Mastodon Alternatives

Mastodon is described as 'Federated and open-source social network with no ads, 500-character limit, custom emojis, and content warnings, emphasizing privacy and personal interaction' and is a leading Social Network in the social & communications category. There are more than 100 alternatives to Mastodon for a variety of platforms, including Web-based, Android, iPhone, Self-Hosted and iPad apps. The best Mastodon alternative is diaspora*, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Mastodon are Pleroma, Pixelfed, Bluesky and X.

filter to find the best alternatives

Mastodon alternatives are mainly Social Networks, but if you're looking for Microblogs or Photo Sharing Apps you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Open Source. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Mastodon.
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Alternatives list

  1. Social Home icon
     7 likes

    Decentralized social network on the fediverse. Usable for both #microblogging and full length #blog posts. Editing both content and replies is supported.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
     
  2. HumHub icon
     68 likes

    HumHub is a free social network software and framework built to give you the tools to make teamwork easy and successful.

    85 HumHub alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • BSD
    • Self-Hosted
    • Cloudron
     
  3. Movim icon
     51 likes

    Our philosophy is that your data are yours and you must always be in control. Movim achieves this through a complete decentralisation of users' data and accounts.

    63 Movim alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
     
  4. Scuttlebutt.nz icon
     12 likes

    a decent(ralised) secure gossip platform sea-slang for gossip - a scuttlebutt is basically a watercooler on a ship.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Patchwork
     
  5. Bastyon icon
     10 likes

    Bastyon is a revolutionary anti-censorship decentralized publishing and social platform voted to freedom of speech. Based on the blockchain technology, it runs on a set of computers around the world, not controlled by any single entity.

    108 Bastyon alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
     
  6. ZeroMe icon
     44 likes

    Social network for the distributed P2P network ZeroNet.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • gevent
    • Self-Hosted
    • Python
    • JavaScript
    • ZeroNet
     
  7. Wafrn icon
     11 likes

    Wafrn is a social network inspired by tumblr, that also can connect with other wafrn instances, or with mastodon, pleroma, firefish and other platforms that use activitypub.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Self-Hosted
    • UNIX Web Browser
    • F-Droid
     
  8. snac icon
     5 likes

    A simple, minimalistic ActivityPub server written in portable C.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
     
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    1
    Comments about snac as an Alternative to Mastodon
    Kelson V
    Positive
    0

    An extremely lightweight server and basic web app. If you want to self-host a Fediverse site, you 'd need a new server and lots of storage for Mastodon, but you can probably put Snac on an existing server you're already using for something else and it'll run fine. It is very minimalist, which will probably be either a big plus or a big minus depending on how you like your software.

    snac icon
    snac icon
    • snac is Free and Open SourceMastodon is also Free and Open Source
  9. Identi.ca icon
     56 likes

    identi.ca is a free personal web server that implements a distributed social networking service. It is based on pump.io, a free software which make up the distributed social network.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  10. Facebook icon
     998 likes

    A comprehensive social network for connecting with friends and family, sharing photos, videos, and updates, organizing events, forming groups, and accessing business pages. Offers messaging, live streaming, privacy settings, and a marketplace on both web and mobile platforms.

    147 Facebook alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Tor
    • KaiOS
     
    |
    4
    Comments about Facebook as an Alternative to Mastodon
    John Fastman
    Negative
    37

    Facebook makes money by using people's private information for their profit. Your privacy - everyone you know, message, what you like and discuss - is the basis of their money-making. You are the product. Additionally, FB likes can be used to guess with high accuracy people's political preferences. Facebook have also experimented with manipulating peoples' emotions using the news feed. Mastodon does NONE of this; it's free, non-profit and open source.

    Guest
    Negative
    9

    Mastodon: Open-source, decentralized/federated, can even be done p2p... Facebook: closed-source/proprietary, centralized, owned and operated by a company that gets raging hard-ons whenever there's a chance for them to molest your privacy and sell your data to anyone from shops to downright evil governments... If these two have any similarity beyond that they're both on the internet, then I'm guessing a submarine and a jetfighter are also similar.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Mano
    Negative
    0

    Facebook pushes whatever content Mark Zuckerberg desires. It's designed to spy on the users and sell ads.

    3 of 4 comments
    Facebook icon
    Facebook icon
    • This alternative is disputed. Facebook is a legitimate Mastodon alternative, but it might have issues that some users think are important.

    • Facebook is Free and ProprietaryMastodon is Free and Open Source
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