GoToSocial

★★★★☆

A very lightweight social networking server, with a very clean web interface for viewing public posts. Compatible with Mastodon apps and interacts well with Mastodon and other major ActivityPub platforms on the Fediverse.

It’s not meant for handling zillions of users. GoToSocial is more for setting up a server for your group or family or friends (or even just yourself) on a spare Raspberry Pi or cheap VPS host. I’ve got it running quite well on a 1GB Linode.

You can run it as a semi-private server, so your group can interact locally without the posts leaking, and still share public posts with followers on Mastodon etc.

(It is server-only, though. You can manage settings on its website, and view public posts, but all the interaction has to be done through an app like Elk, Ivory or Tusky.)

Right now it’s still in alpha.

• Not all features are implemented yet.
• It has trouble with some other Fediverse platforms (but that’s improving as bugs get sorted out!)

I wouldn’t recommend it as a complete solution yet, because, well, it’s not complete.

But it already handles the basics: Sharing pictures and words, and interacting with people on the same and other servers.