Best Self-Hosted Facebook Alternatives in 2026
Facebook is a social networking platform for connecting with friends, sharing content, and joining groups and communities.
8 Self-Hosted Alternatives to Facebook
Mastodon
50KDecentralized social network where you own your audience. No algorithm, no ads, no corporate control. Part of the Fediverse via ActivityPub.
Mastodon
50KDecentralized social network where you own your audience. No algorithm, no ads, no corporate control. Part of the Fediverse via ActivityPub.
Bluesky
18KDecentralized social network built on the AT Protocol, giving users control over their data and experience
PixelFed
6.9KPixelFed is a PHP-based application that provides decentralized photo sharing platform.
Movim
2KMovim offers unified communications, device compatibility, xmpp standard as a self-hosted blogging platforms.
Friendica
1.7KFriendica is a self-hosted fediverse & activitypub replacement for Facebook.
Loops
355Released under AGPL-3.0, Loops provides decentralized short-video platform on self-hosted infrastructure.
Okuna
241Self-hosted social & community tool that provides API for Okuna Social Network.
Why Look for Facebook Alternatives?
Facebook is a social networking platform for connecting with friends, sharing content, and joining groups and communities.
Self-hosted alternatives give you full data ownership, predictable costs, and zero vendor lock-in. You run the software on your own infrastructure and control everything.
8 Best Open-Source Alternatives to Facebook
Mastodon
Decentralized social media — 49,755 GitHub stars. Licensed under AGPL-3.0.
Bluesky
A decentralized social network focused on fostering meaningful interactions and giving users control over their data and experience. — 17,792 GitHub stars. Licensed under MIT.
PixelFed
Open-source, privacy-focused photo sharing. — 6,923 GitHub stars. Licensed under AGPL-3.0.
Loops
Federated short video sharing platform — 353 GitHub stars. Licensed under AGPL-3.0.
Mastodon
Free, open-source, self-hosted social network. — 49,753 GitHub stars. Licensed under AGPL-3.0.
Movim
Movim centralizes all your communications in one place. — 1,972 GitHub stars. Licensed under AGPL-3.0.
Friendica
A decentralized social network platform. — 1,649 GitHub stars. Licensed under AGPL-3.0.
Okuna
API for Okuna Social Network — 241 GitHub stars. Licensed under MIT.
Why Self-Host Instead of Facebook?
- Data ownership. Your data stays on your server, not on Facebook’s infrastructure.
- Predictable costs. Pay a fixed VPS cost instead of growing per-user or per-usage fees.
- No vendor lock-in. Export and migrate your data anytime. You control the database.
- GDPR and compliance. Hosting your own tools simplifies data residency and compliance requirements.
Why teams switch from Facebook
- → Data ownership. Your data stays on your server -- not on Facebook's infrastructure.
- → Predictable costs. Pay a fixed VPS cost instead of growing per-user or per-usage fees.
- → No vendor lock-in. Export and migrate your data anytime. You control the database.
- → GDPR and compliance. Hosting your own tools simplifies data residency and compliance requirements.
Head-to-Head Comparisons
Both are social tools. Feedbin has 1 unique feature, Mastodon has 4.
Both are social tools. Feedbin has 1 unique feature, Mastodon has 4.
Both are social tools. FreshRSS has 5 unique features, Mastodon has 5.
Both are social tools. FreshRSS has 5 unique features, Mastodon has 5.
Both are social tools. Ktistec has 2 unique features, Mastodon has 5.
Both are social tools. Ktistec has 2 unique features, Mastodon has 5.
Both are social tools. Mastodon has 5 unique features, Miniflux has 3.
Both are social tools. Mastodon has 5 unique features, NodeBB has 2.
Both are social tools. Mastodon has 4 unique features, Okuna has 2.
Both are social tools. Mastodon has 4 unique features, Upvote RSS has 3.
Both are social tools. Mastodon has 5 unique features, RSS-Bridge has 3.
Both are social tools. Mastodon has 5 unique features, Miniflux has 3.
Both are social tools. Mastodon has 4 unique features, Valour has 1.
Both are social tools. Mastodon has 5 unique features, NodeBB has 2.
Both are social tools. Mastodon has 4 unique features, Okuna has 2.
Both are social tools. Mastodon has 5 unique features, RSS-Bridge has 3.
Both are social tools. Mastodon has 4 unique features, Upvote RSS has 3.
Both are social tools. Mastodon has 4 unique features, Valour has 1.
Browse more Social & Community tools
Explore 119 open-source social & community tools you can self-host.
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