Maturity |
| 6d' | Blog, media library, addressbook, themeable, private messaging | server | PHP | MIT | HTTP + REST, microformats | demo 5 total | alpha | ||
| Appleseed | Photos, Journals, Messaging, Groups, Privacy controls, Status Updates, Newsfeeds | server | PHP | GPL | QuickSocial | Appleseed Approximately 120 total | cancelled project | ||
| Cunity | Friends, Photo Album, Filesharing, Messaging, Pinboard, Newsfeed, Memberlist, Forum, Connecting Cunities | server, client | PHP, Javascript, AJAX, JQuery | AGPL | HTTP, P2P | Hosted on your own webspace | beta | ||
| Diaspora X2' | client using buddycloud for federation | XMPP, buddycloud channels, Activity Streams | Diaspora X2 | ? | |||||
| DiSo Project | WordPress plugins | microformats, OpenID, OAuth, XMPP | ? | ||||||
| Jappix | XMPP client + Microblogging | server, web client | AGPL | XMPP | demo | stable | |||
| Lorea | Profiles, microblogging, streams, groups, plugins, group mailing lists, tasks, calendar, subgroups, tagclouds | Elgg, plugins | GPL | OpenID, Activity Streams, PubSubHubbub, WebID. Working on: OStatus, XMPP/psyc, rdf+sparql | 5: project's group | stable | |||
| Mr. Privacy | SMTP, IMAP | ? | |||||||
| OneSocialWeb | Microblogging | Openfire plugin, clients | Java | Apache 2 | XMPP, XMPP extensions | alpha | |||
| Knowee | OpenID Signup, Activity Stream import and export, contact import from Web 2.0 services via XFN and FOAF, automatically updated address book from remote data sources, consolidated profile with RDF/FOAF export, personal SPARQL API | W3C | OpenID, FOAF | alpha | |||||
| Kopal | OpenID Core, multiple profiles | server | Ruby | MIT | OpenID, Kopal Connect protocol, Kopal Feed microformat | alpha | |||
| NoseRub | sample server | NoseRub protocol / WebID | demo | ? | |||||
| OpenMicroBlogger | User-toggleable "apps" to add/remove functionality. RSSCloud and partial OStatus federation as well as Open Microblogging 0.1. Local follow/unfollow. Facebook, Twitter, Flickr integration. Twitter API support. Fully Restful design, user interface consumes Rest API. | MIT | Open Microblogging 0.1, RSSCloud, OStatus | alpha | |||||
| Osada | social network, microblogging | server | PHP, JavaScript | Zot/6, ActivityPub | ? | unmaintained | |||
| Safebook | GPL | demo | beta | ||||||
| microblogging | FOAF | unmaintained | |||||||
| Social-Igniter | friends, places, status, comments, modular apps, themes, mobile themes, 3rd party integration, editable widgets, | server | GPL | Webfinger, PubSubHubbub, OpenID, OAuth, Activity Streams | 3 | alpha | |||
| SocialRiver | GPL AGPL | OStatus, OpenID, will add support for OAuth | ? | ||||||
| SocialZE | server, web client | OSMP | alpha | ||||||
| Synology applications package | Chat, Photo Album Filesharing, Calendar, Video player, office suit, Notes, Mailserver | Server and clients | ? | Proprietary | JumpChat, Appear.in, AD/LDAP | Yes | No | Stable, some beta | |
| Tent | Profiles, Developer-extensible Post and Profile Types, Data Import, Groups, Privacy Controls, Content versioning | server, clients | Ruby | MIT | Tent, HTTPS | Granular permissions | alpha | ||
| Thimbl | microblogging | Finger, SSH | alpha |