Best Self-hosted Community & Social tools in 2026
109 self-hosted open source alternatives in this category
109 services found

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

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


Movim
Federated blogging and chat web client for XMPP
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.


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

Ech0
Lightweight open-source self-hosted federated publishing platform
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 ed...


Elgg
Open source social networking engine built in PHP and MySQL.
Elgg is a modular open source platform for building social networks and collaborative communities with plugin-based extensions.
Multi Theft Auto: San Andreas (MTA:SA)
Open-source multiplayer engine and mod for GTA: San Andreas
Open-source multiplayer modification and engine for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that adds synchronized networking, Lua scripting, resource-based content, and a server b...

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


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

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


Pinkary
Link-in-bio landing pages with a lightweight social feed
Open source link-in-bio platform for creating a single landing page of links, with social features like a feed, discovery, questions, and likes.
MyBB
Free, open-source forum software for managing online communities
MyBB is a PHP-based, open-source forum platform with plugins, themes, moderation tools, private messaging and multi-database support.

Open Source Social Network (OSSN)
PHP social networking software for building online communities
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.
Hyphanet
Peer-to-peer platform for private, censorship-resistant publishing
Hyphanet (formerly Freenet) is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication and publishing using an encrypted, decentralized data store and plugin-based...


Scoold
Stack Overflow-style Q&A platform for teams and organizations
Open source Stack Overflow clone for teams: Q&A, knowledge sharing, search, spaces, reputation, webhooks, and integrations via a Para backend.
OSEM
Open source event management for community conferences
OSEM (Open Source Event Manager) is a web app for managing conferences, including call for papers, scheduling, registration, ticketing, and event splash pages.


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

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

NeoDB
Federated media catalog and social tracker for books, movies, music, and more
Self-hosted, federated catalog and social tracker for books, movies, TV, music, podcasts, games, and performances with ratings, reviews, lists, and ActivityPub.
Simple Machines Forum
Free, open-source PHP forum software with multiple database backends.
Open-source PHP forum software supporting MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite with a modular package system and rich moderation features.

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


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

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

ENiGMA½ BBS
Modern multi-protocol BBS software written in Node.js
Modern Node.js-based BBS server with Telnet/SSH/WebSocket access, theming and mods, message networks, file areas, doors, and strong authentication options.


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


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

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

Nextcloud Social
ActivityPub-powered federated social app for Nextcloud
Adds ActivityPub federation to Nextcloud so users can post, follow, and interact with the fediverse while keeping content on their Nextcloud instance.


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

Hitobito
Open-source platform for managing memberships, events and organizations
Open-source web application for complex organization hierarchies: members, events, courses, mailings and payments. Plugin-based, Rails-backed, community-driven.