Open Source Social Media Management Tools (2026)
Open source social media management tools you can self-host in 2026: Postiz, BrightBean, TryPost, Mixpost Lite and Socioboard, with licenses and releases.
Published October 18, 2026
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The open source social media management tools worth self-hosting in 2026 are Postiz, BrightBean Studio and TryPost (all AGPL-3.0 and updated this month), plus Mixpost Lite (MIT, but limited to Facebook Pages, X and Mastodon). Socioboard is GPL-3.0 but its last GitHub release is from 2019, and Shoutify is archived.
Open source here means the code is free to run on your own server. You still pay for the server and do the maintenance, and you register your own developer app on each network.
Open source social media management tools compared
Licenses, releases and stars come from each project's GitHub repository, as of October 18, 2026.
| Tool | License | Latest release | Stars | Needs to self-host | Main catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postiz | AGPL-3.0 | v2.25.1, Oct 11, 2026 | 37.4k | Docker Compose: Postgres, Redis, Temporal | Heavy stack for a scheduler |
| BrightBean Studio | AGPL-3.0 | No tagged release, last commit Oct 17, 2026 | 2.5k | Docker and Postgres, or Python 3.12 with SQLite | No versioned releases to pin |
| TryPost | AGPL-3.0 | v2.0.0, Oct 10, 2026 | 714 | Docker or PHP, database, Redis | Smallest community here |
| Mixpost Lite | MIT | 2.6.0, Mar 16, 2026 | 3.8k | Docker, PHP or an existing Laravel app | Publishes to 3 networks only |
| Socioboard 5.0 | GPL-3.0 | 4.1.0, Nov 15, 2019 (a v5.0-final tag exists) | 1.5k | Node.js API plus PHP front end | Last GitHub release in 2019 |
| n8n | Fair-code, not open source | [email protected], Oct 16, 2026 | 208k | Self-hosted Node app | Workflow tool, not a scheduler |
Postiz, the most active project
Postiz is the largest project by far: the README lists Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, Threads, X, Slack, Discord, Mastodon, Bluesky and Dribbble, plus a Node SDK and an n8n node.
The self-hosted install uses a Docker Compose repository that the docs say was tested on a 2 vCPU, 2 GB Ubuntu VM. The README lists Postgres, Redis and Temporal in its stack, so expect more moving parts than a PHP app. Postiz also sells a hosted Cloud edition if you would rather not run it.
BrightBean Studio for agencies
BrightBean Studio is aimed at people running many client accounts: it has multiple workspaces, an approval flow and publishing to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky, Google Business Profile, Mastodon and DEV.to. The README says every feature is available to every user, with no paid tier.
It is a Django app. Production runs on Docker Compose with Postgres on a VPS, and SQLite works for local use and small installs. It has no tagged releases, so there is no version number to pin.
TryPost for AI agents
TryPost publishes through a composer, a REST API or MCP, and the README lists 13 networks including Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, Telegram and Discord. The self-hosted version has every feature of the cloud product.
The self-hosting guide needs a migrated database, Redis, and long-running queue, websocket and scheduler processes; the Docker production image starts those for you. It has the smallest community of the three, so check its issue tracker before relying on it for client work.
Mixpost Lite for a simple self-hosted scheduler
Mixpost Lite is the easiest to run and the most limited. The code is MIT-licensed, and Mixpost's pricing page says Lite publishes to Facebook Pages, X and Mastodon only, with a calendar, media library, post versions, labels and basic analytics.
Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Threads and Bluesky need Pro, a $299 one-time license with a year of updates (as of October 2026). Pro is paid, not open source. Lite installs through Docker, manual PHP or an existing Laravel app, and the install docs ask for a public domain so networks can reach it.
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n8n for workflows around your posts
n8n is not a social media manager. It connects the tools around one: send a Google Sheet row to a scheduler, post a blog's RSS item, or notify Slack when a post fails. Postiz publishes an n8n node for this.
Its license is not open source: the Sustainable Use License limits use to your own internal business purposes or non-commercial use. Read that before building a service for clients on it.
What self-hosting social media tools involves
Self-hosting means you run the app, the database and the queue, and you register a developer app with every network yourself. Postiz's LinkedIn guide, for example, has you create an app in LinkedIn's developer portal, add three products, and paste its client ID and secret into your environment file.
Each network needs its own app settings and permissions before posting works. Postiz's README warns that approval for Meta, YouTube and TikTok apps can take weeks, and its LinkedIn guide says you must also request Advertising API access or token refresh will not work. You then handle API changes and updates yourself.
If you only want to schedule posts without running servers, a hosted scheduler is simpler. SociaHive's free plan covers 3 accounts and 30 posts a month, though it is not open source.
Skip these
Shoutify is Apache-2.0 and has 412 stars, but its repository is archived and was last updated in January 2023, so it receives no fixes. Socioboard still gets commits, mostly dependency bumps, but its last GitHub release is from 2019, so check that its network integrations still work before committing to it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which open source tool is easiest to self-host?
Mixpost Lite, by its own docs, installs through Docker, manual PHP or an existing Laravel app, and it needs a public domain so networks can reach it. The trade-off is reach: Lite publishes to Facebook Pages, X and Mastodon only. Postiz covers far more networks but runs Postgres, Redis and Temporal.
Can I use these tools for client work?
Yes for the AGPL-3.0 tools. TryPost's README states you may use, modify, self-host and redistribute it commercially. The condition is AGPL section 13: if you run a modified version as a network service, you must make your changes available to its users. n8n is different and restricts commercial services.
Is Postiz free to self-host?
Yes. Postiz's README says the self-hosted edition is free forever under AGPL-3.0 and you pay only for your own infrastructure. It also says self-hosters have unlimited channels, posts and team members, and must create their own developer apps on each network. Postiz Cloud is the paid, hosted version.
Where is my data stored with a self-hosted tool?
On your own server and database, so drafts, schedules and metrics stay with you. Your posts still go to Instagram, LinkedIn and the other networks through their official APIs, and OAuth tokens for your accounts sit in your own database, so back it up and secure it.
Sources
- Postiz, postiz-app repository and README
- Postiz, Docker Compose installation
- Mixpost, Pricing
- Mixpost, Lite self-hosting guide
- BrightBean, brightbean-studio repository
- TryPost, Self-hosting overview
- n8n, License
- Free Software Foundation, GNU Affero General Public License v3
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