Friendica

Friendica is a self-hostable, decentralized social networking server that lets you run your own community while still interacting with people across the Fediverse. It focuses on privacy controls, rich social features (profiles, groups, events), and broad federation/bridge support.

Key Features

• Federates with other networks via ActivityPub and additionally supports legacy protocols (where available) such as OStatus/DFRN for wide interoperability
• Granular privacy controls for posts (public, friends, circles/ACLs) and per-contact permissions
• Groups and community spaces, including forum-style “groups” accounts for discussions
• Rich content: long-form posts, attachments/media, link previews, and threading/conversations
• Built-in directory/discovery features (server/user directories, contact discovery)
• Extensible via addons/plugins and themes; supports multiple languages

Use Cases

• Host a private community that can still follow/interact with Mastodon/other Fediverse users
• Replace centralized social platforms for organizations, clubs, or interest groups
• Provide a “social hub” server to aggregate conversations across multiple federated services

Limitations and Considerations

• Interoperability varies by protocol/remote platform features; not every feature maps cleanly across the Fediverse
• Some bridge/protocol capabilities depend on addons and may require additional configuration

Friendica is a strong option if you want a feature-rich social network with fine-grained privacy controls and broad federation support. It suits both small private communities and public instances that want to participate in the wider Fediverse.