Best Open Source Alternatives to X (Twitter)

Compare the best free and open-source alternatives to X (Twitter) — self-hosted and desktop replacements you fully control, ranked by GitHub stars, license and platform support.

Curated by open-source.store · Updated November 2026 · 2 alternatives

X (Twitter)

Proprietary SaaS

X (Twitter) alternatives compared

Open-source alternatives to X (Twitter), compared by stars, license and platform
Tool		License	Platforms	Self-hosted
Hey	29,351	GPL-3.0	Web	No	Sep 2026	Visit
Bluesky	18,366	MIT		No	Nov 2026	Visit

Top open-source X (Twitter) alternatives

Hey29,351GPL-3.0

Hey is a decentralized social web client for Lens Protocol that replaces centralized microblogging on X with portable on-chain identities and open data.

Web

vs X (Twitter): a free, open-source option you fully control, licensed GPL-3.0.

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Edgar Sipki

Go & gRPC engineer · founder of EasyP

Promoted

Mentoring for backend developers. Consulting for startups.

Go, gRPC and Protobuf done right, LLM agents in production, and the hard parts of shipping a first product.

GogRPCProtobufLLM agents

sipki.online

Speaker at HighLoad++, GolangConf, AI Conf, DevOpsConf
Helped launch 7+ startups
Maintainer of EasyP, the open-source Protobuf toolkit

Bluesky18,366MIT

Open-source microblogging client and AT Protocol network featuring custom domain handles, open firehose APIs, and user-selected feeds.

vs X (Twitter): a free, open-source option you fully control, licensed MIT.

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