The 5 Best Open-Source Social Networking Software
Previously, Abhijeet has highlighted three awesome sites where you can create your own social network easily. However, if you are one of those who wants more control of the site, including the branding, the domain name, the features, the design, the community rule, or even the database, the best way is to install and run a social networking software on your server.
While there are plenty of scripts (both free and paid) that you can use to run your own social network, there are only a few that are stable, good and easy to use.
Here we have handpicked 5 of the best open-source social networking software for you to choose from.
1. Elgg
Elgg has just won the best open source social networking platform for the year 2008, so there is no doubt about the usability of this software. Overall, Elgg is a powerful software that offers blog, networking, community, collection of news using feeds aggregation and file sharing features. In fact, it is one of the most versatile pieces of software that offers almost everything you need to start a social networking site.
Elgg operates on a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql and Php) environment and it is easy to install and configure. With a little php knowledge, you can get your social networking site up and running in no time.
Before you install Elgg, try out its demo site.
2. Mahara
Unlike the rest of the social networking software that is meant for general use, Mahara is designed as a platform to allow its users to demonstrate their life-long learning, skills and development to selected audiences. With Mahara, you can create an e-Portfolio platform and set up an online learner community. Features in the software include blogs, a resume builder, a file manager, institutions detail and the social networking aspect where you can add and maintain your list of friends.
Mahara runs on LAMP, although Postgres is preferred over MySql.
Check out the demo site
3. Lovd by Less
Lovd by Less is among the first and only few open-source social networking platforms built on Ruby on Rails. Some features of Lovd by Less include blogs, photo gallery with captions, site search for friends, activity update and user-to-user messaging. Other things that are built into the software include Flickr and YouTube integration.
One thing good about Lovd by Less is that it is easy to use and contains most of the applications that you need. For those who prefer Ruby on Rail rather than php, this would be a good alternative.
Try out the demo site.
4. Xoops with Yogurt extension
XOOPS is an extensible CMS that allows you to build sites based on your needs. You can first start off as a personal blog and expand later to include social networking, forum and much more via the use of appropriate modules.
Yogurt is the particular module that allows you to build a social networking site with XOOPS. You can setup your personal album of pictures, videos from YouTube, mp3 files, add your list of friends, a public wall for messages (scraps), to create communities (tribes) and many more useful features.
XOOPS and Yogurt are based on php and work well in the LAMP environment.
5. AROUNDMe
AROUNDMe is slightly different from the others. Instead of building a social networking site, it allows you to create your own collaboration server which enables your users to setup their own social networking site, community or webspace (like Ning, Google Groups, Snappville, CollectiveX).
With AROUNDMe, your users can have access to a guestbook (a wall), a group blog, a forum and a wiki which they can drop into web pages. Every single group is fully customizable using xHTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP and the user can decide if the group is private or public.
Other Candidates
Here are some of the candidates that didn’t make it to the top 5:
Phpizabi – works fine for a small network, but could become buggy as your network get bigger.
Dolphin – while it is free to download, you will have to pay to get the ad module removed.
Insoshi – a new social network software built on Ruby on Rails released only early April this year. It could have be better if some of its features are more polished.
Have you built your own social networking site before? Which software did you use? Which one would you recommend?
(By) Damien Oh is an all-out technology geek who loves to tweak and hack various operating systems to make life easier. Check out his blog at MakeTechEasier.com where he shares all the tips, tricks and tutorials.
Thanks for the Insoshi mention; it’s too bad your review didn’t come out a couple days later, because Insoshi just released a new version that adds a more polished UI, a new icon set, and photo galleries. You can see in it action at the Insoshi demo site, and the source is available on the Insoshi edge branch at GitHub. Once we’ve ironed out any lingering bugs, we’ll deploy it to the Insoshi developer site and release the new code on the master branch. Give it a look and let us know what you think!
Thans for he informative post, several people have asked me for advice on the best open source social networking app and I didnt know what to recommend. Now I’ll direct them right here.
weat now be anty
(Comments wont nest below this level)there is no demo on this site, just a list of developer stuff
Elgg looks good, I’ll try it out. Do you actually dislike WP? If so, why?
In fact, I love WP the most. I didn’t include it because it is set out to be a social networking software.
Thanks for writing about Lovd By Less. We were glad to do something to give back to the open source community. We wrote Lovd for developers, to give them a head start on their projects and hopefully to increase their profits and their fun.
