| Solution | Pros | Cons | |----------|------|------| | | Beautiful mobile app, built-in payments | Monthly per-user fee ($4k/month for 50k users!) | | Discourse (forum-based) | Great for discussions, open-source | Poor marketplace features, no private feed | | HumHub (self-hosted) | Flexible permissions, wiki-like pages | Requires developer for custom marketplace |
Maya launched “Yarn,” a niche social network for indie dyers and spinners, in 2018 using PHPFox. It worked beautifully for three years: groups for KALs (Knit-Alongs), a marketplace for hand-dyed wool, and private messaging. But by 2024, Yarn had 50,000 active users. The cracks were showing. phpfox alternative
The Social Network That Grew Up