The best open source alternative to Mastodon is diaspora*. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Mastodon and loads of them is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to Mastodon are Pleroma, Pixelfed, Bluesky and Friendica.
Diaspora is a federated social networking service, designed to be a more privacy-aware alternative to Facebook . Share what you want, with whom you want.
Mastodon is a X-like microblogging Server and App, whereas Diaspora is a Facebook-like macroblogging Server and App.
Pleroma is a free, federated social networking server built on open protocols. It is compatible with GNU Social, Mastodon, and many other ActivityPub and OStatus implementations.
Mastodon and Pleroma are both microblogging Server and Apps, so task and purpose is the same on the Fediverse.
Any fediverse software is more additional than comparable to Mastodon, so Pleroma is the currently the only alternative to Mastodon.
You should compare both as you don't need both at the same time.
It supports other open source alternatives to Mastodon such as OStatus
Federated image-sharing platform with privacy, safety, no tracking or ads, algorithm-free chronological timelines, open-source code, comprehensive moderation, supports self-hosting, ActivityPub protocol, hashtag discovery, responsive mobile access, and ethical data control.
If Mastodon is like Twitter, Pux3lfed is like Instagram. Depending on how you want to use your social media, they can be complementary
Pixelfed is a good combination and addition to Mastodon as both have different purposes.
Pixelfed replaces Instagram and Tumblr in the fediverse.
Pixelfed is an alternative to Tumblr or Instagram, not to a microblogging platform like Mastodon
An open social network that gives creators independence from platforms, developers the freedom to build, and users a choice in their experience.
Lot of big name power users and a massive community make Blue Sky good. Blue Sky has a lot of really cool features like "Feed" and "Labels" that will only continue to grow.
While both are open source and decentralized, Bluesky promotes algorithmic timelines and is currently only compatible with the Bluesky website and client apps.
Mastodon instances are decentralized, allowing communication between multiple social networking services which are part of the Fediverse.
Friendica is a distributed social network application. Which allow users to connect with others via their own Friendica server, but may also fully integrate contacts from other platforms including Twitter, diaspora*, Pump.io and StatusNet into their 'newsfeed'.
An open-source platform for decentralized social networking. Users can monetize posts through ads or monthly support, engaging in various features such as Blogs, Videos, and secure private chats. Minds supports free speech and facilitates sharing across networks and exploring global trends.
Minds is a blockchain-based mix of social-media and micro-blogging site and recently it added a Matrix client (a fork of Element) with E2E encryption.
Due to educational gamification of its networks and applications.
GNU social is a continuation of the StatusNet project. It is social communication software for both public and private communications. It is widely supported and has a large userbase.
It is not reliant on google analytics for its android applications (I found this out using Exodus Privacy) and is more reliably maintained as a result.
This is one of the better alternatives to Mastodon if you intend to have a personal or public server. Visitors can easily check the instances a server is federating with. It has a better looking web interface, though on big servers, that can grind your browser to halt for a number of seconds.
It also allows users to react to posts with custom emojis
Gab Social is an open source and fully decentralized social network powered by the Gab Platform. It is the new social network of Gab.com. This change was made to further Gab's commitment to its users trust and privacy online.
As long as Gab is a freemium product it is no alternative to Mastodon which is a free and open source Server and App.
Gab is godless compare to other social network
Gab can connect to the rest of the Mastodon network anyway! It's like Twitter but even easier to use and user-friendly. You don't need an account to look at stuff. And of course, free speech.
Phanpy is an alternative to the Mastodon app, not to the network or server software. It runs well on both desktop and mobile, and has some really helpful features like a catch-up mode and clustering boosts together to emphasize what people are actually posting themselves.
This only offers the backend, you'll need something like Elk for people to be able to access via web browsers
Light-weight, easy to install
Sharkey is a Misskey fork following upstream changes when possible, with added features. Like any other ActivityPub software Sharkey can interface with the thousands of servers that form the fediverse, an interconnected social network, working in tandem with software such as...
United States
Canada
Australia
Japan
Malaysia
Diaspora is more like a Facebook alternative; Mastodon is a Twitter alternative. Both are open-source and non-profit and aren't based on exploiting people's privacy for money-making/selling you out to adverisers or passing on everything about you (contacts, opinions, likes, location, interests...) to government authorities. Facebook does do this.