Comparison

ResearchGate vs Mastodon

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

ResearchGate

Access over 150 million scientific publications and connect with millions of researchers worldwide. Stay updated on new research in your field, track your academic stats, and download full-text articles for offline reading.

Highlights
  • Access 150+ million publications
  • Connect with 20+ million researchers
  • Stay updated on new research
  • Track academic stats and reports
  • Download full-texts for offline reading
Features
Read full description

Staying connected to the world of science is even easier with the ResearchGate app. ACCESS 150+ million publication pages Discover millions of publications right on your device, from anywhere. CONNECT with 20+ million researchers Discover other researchers and potential collaborators in your field. STAY UP TO DATE on new research in your field Get updates from the people you follow, and discover new and relevant research in your home feed. TRACK YOUR STATS and get weekly reports Keep track of your reads, citations, Research Interest Score, and more, and get notified when people interact with your work. DOWNLOAD full-texts to read anytime Discover interesting research while on the go, and save it to read whenever you want. To use the app, you need to have a registered ResearchGate account and be 18+ years old.

About

Mastodon

Connect with others on a decentralized social network. Share posts, images, and videos in chronological order without algorithms or ads. Discover new content and participate in conversations across the fediverse.

Highlights
  • Chronological feed
  • No algorithms or ads
  • Discover new users and topics
  • Post with images, videos, and polls
  • Create custom lists
  • Filter content
  • Cross-platform communication
Features
Read full description

Mastodon is the best way to keep up with what’s happening. Follow anyone across the fediverse and see it all in chronological order. No algorithms, ads, or clickbait in sight. This is the official iOS app for Mastodon. In our app, you can: EXPLORE ■ Discover new writers, journalists, artists, photographers, scientists and more ■ See what’s happening in the world READ ■ Keep up with people you care about in a chronological feed with no interruptions ■ Follow hashtags to keep up with specific topics in real time CREATE ■ Post to your followers or the whole world, with polls, high quality images and videos ■ Participate in interesting conversations with other people CURATE ■ Create lists of people to never miss a post ■ Filter words or phrases to control what you do and don’t want to see AND MORE! ■ Login and switch between multiple accounts ■ No spoilers! You can put your posts behind content warnings A POWERFUL PUBLISHING PLATFORM You no longer have to try and appease an opaque algorithm that decides if your friends are going to see what you posted. If they follow you, they’ll see it. If you publish it to the open web, it’s accessible on the open web. You can safely share links to Mastodon in the knowledge that anyone will be able to read them without logging in. Between threads, polls, high quality images, videos, audio, and content warnings, Mastodon offers plenty of ways to express yourself in a way that suits you. A POWERFUL READING PLATFORM We don’t need to show you ads, so we don’t need to keep you in our app. Mastodon has the richest selection of 3rd party apps and integrations so you can choose the experience that fits you best. Thanks to the chronological home feed, it’s easy to tell when you’ve caught up on all updates and can move on to something else. No need to worry that a misclick will ruin your recommendations forever. We don’t guess what you want to see, we let you control it. PROTOCOLS, NOT PLATFORMS Mastodon is not like a traditional social media platform, but is built on a decentralized protocol. You can sign up on our official server, or choose a 3rd party to host your data and moderate your experience. Thanks to the common protocol, no matter what you choose, you can communicate seamlessly with people on other Mastodon servers. But there’s more: With just one account, you can communicate with people from other fediverse platforms. Not happy with your choice? You can always switch to a different Mastodon server while taking your followers with you. For advanced users, you can even host your data on your own infrastructure, since Mastodon is open-source. NON-PROFIT IN NATURE Mastodon is a registered non-profit in the US and Germany. We are not motivated by extracting monetary value from the platform, but by what’s best for the platform. AS FEATURED IN: TIME, Forbes, Wired, The Guardian, CNN, The Verge, TechCrunch, Financial Times, Gizmodo, PCMAG.com, and more.

Screenshots

ResearchGate4 screens
Mastodon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Mastodon at none against ResearchGate's shown. Mastodon also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). ResearchGate's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.6). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ResearchGate holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 15K and 13K respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 46% of ResearchGate's written reviews are positive against 48% of Mastodon's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ResearchGate ships an update every 5 weeks, Mastodon monthly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
ResearchGate versus Mastodon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterResearchGateMastodon
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (15K ratings) — better4.5 (13K ratings)
Positive reviews46.0% of reviews48.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings15K — better13K
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksMonthly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS16.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB110 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperResearchGate GmbHMastodon GmbH

Customer experience

ResearchGate

All ratings14,916 ratings
Positive96.5%
Neutral1.7%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews493 reviews
Positive46.0%
Neutral14.8%
Negative39.1%

Mastodon

All ratings13,481 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral5.9%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews888 reviews
Positive48.3%
Neutral18.8%
Negative32.9%

User reviews

ResearchGate

From 15K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Useful for research and collaboration
  • 👍 Great for tracking citations and impact
  • 🔍 Helpful for discovering relevant research
  • 💡 Valuable platform for sharing work
  • 🌟 Excellent resource for researchers

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 📱 Not optimized for iPad/tablet use
  • 🔍 Poor search functionality
  • 🔒 Restrictive registration process
  • 🤖 Inconsistencies between app and website

Mastodon

From 13K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Friendly and welcoming community
  • 🚀 Decentralized and free from corporate control
  • 🔒 No data collection or ads
  • 🤖 Good alternative to Twitter
  • 💡 Ability to self-host servers

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 🤔 Confusing onboarding and server selection
  • 📱 Limited functionality compared to web version
  • 🔍 Difficulty finding and following people
  • 🕰️ Slow or delayed notifications

Bugs and requests

ResearchGate

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Notifications not working properly
  • Inconsistent data between app and website
  • Login issues with Facebook and LinkedIn
  • Crashes when opening certain content
  • UI elements overlapping on iPhone X/newer

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add iPad/tablet support
  • Improve search and filtering options
  • Streamline registration and account management
  • Integrate question/answer functionality in app
  • Provide more customization and personalization

Mastodon

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Can't log in or create account
  • Keyboard freezes during editing
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching accounts
  • Notifications not working as expected

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add local and federated timelines
  • Improve search and discovery features
  • Implement edit and delete post functionality
  • Add support for animated GIFs
  • Provide better accessibility options

In-app purchases

None

ResearchGate

No in-app purchases

None

Mastodon

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ResearchGate free?
ResearchGate is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Mastodon free?
Mastodon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ResearchGate or Mastodon?
ResearchGate is rated higher. ResearchGate averages 4.8 out of 5 from 15K ratings, while Mastodon averages 4.5 from 13K ratings.
Do ResearchGate or Mastodon have ads?
ResearchGate shows ads; Mastodon does not.
Which is updated more often, ResearchGate or Mastodon?
ResearchGate ships an update every 5 weeks, and Mastodon monthly. Most recently, ResearchGate was updated on September 24, 2026 and Mastodon on September 24, 2026.

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