GoToSocial
Mastodon serves single-user and small-community instances poorly; GoToSocial, an ActivityPub
server written in Go, was built precisely for them. Where Mastodon demands Ruby, PostgreSQL,
Redis, and Sidekiq, GoToSocial is one binary using roughly 250-350 MiB of RAM with SQLite as
the default database (PostgreSQL optional) - it runs comfortably on a $5 VPS or a repurposed
laptop. The deliberate design choice is having no built-in web client: the server exposes
profile pages, a settings panel, and a faithful implementation of the Mastodon API, and you
post through the client app you already like - Tusky on Android, Feditext on iOS, Pinafore or
Phanpy in the browser. Federation is the point: your instance follows, boosts, and replies
across Mastodon, Misskey, Pixelfed, and the rest of the Fediverse, with your identity anchored
to your own domain. Safety is a stated focus, with granular per-post visibility and
interaction controls, content warnings, custom emoji, hashtag following, domain
allow/blocklists, and OIDC login support. Built-in Let's Encrypt provisioning simplifies the
mandatory TLS. AGPL-3.0 licensed and in active beta, federating cleanly with the ecosystem's
major servers.
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