What is Mastodon?

Engage with friends and discover new acquaintances within an energetic network of over 4.4 million members. You can express yourself freely—whether through links, images, text, or videos—on a platform that values community ownership and does not rely on advertisements. In contrast to conventional social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook, Mastodon is a decentralized ecosystem made up of thousands of distinct communities overseen by a variety of individuals and organizations, creating a unified social media experience. The platform features strong anti-abuse measures to prioritize your safety and well-being. Thanks to its decentralized nature, there are numerous moderators ready to help, along with communities that follow stringent guidelines for user behavior. You have 500 characters to convey your thoughts, with the ability to modify image thumbnails by selecting specific parts. Custom emojis are available, and you can hide content behind spoiler alerts, as well as tailor the visibility of your posts. If you ever need to make changes, it's easy to delete and edit your content for prompt revisions. Mastodon cultivates a distraction-free atmosphere as there’s no incentive to market products, allowing you to focus on the content you cherish. Furthermore, the community-centric approach encourages a rich variety of conversations and interactions, significantly enriching the overall experience for users. This dynamic environment promotes creativity and collaboration among users.

Pricing

Price Starts At:
Free
Free Version:
Free Version available.

Screenshots and Video

Company Facts

Company Name:
Mastodon
Date Founded:
2016
Company Website:
joinmastodon.org

Product Details

Deployment
SaaS
iPhone
iPad
Android
Training Options
Documentation Hub
Support
Web-Based Support

Product Details

Target Company Sizes
Individual
1-10
11-50
51-200
201-500
501-1000
1001-5000
5001-10000
10001+
Target Organization Types
Mid Size Business
Small Business
Enterprise
Freelance
Nonprofit
Government
Startup
Supported Languages
English

Mastodon Categories and Features

Social Networking Software

Activity / News Feed
Advertising Management
Blogs
Data Security
Event Management
Group Management
Media Library
Privacy Options
Real-time Chat
Social Media Integration
Social Media Tagging
User Profiles

More Mastodon Categories

  • Reviewer Name: A Verified Reviewer
    Position: Editor
    Has used product for: Less than 6 months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 1 - 25
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Bitterly disappointed

    Updated: Feb 06 2024
    Summary

    I was expelled from Mastodon for supposedly "Inciting to violence".
    The offending post was a plea to restore funding to The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The offending article did say that the arguments used by Israel were worthy of Goebbels. Either Mastodon's monitors did not understand, or they were pushed by the Israel lobby to exclude me. I wrote no incentive to violence. Just incentive to humanitarian aid. I did put in an appeal merely saying that my post incentivised to aid, not violence. But my appeal was rejected.

    Positive

    Easy to use, with practice. Easy to find other interested in the same things, (by use of hashtags etc).
    Easy to upload links, and images.
    Easy to follow others that on is interested in.
    Easy to complain, block - e.g adult messages.

    Negative

    Mastodon has cancelled my account. This time they cancelled me for "Inciting to Violence". This was simply not true.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: A Verified Reviewer
    Position: Writer
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 1 - 25
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    One of the worst social networks ever created!

    Date: Mar 07 2024
    Summary

    I have a blog that regularly writes reviews on books, films and video games, I posted my posts day after day and after a few months of hard work a guy reported me publicly as a spammer and Mastodon deleted my page without thinking twice! I tried to contact them but no one deigned to answer me after several weeks! I would say it is one of the worst social networks together with Tumblr, since they are very similar as art eliminators!

    Positive

    Nothing and nothing! At the beginning it seemed interesting to me, perhaps a place where I could write freely without any problems, at the beginning I trusted the social network, a new platform where I could insert my works, but not only were my works not seen by anyone, but In my opinion the site didn't even try to help me for a moment with the algorithm!

    Negative

    Not only do you have an embarrassing character limit, but as soon as they see that you make a few more posts a day you are branded as a spammer and without thinking twice they block you and close your page as if you were a thief or a murderer!

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: A Verified Reviewer
    Position: User
    Has used product for: 1-2 Years
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 1 - 25
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Decent

    Updated: Dec 02 2023
    Summary

    Decent experience. Hell of a lot better than Twitter. I recommend it but you really have to go looking for the things you want to follow.

    Positive

    Decent. Open. It is what you make of it. Decent people. The conversations are very interesting and there's a wide range of topics to follow.

    Negative

    Bit preachy. Ignore that. The UI is a bit heavy but very functional.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: A Verified Reviewer
    Position: Director
    Has used product for: Free Trial
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 100 - 499
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Horror

    Date: Sep 10 2023
    Summary

    Removed my account as fast as I could.

    Positive

    Nothing.

    Negative

    Its a clubhouse for the woke community, disgusting people.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Red B.
    Position: User
    Has used product for: 6-12 Months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 1 - 25
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Mastodon following same road as Twitter. :(

    Date: Jun 16 2023
    Summary

    Not good. Wound up being banned for rule violations I did not commit due to pressure from a special interest group who I opposed for bullying and libeling others. I WOULD NOT recommend this platform.

