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Self-Hosted Open Source Privacy Community Social Network Family Photo Sharing

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Last Updated: 07-21-2026 10:51 AM (UTC)

Zusam

From the German "zusammen," together: Zusam is a private social space for a group of friends - a self-hosted alternative to the family WhatsApp group or the friends Facebook group, with no ads, algorithms, or data harvesting in between. The AGPLv3 project is deliberately modest in scope and stack: a Symfony PHP backend exposing a REST API over SQLite, with a lightweight Preact single-page frontend, designed for a low server footprint that runs comfortably on small hardware. Groups post messages into shared feeds that handle real life well: video and image uploads (with FFmpeg processing), photo albums for trips and events, and rich link previews with inline embeds for YouTube, Vimeo, Imgur, SoundCloud, Twitch, and Bandcamp - so sharing a song or a clip looks the way it should. When something needs to leave the circle, public link generation exposes a single message to non-members without opening the group. The interface is fully responsive and mobile-friendly, targeting Firefox ESR and recent Chrome. It is the small-web answer to a real question: where does a group chat's shared history live when you want it owned by the group instead of a platform?

Zusam

Benefits

  • Actually Private
  • No ads, algorithms, or harvesting - the group owns its shared history.
  • Media Feels Native
  • Uploads, albums, and inline embeds for YouTube, SoundCloud, Twitch, and more.
  • Runs on Almost Nothing
  • PHP with SQLite and a Preact frontend - a deliberately low footprint.
  • Share Out Selectively
  • Public links expose single messages without opening the group.

Features

  • Group Feeds
  • Shared message streams for each circle of friends.
  • Photo Albums
  • Organized image collections for trips and events.
  • Video and Image Upload
  • Direct media uploads processed with FFmpeg.
  • Rich Link Previews
  • Inline embeds for YouTube, Vimeo, Imgur, SoundCloud, Twitch, Bandcamp.
  • Public Message Links
  • Generate a shareable URL for any single message.
  • Mobile-Friendly
  • Fully responsive webapp usable as a phone-first experience.