Loops vs Pixelfed
Learn how Loops and Pixelfed differ in their key features, development activity, technology
stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these decentralized social networks is best for you.
Learn how Loops and Pixelfed differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these decentralized social networks is best for you.
Loops
Last 30 days
Last commit
23 hours agoRepository age
2 yearsVersion
v1.0.0-beta.14License
AGPL-3.0Repository
joinloops/loops-server
Pixelfed
Last 30 days
Last commit
24 hours agoRepository age
8 yearsVersion
v0.12.9License
AGPL-3.0Self-hosted
YesRepository
pixelfed/pixelfed
Detailed Comparison
Pixelfed appears to have several advantages over Loops, particularly in popularity, maturity and features. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.
Pixelfed appears to have several advantages over Loops, particularly in popularity, maturity and features. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.
Community & Popularity
Pixelfed significantly outpaces Loops in community adoption with 7,081 stars compared to 445 stars on GitHub. This 15.9x difference suggests Pixelfed has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Pixelfed has 878 forks, indicating moderate developer engagement.
Growth Momentum
Loops is growing faster, adding 11 stars in the last 30 days (+2.5%) against adding 36 stars for Pixelfed (+0.5%). Loops is the smaller project of the two, so it is closing the gap rather than extending a lead.
Development Activity
Both projects show recent activity, with Loops last updated 23 hours ago and Pixelfed 24 hours ago.
Technology Stack
Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with JavaScript, CSS, Vue, PHP, Laravel. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: Loops uses Typescript while Pixelfed leverages Bash, SCSS.
Project Maturity
Pixelfed has been in development longer, starting 8 years ago, compared to Loops which began 2 years ago. This 6.8-year head start suggests Pixelfed may have more mature features and established processes.
Licensing
Both projects use the AGPL-3.0 license, providing identical terms for usage and distribution.
Use Cases & Features
Both tools serve similar use cases in Decentralized Social Networks.
Hosting & Deployment
Pixelfed provides self-hosting options for complete data control and customization, while Loops may be primarily cloud-based or require different deployment approaches.
Capture – Capture screenshots, generate PDFs, scrape content, extract metadata, and automate browsers with one API.