Mastodon
Mastodon: Twitter Alternative
Reviewed by Marcus Holmberg
Replace today:
Twitter/X Facebook Threads Reddit
Decentralized Social Media Networks, Platforms and Apps
Private alternatives to Twitter/X, Facebook, Threads, Reddit, vetted against our public criteria.
Showing 6 of 6
Grouped by threat level
Covered Easy start and good defaults for everyone
Aether
Aether: reddit Alternative (Desktop App)
Hardened Some setup and real gains for the willing
No matches for those filters.
How they compare
On a centralized social network, one owner controls the algorithm that shapes your reach and holds your data, and that can change the moment the company does. Decentralized networks run on open protocols nobody can buy, so no single company holds the keys to your feed or your followers. You can join an existing community in minutes or run your own server, and either way the account is yours to keep and to move. These are the open networks worth joining.
Why you can’t just make a mainstream feed private
The feed on a mainstream network is the product, and a settings page cannot change that. The owner decides what you see and ranks every post for engagement, all while holding the full social graph of who you talk to, no matter which toggles you flip. Even a “chronological” option is granted by the platform and can be removed the moment priorities shift, because the company controls the room and you are a guest in it. There is no configuration for “stop ranking and profiling me” inside a business built on doing exactly that. The fix is structural, not a setting: a network where no single owner runs the feed at all, which is what every pick on this page is designed to be.
How decentralized social actually works
Instead of one company running everything, the network is made of many independent servers that talk to each other over a shared open protocol. You pick a server (or run your own), and from there you follow and interact with people across all of them, much the way email works between providers. A network like Mastodon federates short-text posts this way, while Lemmy applies the same idea to link-and-discussion communities and Pixelfed to photo sharing. No single owner can rewrite the rules for everyone or quietly sell the network out from under you, because there is no centre to capture.
What you gain, and what to expect
You gain a feed you control and an account that stays portable, free from one owner’s decisions about your reach. The trade is that discovery takes a little more effort, since you build your timeline by following people rather than being handed an engagement-tuned stream, and your day-to-day experience depends partly on the server you join. Pick a server whose rules and community fit you, and remember the safety net: if it stops working out, you can move and bring your followers along. Be wary, too, of services marketed as “decentralized” that are really one company with good slogans.
How we pick these
Every network here is measured against our public listing criteria: an open protocol so your account and posts stay portable, the genuine option to run your own server, a timeline you control rather than one tuned for engagement, and an active community you can actually find people in. We weigh whether the project is governed in the open and funded without selling your attention. We only list networks we would happily move our own following to, and we say where a smaller network asks more patience than a mainstream feed.
How to switch from a centralized network
Pick a server that fits you, sign up, then use a finder tool to locate the accounts you already follow elsewhere. Post an introduction and follow a few dozen people to seed your timeline, then give it a week to fill out. If you are leaving Twitter or X specifically, our Twitter alternatives page walks through the move and the people to find first. To unwind Meta’s networks more broadly, the escape Meta playbook covers Facebook and Instagram in one place, and pairing an open network with private messaging keeps the conversations you take private off a platform entirely.
Frequently asked
- Do I have to run my own server to use a decentralized network?
- No. You join an existing community the way you would sign up anywhere, and someone else handles the hosting and the upkeep. Running your own server is an option for people who want full control over the rules and the data, but it is never a requirement to take part.
- Can I bring the people I follow when I switch servers?
- Usually, yes. These networks have tools to find accounts you followed elsewhere, and if you move to a different server later you can take your own follower list with you. Portability is built into the protocol rather than offered as a favour, so leaving a server does not mean starting over.
- Is anyone actually active on these networks?
- Yes. The largest open networks have millions of active people, from individual journalists and scientists to entire communities that left mainstream platforms. Who you find depends heavily on the server you pick and the accounts you bring, so the early days reward a little effort to seed your feed.
- How do these networks make money without ads that track me?
- Most do not run a profit-seeking company at the centre at all. Individual servers are funded by member donations or by the operator paying out of pocket, and the open protocol they share is maintained by non-profits and volunteers. With no central owner selling reach, there is no engine built to profile you.
- Is a decentralized feed harder to use than a normal app?
- The apps themselves feel familiar, with a timeline of posts and replies just like any social app. The one new step is choosing a server when you sign up, which takes a minute and can be changed later. Discovery also takes slightly more effort than an algorithm force-feeding you content, because you build your feed by following people rather than being assigned one.
- What stops a decentralized network from being bought out?
- There is no single thing to buy. The network is made of many independent servers talking over a shared open protocol, so no one can purchase it or rewrite its rules for everyone. An individual server can close, but your account and followers move to another, which is the protection the design is built to provide.