Are these Xiaohongshu alternatives free?

All 1 are open source, so the code is free to use under its licence, and 1 of them can be self-hosted on your own server.

How is this list of Xiaohongshu alternatives ranked?

By a score built from GitHub stars, star growth over the last 30 days and how recently the code changed. 1 of these projects shipped code in the last 30 days. Data is refreshed daily, and nobody can pay to move up.

1 alternatives ranked by real activity

Open-source Xiaohongshu alternatives

A curated, ranked list of the 1 best open-source alternatives to Xiaohongshu.

The best open-source alternative to Xiaohongshu is Pixelfed.

Xiaohongshu alternatives are mainly Social Media tools. 1 of them shipped code in the last 30 days, 1 can be self-hosted, and 0 use a permissive licence.

Last updated October 3, 2026 · ranked by GitHub stars, growth and recent commits

Pixelfed

Pixelfed is a federated, open-source photo sharing platform built on ActivityPub, written in Laravel for communities that run their own servers.

GitHub stars: 7.1k
Last commit: today
Latest release: v0.14.4
Licence: AGPL-3.0
Self-hosted: Yes

pixelfed.org

Pixelfed is photo sharing software that takes part in the fediverse. It lets people share casual shots and creative photography with an audience without algorithmic barriers, and because it speaks ActivityPub it can interact with other federated platforms.

Pixelfed is built with PHP and Laravel. The README lists officially supported databases as MySQL 9 or newer and MariaDB 11 or newer, with PostgreSQL 14 or newer supported on a best-effort basis but not recommended. As of September 2026 the maintainers recommend running instances with Docker Compose, while non-Docker installs remain supported. A YunoHost package exists, and some unofficial cloud providers offer hosting.

The project is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and publishes documentation on its own site, with Matrix for chat. It has a firm policy against contributions that are substantially generated by generative AI, including code, documentation, translations and issues.

Key features

Federated photo sharing via ActivityPub
Fediverse interoperability
Laravel-based application
Docker Compose deployment
MySQL and MariaDB support
YunoHost package

Pricing: Free and open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence.

Read more about Pixelfed Website GitHub #1 Xiaohongshu alternative

Xiaohongshu alternatives: questions

What is the best open-source alternative to Xiaohongshu?: Pixelfed is the top-ranked open-source alternative to Xiaohongshu on Enlisted: Pixelfed is a federated, open-source photo sharing platform built on ActivityPub, written in Laravel for communities that run their own servers.
Are these Xiaohongshu alternatives free?: All 1 are open source, so the code is free to use under its licence, and 1 of them can be self-hosted on your own server.
How is this list of Xiaohongshu alternatives ranked?: By a score built from GitHub stars, star growth over the last 30 days and how recently the code changed. 1 of these projects shipped code in the last 30 days. Data is refreshed daily, and nobody can pay to move up.

People also look for alternatives to…

View all