abode vs Pinterest
Pinterest is a vast visual discovery engine — endless ideas for recipes, homes and outfits, paid for by ads. abode is for keeping what you find, not being fed more: no ads, no feed, private by default, and open source.
the short answer
choose Pinterest if you want endless inspiration to browse and don't mind ads.
choose abode if you want to keep what you find — privately, with no ads and no feed.
side by side
- pricing
abode · hosted: invite-only early access. self-hosted: free
Pinterest · free, ad-supported
- open source
abode · yes — AGPL-3.0, every line on github
Pinterest · no
- self-hostable
abode · yes — Postgres + Supabase is all it needs
Pinterest · no
- how you organise
abode · no folders or filing — search, plus rooms (hand-picked or auto-filled by filters)
Pinterest · boards and sections; secret boards for private pins
- AI & search
abode · AI titles, descriptions, tags and OCR; full-text + semantic search; similar images
Pinterest · visual search with Lens and tap-to-search inside pins
- what you can save
abode · links, images, articles, tweets, instagram posts, videos, products, books, notes
Pinterest · images, videos and products, linking back to their source
- sharing
abode · public profile and public rooms, share links for single items
Pinterest · fully social — public profiles and boards, following, group boards
- ads & feeds
abode · no ads, no feed, no algorithm
Pinterest · personalised ads and a recommendation feed
- apps
abode · web (installable); browser extension coming soon
Pinterest · web, iOS, android; browser save extension
- getting your data out
abode · one-click export of everything — coming soon. self-hosted, the database is yours; API + personal access tokens
Pinterest · request a data download by email (up to 48 hours)
| feature | abode | |
|---|---|---|
| pricing | hosted: invite-only early access. self-hosted: free | free, ad-supported |
| open source | yes — AGPL-3.0, every line on github | no |
| self-hostable | yes — Postgres + Supabase is all it needs | no |
| how you organise | no folders or filing — search, plus rooms (hand-picked or auto-filled by filters) | boards and sections; secret boards for private pins |
| AI & search | AI titles, descriptions, tags and OCR; full-text + semantic search; similar images | visual search with Lens and tap-to-search inside pins |
| what you can save | links, images, articles, tweets, instagram posts, videos, products, books, notes | images, videos and products, linking back to their source |
| sharing | public profile and public rooms, share links for single items | fully social — public profiles and boards, following, group boards |
| ads & feeds | no ads, no feed, no algorithm | personalised ads and a recommendation feed |
| apps | web (installable); browser extension coming soon | web, iOS, android; browser save extension |
| getting your data out | one-click export of everything — coming soon. self-hosted, the database is yours; API + personal access tokens | request a data download by email (up to 48 hours) |
where Pinterest shines
- an enormous library of visual ideas — inspiration for anything, instantly
- excellent visual search, including shopping the look
- collaborative boards for planning with friends and family
where abode fits better
- you want a place to keep your own finds, without ads or a feed pulling you elsewhere
- you save links, tweets, articles and notes too, not just pictures
- you'd rather your saves didn't feed an image generator — Pinterest trains its model on public pins unless you opt out
questions
- can I discover new ideas on abode?
- not really — abode is for keeping what you find, not browsing everyone else's. you can visit the public profiles and rooms people share, but there's no discovery feed.
- can I bring my Pinterest library to abode?
- not yet — a Pinterest importer is next on the roadmap. for now, you save things one by one.
- is abode free?
- self-hosting is free, forever — the code is AGPL-3.0 on github. the hosted version is in invite-only early access: join the waitlist to get in.
- can I run abode myself?
- yes. it needs Postgres and Supabase; everything else, like AI descriptions and image search, lights up when you add its key. the self-hosting docs are still evolving.
- is what I save private?
- yes, unless you choose otherwise: things are private until you put them in a public room or share them, and public pages stay out of search engines unless you opt in.