I have built a social networking site based on PHPzabi an year ago. It has now around 500+ members (not much but consistent). Its a small networking site for Non Residents Indians all over the world.
Anyone, Please let me know how can I move from PHPzabi to Elgg? I mean how do I move my users data.
Help much appreciated!!!
if you like, ask the same in mahalo community. you will get the net filtered for you
Community Server Express is an ASP.NET social network software solution. Worth taking a look at. Can download free for non commercial use. Great UI.
@Vinny: Thanks. I will check it out.
Hi all.
IMHO: I think Elgg is good one if you want to get a skadate.com (social network software solution) and start your own social network. One thing I like in Elgg is the activity page just on your dashboard. But you will need to know PHP. Otherwise your web site will be “half-baked”.
As for Mhara and Xoops they seemed to be platforms for weblogs.
Never mind it was my humble opinion.
Many thanks for the useful article. I’m researching social networks to enhance my blog, and don’t want to be handing the whole thing over, as with Ning. I actually started by trying to blog with facebook, which was really inadequate. Now I use a feed into facebook from wordpress.com, but need something better integrated. I’d add that you might like to take a look at the beta of BuddyPress – a set of social networking add-ons for WordPress. The distinction between ‘blog’ and ’social network’ is going to be hard to maintain in future.
Hi,
Thanks for the information on social networking solutions.
I am looking for a social network solution which runs very stable and can handle a massive number of users (arround one million).
Can anyone make a related recommendation?
Thanks in advance.
If you are going to run a social network site that have about 1 million users, you better make sure that your server can support it.
One way that you can consider is to use third party sites http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/three-awesome-tools-to-create-your-own-social-networks/ where they do the hosting for you.
If you are looking to do your own hosting and own domain name, I would consider elgg. It is simple to use and extensible. Yes, it can handle large number of users too.
Hi, I have tried phpizabi, the software looks good, IDK if you allow links here but you can edit this comment, ive installed phpizabi here campusradio.co.nr.
it works find at first, but it doesn’t really give the users the much needed interactivity, there is nothing interesting with the software, well what can you expect from an open source, there are mods though that you can purchase to perk up the software.
But i m interested with the Lovd by less software. I should try that, thanks for this nice article.
Llevon
Thanks for provide the information on social networking solutions.
I am looking for a social network solution through website. so anyone want social networking then visit my site.
Hi! Could also mention http://www.business-space.org although rather expensive.
http://buddypress.org ??
buddypress is still in development, but I am sure it’ll become an useful and much needed plugin in the future.
Hi Everyone! First of all, thanks for the article. I want you hear your suggestions about something I need to develop:
I’m doing my thesis, it is something like “social networking tools”, where I introduce: OpenID, OAuth, hCard, XFN, OpenSocial, etc, etc, etc. So I have to develop something that has to do with it. My thesis mentor told me that it shouldn’t take me more than one or two months of development. I was expecting to get an existing open social networking code and integrate it with some of the tools I introduce. I looked at Elgg, but it already has everything integrated and a lot of plugins! So I need a more basic social networking code, and integrate it with some social networking tools. So I have two questions.
Which open social networking code should I choose? (I guess I need some simple code that has connections, groups and profiles)
Which tools do you suggest I integrate? (This is not supposed to take me more than two months. I’m a 3-year-experienced Java and PHP developer).
Thanks in advance.
@Flor: It is difficult to find a open-source social network software that has only basic feature. On the end-users point of view, who would want to use a software that is limited in feature? I would suggest you to use WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Xoops or other CMS software and built your way up. There is a wordpress plugin (buddypress) that allows you to have social network ingredient in WordPress.
As for the tools to integrate, it really depend what you want your social network to do. Social networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook serves different audiences and different groups and thus they need different set of tools.
Hope this helps.
I a bit overwhelmed with all the choices. I’m looking to build a social networking site this summer. I want to maintain control of the site and realize it will cost me a bit more to do so. The format of Linkedin is very much what I have in mind.
Any recommendations?
(Comments wont nest below this level)Thanks for sharing this software. I love social networks and hope these help make it a better experience.
Hi i am looking to build a social network for about a million users. I have been looking to go open source or to perhaps buy software that can serve well.
I do not have programming experience so I also need advice on how to get help on this.
