Hollo is a free, open-source, self-hosted server for single-user federated microblogging. It is intended for personal posts, notes, and journals, and one instance can hold multiple accounts. ActivityPub connects it with Mastodon, Misskey, Akkoma, WordPress, Threads, and other compatible services. Hollo is headless: it provides a Mastodon-compatible API and has no built-in web interface, so users connect through compatible clients. Posts use CommonMark formatting and can contain up to 10,000 characters, hashtags, mentions, media, polls, shares, favorites, emoji reactions, and FEP-044f quotes. Deployment options include Railway, Docker, or manual server installation. Manual setup requires Node.js 24 or later, pnpm, ffmpeg, PostgreSQL 17 or later, a load balancer, and a domain; Railway deployment requires S3-compatible media storage. Hollo is licensed under GNU AGPL version 3 or later and supports passkeys, TOTP two-factor authentication, OAuth 2.0 with PKCE, and CSRF protection.
Who it is for
Hollo suits individuals running personal fediverse servers and people comfortable deploying self-hosted software. It is not designed around moderation tools for shared instances.
What is good
- Free and open source
- ActivityPub federation with multiple networks
- Posts up to 10,000 characters
- Passkeys and TOTP two-factor authentication
- Railway, Docker, or manual deployment
What to know first
- No built-in web interface
- Manual setup has several server requirements
- Designed for single-user instances
- Some client features may not work as expected
Verdict
Hollo provides a focused, self-hosted microblogging server with broad federation and Mastodon-compatible client access. Its single-user design and deployment requirements make it more appropriate for personal infrastructure than shared community hosting.
Hollo plans and pricing
All plansCompared on social media management tools
- Supported networks
- Mastodon, Misskey, Akkoma, WordPress, Threads, and other ActivityPub-compatible services
