# pixelfed/pixelfed

Photo Sharing. For Everyone.

Repository: https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/pixelfed
Homepage: https://pixelfed.org
Language: PHP
License: AGPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: laravel, activitypub, federation, pixelfed, social-network, fediverse
Last push: 2026-08-26T15:57:15+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 91/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 75, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3061, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 9, "gap_med": 163, "n_releases_24m": 6}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 7071, forks 875 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:55.695239+00:00)

## What it is
Pixelfed is a free, open-source, decentralized photo-sharing social network built on Laravel, compatible with the ActivityPub federation protocol. It serves as a self-hosted, ad-free alternative to Instagram within the fediverse.

## Use cases
- self-host an Instagram alternative for my community
- share photos on the fediverse without algorithms
- federate photo posts with Mastodon users
- run a decentralized image-sharing instance
- give photographers an ad-free social platform

## When to choose
- you want a federated, ActivityPub-compatible photo-sharing platform you control
- you need a privacy-respecting, ad-free Instagram alternative
- you want to join or grow a fediverse community around photography

## When to avoid
- you need a simple image gallery or CDN rather than a full social network
- you cannot operate a PHP/Laravel web server with database and background workers
- you want a centralized platform with built-in audience and discovery

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: web-framework, self-hosted, image-processing
- domain: social-media, web-development, self-hosted, media, photography
- platform: php, self-hosted
- tags: fediverse, activitypub, photo-sharing, instagram-alternative, decentralized, laravel, social-network, web-server, linux

## Member repositories
- pixelfed/pixelfed (main) score 91

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:55.695239+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:40:13.224839+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:55.695239+00:00, sha 37eaf1b273f9)
  - homepage: https://pixelfed.org (fetched 2026-08-29T08:36:00.042160+00:00, sha fb1ef63763b0)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.