I personally preferred to have mine made professionally so that my site was a little more specialized, made it so the site was not only personalized to the subject matter of my choice (Skateboarding) but it made it so users on other specialized SNs from the same service could just log in using their logins from the other SNs they’re signed up on… Makes it nice and easy. If anyone is interested it’s http://software-for-social-networking.com/ They’re amazing to deal with, and friendly guys all around.
This is great article. I never new even social networking exists for the social networking. i am going to try the one i like. Thanks for the great article. But one question can we compare them to top class social networking sites like hi5 and others
I think elgg is best among them and buddy press ‘ll soon become as powerful as elgg is but i hadn’t yet tried it lets see.
Thanks with your sourcing information here.
I’ve been reseraching hard for the last couple of days, and did not bump into the top 5 rated here. So I am pleased to know that there is more to what I found. So far I had found iscript and DZOIC as the most compelling ones. I guess I will continue looking in it.
To me multi language and online shopping functionalities are key. If someone has a suggestion, I will appreciate it.
GREAT post dude!!
THANKS a million for the links, advice, etc. I see BIG potential in setting up social websites for businesses (finance/banking/insurance, eCommerce, Art/Entertainment, Education/schooling), Religious “crap”, government, NGOs, etc. here in East Africa – especially once those 3 undersea fibre optic cables connect this region to the rest of the world. Some say Rwanda is poised to become the Singapore of this region. And Tanzania is slowly coming up nicely as well as Uganda. Kenya is all politics but with a good business climate.
So, let the social networking opportunities begin!!
What’s your views on Ning, Grou.ps, Mixxt, SocialGO, KickApps?? Which has the best overall features and pricing in addition to a responsive network speed??
Can I install Elgg on my HostGator shared service? What’s the threshold in terms of users before I have to go to a VPS or dedicated server???
Thanks again!
You shouldn’t have any issue with installing Elgg on Hostgator, but you must be prepared for frequent downtime when your user base grow. It’s hard to say what’s the threshold. It’s all depend on the amount of bandwidth used.
I recommend http://www.flokio.com
hey this article was very informant for me but i decided to use buddypress which worked out great for me i tried dolphin ,xoops with yogurt, drupal and many others but buddypress worked out better for me have a look for yourself mates2mates.com cheers sima
I need a platform that will enable me to design a social network which is something between myspace and facebook where users can post videos with ease and pictures and so on . And it has to look appealing , can someone please help me select one . Thanks so much
Have you tried Dolphin 6?
Does anyone know of any software that would allow me to create something along the lines of http://www.modelmayhem?
Hi Damien,
Thanks for an interesting and helpful review. I’m surprised that I have not seen them all.
The social networking software mentioned here targets different audiences. For example, ELGG is more for education use. I’m not sure how you can rank them together.
For business, I would say Miniweb 2.0 is the best because of its design and availability of 20 modules.
For MySpace type of usage, DZOIC is probably the one to use.
What about Social Engine. I think Social Engine is way better than the five you have just suggested. It also comes with tons of extra addon plugins. I checked out all the demos from the sites you suggested, and I honestly wasn’t impressed with any of them. They really don’t have that many features. People will get very bored with social networking unless you give them lots of extra features like: Instant Messaging, Chat, Webcam Chat, Interactive Games, etc.
Cool list, thanks!
How about Google Friend Connect?
Google Friend Connect is not really a software that you can use to build a website.
I dont like dolphins design although they have great features. I am currently using phpizabi for my site and it worked great.
Although i think the paid ones will do the best job.
Thanks for your post. I am still tied up between Elgg and Buddypress and keep going back and forth. I know buddypress wasn’t mentione in your post, but I’m curious what your thoughts are between the latest release of Elgg 1.5 and Buddypress 1.0.2.
Thanks!
Hi there,
I am looking into doing a project that involves the use of friends networking technology, but not a social networking site as such. I just need something that can tell me if John does something, it updates John’s friends (possibly via email).
What would be the best option to achieve this?
Thanks!
Hi Guys,
I need some help, I am currently developing a social site:network for a very niche but very large global community and it will be a real money spinner as there is nothing really serving this community at the moment, similar to a linked in but with unique features, plus banner advertising jobs etc and i need some help, if there are any developers who want to get involved please get in touch and in return you can share the wealth with me
How about http://www.socialsitegenerator.com I am looking forward to use it to start social site. How will it can you advise.
