Best Self-hosted Community & Social tools in 2026

Ech0 is a lightweight open-source, self-hosted federated publishing platform (ActivityPub) with a Vue-based UI, SQLite storage, Docker deployment and built-in Markdown editor.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Micro.blog+13

Movim is a federated social platform and web-based XMPP client for blogging, chat, communities, and real-time messaging with a responsive cross‑platform interface.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Element Matrix (Hosted)+15

RetroShare is a decentralized friend-to-friend platform for encrypted chat, mail, forums, channels and secure file sharing, with optional Tor/I2P support.

Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Telegram+19

Coral (Talk) is an open-source commenting and moderation platform for publishers, offering real-time conversations, GraphQL APIs, moderation workflows, and extensible plugins.

Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Disqus+8

Open-source multiplayer modification and engine for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that adds synchronized networking, Lua scripting, resource-based content, and a server browser.

Self-hostable community discussion platform combining Q&A, forums, team chat, ideation/upvoting, and Disqus-style embedded blog comments.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Stack Overflow+19

Open-source, self-hosted tournament system for creating and managing Swiss, single‑elimination and round‑robin tournaments with scheduling, dashboards, team/club management and CSV import.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Challonge+4

Friendica is a decentralized, federated social network server that connects to the Fediverse, offering posts, profiles, events, photos, and strong privacy controls.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Mastodon (mastodon.social)+8

Elgg is a modular open source platform for building social networks and collaborative communities with plugin-based extensions.

Actively maintained

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Facebook+12

Alf.io is an open source ticket reservation and event attendance management system for conferences, workshops, meetups, and trade shows.

GPL-3.0Actively maintained

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Eventbrite+19

Open source link-in-bio platform for creating a single landing page of links, with social features like a feed, discovery, questions, and likes.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Campsite.bio+1

Open Source Social Network (OSSN) is PHP-based social networking software to build your own community site with profiles, newsfeed, groups, chat, photos, and admin tools.

Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Threads+1

MyBB is a PHP-based, open-source forum platform with plugins, themes, moderation tools, private messaging and multi-database support.

LGPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

XenForo Cloud+13

Hyphanet (formerly Freenet) is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication and publishing using an encrypted, decentralized data store and plugin-based apps.

GPL-2.0Actively maintained

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Mastodon (mastodon.social)+8

pretalx is open-source conference management software for call for papers, speaker and reviewer workflows, scheduling, and publishing event programs.

Actively maintained

Alternative to:

pretalx Hosted+11

OSEM (Open Source Event Manager) is a web app for managing conferences, including call for papers, scheduling, registration, ticketing, and event splash pages.

MITActively maintained

Alternative to:

pretalx Hosted+14

Open source Stack Overflow clone for teams: Q&A, knowledge sharing, search, spaces, reputation, webhooks, and integrations via a Para backend.

Apache-2.0Actively maintained

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Stack Overflow+18

DOMjudge is an automated jury system for programming contests, providing submissions, judging, scoreboards, and admin tools for ICPC-style events.

GPL-2.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

CTFd Cloud+1

Self-hosted, federated catalog and social tracker for books, movies, TV, music, podcasts, games, and performances with ratings, reviews, lists, and ActivityPub.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

BookWyrm+7

Open-source audience interaction platform for live presentations with real-time polls, quizzes, and Q&A, suitable for classrooms, meetings, and events.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Slido+5

Open-source PHP forum software supporting MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite with a modular package system and rich moderation features.

Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Discourse+8

Posio is a multiplayer geography game with real-time WebSocket rounds, map-based guessing, and multiple game modes built on Django, GeoDjango, and Channels.

Open-source feedback collection and changelog tool to centralize user requests, discussions, and product updates from a single dashboard.

AGPL-3.0Likely dormant

Alternative to:

Canny+19

Modern Node.js-based BBS server with Telnet/SSH/WebSocket access, theming and mods, message networks, file areas, doors, and strong authentication options.

BSD-2-ClauseActively maintained

Alternative to:

Discourse+14

OpenSlides is a web-based assembly and event system for managing agendas, motions, speakers lists, and conducting digital elections and votes.

MITActively maintained

Alternative to:

Civica Modern.Gov+13

Open-source, privacy-friendly Disqus alternative with a customizable widget, real-time comments, moderation tools, and notifications for blogs and communities.

AGPL-3.0Slowing down

Alternative to:

Disqus+8

Postmarks is a self-hosted, single-user bookmark manager that publishes and federates bookmarks over ActivityPub with Mastodon-compatible platforms.

MITActively maintained

Alternative to:

Pinboard+10

Adds ActivityPub federation to Nextcloud so users can post, follow, and interact with the fediverse while keeping content on their Nextcloud instance.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Mastodon (mastodon.social)+7

Open-source front-end that proxies Quora to deliver an ad-free, tracker-free reading experience with a small Node.js/Express/Pug codebase.

AGPL-3.0Slowing down

Alternative to:

Quora

Headless federated microblogging server for single users that implements ActivityPub and Mastodon-compatible REST APIs for use with Mastodon clients.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Mastodon (mastodon.social)+5