Notes 
Friendica: Facebook Alternative
Reviewed by Marcus Holmberg
Friendica
friendi.ca 1 rating so far*
Rate Friendica: No account needed
Threat level
Hardened
A hardened pick. Worth the effort once you have chosen to shrink your footprint on purpose. Enough for most people. Threat levels
Our take
Its strength is breadth, talking to Mastodon, diaspora, and more from one account, which makes it a kind of universal fediverse client with Facebook-style features. That ambition is also the catch: it is heavier and more complex to run and use than single-purpose alternatives. A good fit for people who want one hub across multiple networks and will tolerate the complexity; too much if you just want a simple feed.
GitHub at a glance
friendica/friendica AGPL-3.0 federationfediversehacktoberfestmariadbphpself-hostedsocial-mediasocial-network
Stars
1,700
+1 this week
Forks
385
83 watching
Last commit
today
healthy
Latest release
2026.05-1
6mo ago, 44 total
Star history
Issues
75% closed
1,355
open
4,122
closed
+18 / -24
opened / closed, last 4 weeks
Opened vs closed, last 12 weeks
Commits, last 26 weeks
0 commits, active 0 of 26 weeks
159 contributors since Nov 2011
Languages
- PHP 64.6%
- JavaScript 29%
- Go Template 3.7%
- Other 2.7%
Updated daily from the GitHub API. Star tracking since Jun 15, 2026.
Website at a glance
friendi.ca
D score 30
Weak website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested 2d ago
Inspect this site yourself
Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.
Friendica alternatives
Friendica license, in plain English
AGPL-3.0 Strong copyleft · network
Free to use, even commercially. Changes must be published under the same license, and running a modified version as a network service counts as distributing it.
Permits
- Commercial use
- Modification
- Distribution
- Patent use
- Private use
Requires
- Disclose source
- Network use is distribution
- Same license
- State changes
- License and copyright notice
Does not provide
- Liability cover
- Warranty
Why it matters: The network clause is the point. Anyone who runs a modified version as a hosted service has to publish those changes, so the code handling your data stays inspectable. This is why privacy-first projects reach for AGPL.
Plain-language summary of the project's license, not legal advice. Read the full text for the exact terms.
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