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Bonfire vs Mastodon: catalog facts
Bonfire	Mastodon
Free Self-hosting is free; cooperative hosting is also offered.	Free Free and open source under the AGPL. Hosting is separate.
Web, Self-hosted	Android, Web, Self-hosted
Federated with the open social web Modular building blocks for different community needs	Chronological timelines with no engagement ranking Federated, so moving servers does not mean losing your network
Self-hosting needs some sysadmin experience Smaller ecosystem than Mastodon	Your experience depends heavily on which server you join Running a server has real moderation and maintenance cost
Self-hosted, Hosted service	Self-hosted, Web application
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License: AGPL-3.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.