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Tumblr vs Mastodon: catalog facts
Tumblr	Mastodon
Free Free to join and post.	Free Free and open source under the AGPL. Hosting is separate.
Web	Android, Web, Self-hosted
Reblogging makes sharing and discovery easy Mix of text, image and video posts	Chronological timelines with no engagement ranking Federated, so moving servers does not mean losing your network
Centralised, proprietary platform owned by a single company	Your experience depends heavily on which server you join Running a server has real moderation and maintenance cost
Web application	Self-hosted, Web application
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	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 October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

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