Do any of these offer a calendar function with the ability for members to rsvp for events? I’m looking to create a site that works similarly to meetup.com but that has only one main group and an administrator blog. Any suggestions?
Have you picked one? I’m just starting my search and your problem sounds like mine.
So, would this be good for building traffic for my own seo or for companies that I’m working with. It’s not like we can even dent the large social networking groups, right?
Is there anyone who is currently running a social networking site using any of the software listed? Which is the easiest to use? If you are using one of the above, what are the pros and cons of it? Would you recommend the one you are using, or would you recommend a differnt one? Thanks.
This is a great list, some of them I never heard of, live Loved By Less.
But they all require so much tweaking to get a site up, and still missing features like Group pictures. Some don’t even seem to have groups at all.
Even the paid scripts at $300 each don’t seem to have very good functionality. It’s so hard to find something good.
Thanks for the list, You can also add http://Ioch.org (Valid PR 4) social networking site that share & deliver News & enable user to publish & share their articles with other users.
Very very good list of social networking sites. Probably the best so far i have seen on the internet.
Thank you so much
I will check a few of these out, I did try phpizabi but I found this a little buggy.
Award or no award …
PLEASE tell me why one would choose ELGG at all?
As far as I can remember – McDonald’s got many awards, too, yet everybody knows how worthless their food is! So please, don’t impress with awards. An award is doing nothing except misleading ignorant audience!
Does anyone know about http://www.socialengine.net? They have a good marketing “talk” on the site but no address or phone number.
Sherry, all the contact information is located on the parent companies website (http://www.webligo.com).
Hello,
I am f=Founder & CEO of an early stage start up firm. We’re aiming at developing our own social networking site for a user base of around 4 million users. What technology environment / open source suite would you suggest for above described network?
Readers may also want to check out a brand-new Ruby/Rails based Social Networking platform called EngineY. You can find this at http://www.enginey.com. Features include user profiles, groups, blogs, activity streams, photos, events, private messaging, friending, integration with Twitter, and more..
Very interesting article… The people who are the beginners can make use of these tips to build up a social networking site…… good job…… Thank u all for sharing their own thoughts….. ll make use of these…….
Sijio is a PHP based fast, high performance, easy to use and fully customizable social networking platform with open source code. It is equipped with all necessary professional tools and features to run a full fledged community site.
This a great list of social networking softwares. I find the free software is really good for building small online communities or using it to determine feasibility.
Social Networking Software
Nice article thanks for the information. My work is looking for a wiki or social networking type software. We like the wiki idea but the we need something easy to edit, something WYSIWYG instead of the code most of the wikis use. Is there anything like a combo of wiki and SN software that’s open source? Thanks.
Buddypress at buddypress.org should be added to the list – in fact, buddypress and elgg are the real toppers.
Thanks for the list, you can also add the following social bookmarking site that is focused on UK/EU news.
http://ukmediaroom.com
The best:
http://www.medplaya.com/redes-sociales_s18.html
Great list, you can also add http://vhzh.com – Health related social bookmarking sites.
Trying to integrate VideoWhisper.com flash video plug ins including Video Conference, Live Streaming, Video Recorder software with best platforms.
The problem with most of the social network scripts you have mentioned there is that they are maintained and coded by enthusiasts and not businesses. This means that critical bugs can take a while to be fixed, there are not frequent updates and support can be lacking.
I’m surprised Joomla didn’t make the list along with buddypress, but if people are looking for a robust solution, paid software like Dolphin, iSocial and SocialEngine should be considered.
Social Network Empire is a platform that is mainly sold in the “internet marketing” arena, but it seems to be a pretty cool “Hosted by them” solution. I recently purchased from them. I believe it is only an invite only kindof thing or that they only open their doors a couple times a year.
I have tested a ton of various scripts and my favorite from your list of 5 above is elgg.
Nice post.
great SEO.
This is one of the best social networking software missed to add in this page
social networking script
One of the best and most stable site is http://www.rsitez.com
Don’t forget SocialEngine (http://www.socialengine.net). SocialEngine is a strong player in the white-label social networking market and allows you to setup a PHP-based network on your website.
I don’t know anything about this technology. I’m wondering about the possibility of an open source SN site to compete with Facebook, one that would have similar features but much better privacy settings, be free of advertising, being supported by low-cost subscriptions (such as $10 a year).