PixelFed
Ethical photo sharing platform, powered by ActivityPub federation (alternative to Instagram).
Description from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Still maintained? Yes: 3,678 commits in the last 90 days, latest release v0.15.2 (Oct 2026).
Also an alternative to Instagram.
At a glance
PixelFed quick facts
- Health score
- 85/100 GOOD
- Stars
- 7,131
- Last commit
- yesterday (Oct 2026)
- Latest release
- v0.15.2, Oct 2026
- Licence
- AGPL-3.0
Top alternatives to PixelFed
Full rankings: Instagram alternatives
In its own words
The project's README opens: "Photo sharing the way it should be. Pixelfed lets your casual shots and creative photography find their audience naturally, without algorithmic barriers. Join millions of people sharing across the fediverse."
Why it ranks here
Health score explained
PixelFed scores 85/100, #15 of 40 in Communication - Social Networks and Forums: 3,678 commits in the last 90 days earn 35.0 of 35 points, the latest release (v0.15.2, 9 days ago) earns 25.0 of 25, 7,131 stars add 15.4 of 20, an active, unarchived repository keeps 10 and no advertised Docker image leaves the final 10 unclaimed. That places it in the good band (70 and above). The biggest shortfall is Docker support, worth 10.0 more points.
Recomputed nightly from the GitHub API. How the score is calculated.
- Commit activity 35.0 / 35
3678 commits in 90 days (30+ scores full marks)
- Release recency 25.0 / 25
v0.15.2 released 9 days ago
- Stars 15.4 / 20
7.1k stars on GitHub (logarithmic)
- Not archived 10.0 / 10
Repository is active
- Docker support biggest shortfall 0.0 / 10
No Docker support advertised
Commit activity
- 3678
- Last 90 days
- 4,269
- Last 12 months
- yesterday
- Last push
Ranked #15 of 40 tools in Communication - Social Networks and Forums by health , between HumHub (#14) and Akkoma (#16) .
Details
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 |
| Platforms | PHP |
| Latest release | v0.15.2 · 9 days ago |
| Stars | 7,131 |
| Open issues | 95 |
| Docker | Not advertised |
| Repository | pixelfed/pixelfed ↗ |
PixelFed vs its top 5 alternatives
Active tools that share a comparison page or a category with PixelFed (Communication - Social Networks and Forums), scored on the same five terms.
| Tool | Health | Stars | Licence | Last commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Misskey | 96 | 11k | AGPL-3.0 | today |
| GoToSocial | 91 | 692 | AGPL-3.0 | today |
| Mastodon | 89 | 50k | AGPL-3.0 | today |
| PixelFed (this tool) | 85 | 7.1k | AGPL-3.0 | yesterday |
| Akkoma | 83 | 71 | AGPL-3.0 | 25 days ago |
| Friendica | 83 | 1.7k | AGPL-3.0 | today |
PixelFed: common questions
What does PixelFed replace?
Repoly lists PixelFed as an open-source alternative to Instagram. Each comparison page ranks every alternative by the same health score, so you can see where PixelFed stands against the others.
Is PixelFed still maintained?
PixelFed had 3,678 commits in the last 90 days and its last push was yesterday; the latest tagged release, v0.15.2, is from 9 days ago. Repoly recomputes this nightly.