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Bonfire Social

by Bonfire · Since 2005
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ActiveCloudOn-premiseFree tier
Quick facts
VendorBonfire
Year launched2005
StatusActive
LocationSan Francisco, United States
Countries servedN/A
LanguagesN/A
IntegrationsN/A
Free tierYES
Free trialNO
Contact salesNO

About Bonfire Social

Bonfire is an open-source framework for building federated social communities.

Bonfire Social is a federated, open-source framework for building independent and customizable online communities. Powered by the ActivityPub protocol, it enables the creation of social apps that can interact with the wider Fediverse. Its core philosophy is to return control to users and communities, away from centralized, corporate-owned platforms. Key features include highly customizable feeds, the ability to organize contacts into 'Circles' for targeted sharing, and 'Boundaries' for granular privacy control. It also supports nested discussions for in-depth conversations and allows users to maintain multiple profiles under a single account. As a nonprofit, open-source project, it offers a different model for social networking focused on user governance and collaboration. It is available as a Progressive Web App (PWA) for mobile access.

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Open-source and federated, promoting a decentralized web.
  • Highly customizable with modular features, themes, and extensions.
  • Gives communities direct control over their platform's rules and features.
  • Advanced features like custom feeds and nested discussions encourage deeper engagement.
  • Nonprofit and not funded by venture capital, aligning with a user-centric mission.
Cons
  • As a federated platform, it may have a steeper learning curve for users accustomed to centralized social media.
  • Being a newer, community-driven project, it may lack the scale and polish of major social networks.
  • Discoverability of communities and users can be more challenging than on large, single-instance platforms.

Features

Key features

Federated Social App

Built on the ActivityPub protocol, allowing interoperability with other federated networks like Mastodon.

Modular and Customizable

Communities can choose from pre-configured 'flavors' and add extensions to tailor the app's features and defaults.

Custom Feeds

Users can build their own content feeds by filtering and sorting content based on type, date, engagement, and more, without coding.

Circles and Boundaries

Organize contacts into private groups (Circles) and control who can see or engage with content (Boundaries).

Nested Discussions

Supports threaded conversations where replies can branch into sub-threads for deeper discussions.

Multiple Profiles

Accounts can host multiple profiles, each with its own followers, content, and settings, for public, private, or team use.

Additional features

Rich-Text Posts

Create posts with more formatting options than standard social networks.

Access Control

Granular features to manage content visibility and interaction permissions.

Customizable Themes

Includes 16 built-in themes and allows users to design their own layouts, colors, and fonts.

PWA Support

Functions as a Progressive Web App for use on mobile devices.

Community Blocklists

Admins can manage blocklists to moderate their community.

Full-Text Search

Provides search functionality across content, with an opt-out option for users.

Direct Messages

Supports private one-on-one conversations.

Private Group Discussions

Create private groups for discussions, also featuring nested threads.

Pricing

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