Alternatives to Mastodon
Federated microblogging server with no algorithmic feed. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Mastodon
Federated microblogging server with no algorithmic feed.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Mastodon.
Misskey
Feature-rich fediverse server with reactions, drive storage and theming.
Misskey adds custom reactions, quotes, a built-in file drive and deep per-instance theming that Mastodon lacks, but it is heavier to run and mostly documented in Japanese.
Pleroma
Lightweight fediverse server that runs on very modest hardware.
Pleroma runs on hardware far smaller than Mastodon needs and keeps a Mastodon-compatible API for existing apps, but has fewer contributors and less developed moderation tooling.
Bluesky
Decentralized Twitter-style network built on the open AT Protocol.
Bluesky replaces ActivityPub federation with the AT Protocol, offers official Android and iOS apps and portable identity, but it is not open source and most users use the hosted service.
Friendica
Federated social platform that bridges to Mastodon, diaspora*, email and RSS.
Friendica federates with Mastodon while also bridging diaspora*, email and RSS and adding groups, events and photo albums, at the cost of a dated interface and PHP maintenance.
diaspora*
Decentralised social network built on independently run pods.
diaspora* is an open-source pod-based network with aspects for per-post audience control, but it does not speak ActivityPub, so you lose contact with Mastodon users.
GoToSocial
A lightweight self-hosted ActivityPub social network server written in Go.
GoToSocial is a lightweight Go server for individuals or small groups, with fewer features by design and no focus on very large follower counts.
Akkoma
A self-hostable ActivityPub microblogging server forked from Pleroma, focused on custom expression.
Akkoma, a Pleroma fork, adds custom emoji reactions and Misskey-Flavoured Markdown while still federating with Mastodon and other ActivityPub software.
Sharkey
A federated microblogging server forked from Misskey, with added features and a focus on performance.
Sharkey is a Misskey fork with added features and a performance focus that federates with Mastodon, maintained by a smaller team.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Mastodon as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Bonfire
An open-source, federated platform for building a community space that connects to the open social web.
Mastodon has a larger ecosystem than Bonfire and chronological microblogging timelines, but focuses on microblogging rather than modular building blocks for different community needs.
Farcaster
A client app for Farcaster, a decentralised social network where you own your identity.
Mastodon is an open-source AGPL-3.0 federated microblogging server with chronological timelines, where your experience depends heavily on which server you join.
glitch-soc
A friendly fork of the Mastodon server software that adds experimental features on top of upstream.
Mastodon is the upstream server glitch-soc builds on, likely more stable but without formatted posts, local-only posts, threaded mode or flavours and skins.
Hometown
A self-hosted fork of Mastodon that adds local-only posting for community-focused instances.
Mastodon is the upstream server Hometown follows, getting new features first but lacking Hometown's local-only posts and wider range of content types.
Hubzilla
An open-source, self-hosted fediverse platform for social networking, publishing and collaboration with nomadic identity.
Mastodon focuses on federated microblogging with chronological timelines, dropping Hubzilla's built-in files, calendar, wikis and nomadic identity.
Iceshrimp.NET
A self-hosted ActivityPub microblogging server written in C#, continuing the Iceshrimp project.
Mastodon is the most established AGPL-3.0 federated microblogging server with chronological timelines, carrying real moderation and maintenance costs but a larger community than Iceshrimp.NET.
Mitra
A self-hosted federated micro-blogging server written in Rust that connects to the fediverse over ActivityPub.
Mastodon is a larger federated server with a bigger community, but running it carries more moderation and maintenance cost than a small Mitra instance.
Smithereen
A self-hosted federated social network server with friends, walls and groups, using ActivityPub.
Mastodon swaps friends, walls and groups for a chronological microblogging feed on a much larger ActivityPub network, under the AGPL-3.0 licence rather than public domain.
snac
A minimal self-hosted ActivityPub instance written in portable C.
Mastodon offers a much fuller feature set and larger community, but requires more resources and brings real moderation and maintenance costs.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Pixelfed
Federated photo sharing platform with no ads or algorithm.
PeerTube
Federated video platform that shares bandwidth peer to peer.
Lemmy
Federated link aggregator and discussion platform.
Elk
A lightweight open-source web client for Mastodon that runs in the browser.
Phanpy
A minimalistic, opinionated web client for reading and posting on Mastodon from a browser.
Ivory
A Mastodon client for iPhone, iPad and Mac from the makers of Tweetbot.
