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Mastodon vs diaspora*: catalog facts
Mastodon	diaspora*
Free Free and open source under the AGPL. Hosting is separate.	Free Free and open source under the AGPL. Hosting is separate.
Android, Web, Self-hosted	Web, Self-hosted
Chronological timelines with no engagement ranking Federated, so moving servers does not mean losing your network	Aspects give fine control over who sees each post One of the longest-running decentralised social networks
Your experience depends heavily on which server you join Running a server has real moderation and maintenance cost	Does not speak ActivityPub, so it does not federate with Mastodon Activity levels are low compared with newer networks
Self-hosted, Web application	Self-hosted, Web application
Open source	Open source
License: AGPL-3.0	License: AGPL-3.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.