    Positive

    At first it seemed to be cool and laidback - the exact opposite of how Twitter under the MuskRAT is now being run.

    Negative

    Really sad that a site that showed such promise is now starting down the same road as Twitter, banning people on false accusations of rule/policy violations based on the whims of mods/admins who are letting the power go to their heads. They are in effect practicing the same double-standards as most other social media, allowing certain groups to do and say whatever they want, while penalizing others.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: A Verified Reviewer
    Position: Publisher
    Has used product for: 1-2 Years
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 1 - 25
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
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    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    The way social is meant to be

    Date: Oct 12 2023
    Summary

    Excellent social network that fulfills my needs for news, insight, discussion of science, politics, and culture. No nazis and any trolls are short-lived. Free, no ads, and I pay (willingly) $1/month to my instance and $1/month to Gargron. Worth it.

    Positive

    No cockamamie algorithms, quality content and discussion. Very few trolls, and easy to get them banned. Decent web interface. Mobile app Megalodon is great.

    Negative

    Somewhat hard to duplicate original twitter follows, but in the end that doesn't matter.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: A Verified Reviewer
    Position: Student
    Has used product for: Less than 6 months
    Uses the product: Weekly
    Org Size (# of Employees): 20,000 or More
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
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    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Good If You Don't Value Your Patience

    Date: Dec 01 2022
    Summary

    Overall, it's twitter for tech nerds and people who don't like who's running twitter. Once the hurdles of "what is an instance" and "who do i follow" are over, it's a pretty decent place.

    Positive

    A decentralized network is a great premise. People are free to make and run their own servers how they wish, and connect with other servers how they wish.
    Overall, people are a tad nicer here, as I have seen firsthand.
    Also, it's impossible to be truly banned, as being banned from one server doesn't restrict you from joining any other server.

    Negative

    The place's premise is also its downfall in a sense. The "moderators" and "administrators" that run these servers aren't hired professionals, they're just some guy. In turn, they tend to not be the best at their job if you pick the wrong server. My account was terminated once for a single strike, and I will gladly never use that server again.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: A Verified Reviewer
    Position: Founder
    Has used product for: Free Trial
    Uses the product: Weekly
    Org Size (# of Employees): 1 - 25
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
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    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    This site must be banned as it goes against public safety

    Date: Jun 01 2022
    Summary

    It has been traumatic and painful being on Mastodon and hell every day. Not only did I feel unsafe, others were complaining as well. Received threats when protesting against these hellish posts. This site is mafia land.

    Positive

    Nothing at all. It's overly complicated, juvenile, unusable, poor programming besides the racism and violence.

    Negative

    It promotes hate.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: NICHOLAS R.
    Position: CEO
    Has used product for: Less than 6 months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 1 - 25
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Mastodon is Better Than Alternatives

    Updated: Jan 04 2023
    Summary

    Mastodon is popular for a reason. It supports many of the same features as Twitter. Open source and actively developed.. A Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, Redis app!

    Positive

    Open Source.
    NOT Centralized.
    NOT owned by a single company.
    Thousands of Distributed Mastodon Servers.
    Can edit posts.
    NO ALGORITHMS!
    Users have much more control.
    Moderation.
    Less Drama.
    Positivity.

    Negative

    Not as many famous people on Mastodon compared to Twitter
    Some new users have a hard time finding the right Mastodon server. I recommend looking and medium and smaller Mastodon instances

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Logan A.
    Position: COO
    Has used product for: Less than 6 months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 26 - 99
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    It's decent

    Date: Nov 22 2022
    Summary

    Overall it's a decent alternative to Twitter, but I am going to stick with Twitter mainly. Mastodon still has a lot of room to grow but it's not there yet.

    Positive

    Has some cool features. The decentralized nature of it is cool, although there are drawbacks to it. So far it's been a decent experience.

    Negative

    It's much harder for the average person to use compared to Twitter. Also, moderation seems to differ between servers. Some moderators on some servers will ban you if they do not like you, or disagree with your ideology. Apparently moderators can also see your direct messages.

    Read More...
  • Reviewer Name: Caleb M.
    Position: Owner of the Unired States.
    Has used product for: Less than 6 months
    Uses the product: Daily
    Org Size (# of Employees): 20,000 or More
    Feature Set
    Layout
    Ease Of Use
    Cost
    Customer Service
    Would you Recommend to Others?
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Banned

    Date: Nov 24 2022
    Summary

    Lousy, they already banned me without a reason and run a worse site than I have seen so far in.

    Positive

    I was on there for about two weeks. I received a warning over a picture that showed a camel toe and permanently banned for saying little white dove. I think I'll just stay on TikTok. They allow people who have views different from their own,

    Negative

    No logical appeal process.
    Banned for no reason.

    Read More...
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