Comparison

StarPterano vs Beluga

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

Head to head
About

StarPterano

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StarPterano is a client application for Mastodon, a distributed social networking service. It features a large amount of information that can be viewed, a light operation feel, and a wealth of unique functions. 【Features of StarPterano】 The timeline is displayed in full screen, and can be displayed in multi-columns on the iPad. The background color of selected posts on the timeline changes, as does the color of related posts. Pinch in/out to show/uncheck mini-view for quick viewing of a large number of posts. Pinch out to zoom in and out to see even hard-to-see custom emojis. Pinch out to zoom in and out to see custom emojis that are hard to see. Swipe left or right to switch between multiple accounts easily. A variety of settings are available, including text and icon size, freely selectable accent colors, and relative/absolute time display. Post input can be done while displaying the timeline. Streaming support Automatic CW expansion Long text is automatically displayed with its height limited so that it does not get in the way. Supports custom emoji animations. 【Supported features】 Use of multiple accounts, reply/boost/favorite/bookmark operations for posts on different accounts Timeline streaming Display of custom emoji, emoji picker Post posting functions (images, public range, CW, NSFW) Boosting, favoriting, and bookmarking See who has favorite/boosted a post Conversation display with in_reply_to Animated display of icons and custom emoji Video playback, video posting (compressed) Post GIF animations List function Search function for tags, users, and posts Profile editing Integrated local and home view Reserved postings Polls (post polls, view polls, participate in polls) Editing of posts NowPlaying post, which allows you to post the name of the song that is currently playing. Custom emoji picker ・Display reply destinations and hashtag and emoji suggestions while typing from "@", "#", and ":". Follow hashtags Explore trending posts, hashtags, news, and recommended users Translation function Emoji reactions (Only servers that support fedibird API) 【Notes】 Push notification function is not supported. Filtering function is not supported.

About

Beluga

Share your thoughts and updates with friends and followers through a "tweet-like" feed. It generates a mini-website for easy sharing, even with non-users, and supports RSS feed readers for broader reach. This decentralized app ensures you own your data.

Highlights
  • Tweet-like content publishing
  • Personalized mini-website generation
  • JSON Feed compatibility
  • Decentralized data ownership
  • RSS feed reader integration
  • Multiple S3-compatible storage support
Features
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Publish your thoughts and keep your friends and followers informed of what you are up to. This app is ideal for publishing self-hosted tweets with photos and links. All your posts are added to your Beluga feed, and a mini-website is generated and published so you can easily share with everyone, even people that don’t use the app. You can think of Beluga as a feed reader/writer. All Beluga feeds are JSON Feed and RSS compatible, so your friends can follow you on many popular feed reader apps like NetNewsWire and others available on iOS and macOS. Beluga is decentralized. We don’t have any servers. So you are the owner of your data, and your self-hosted tweets live wherever you like. Beluga runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Your devices stay in sync through your own site, so you can post from any of them and pick up right where you left off. To publish your Beluga feed and mini-website, you must have a web server or an account with a hosting provider. We currently support SFTP, WebDAV, Neocities, Netlify, GitHub Pages, Bunny.net, and S3-compatible object storage like Amazon Web Services S3, Cloudflare R2, Wasabi, Digital Ocean Spaces, Linode Objects, Backblaze B2, DreamHost, and many others.

Screenshots

StarPterano3 screens
Beluga4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: StarPterano at every 4 days against Beluga's every 6 months. StarPterano also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 27.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

StarPterano ships an update every 4 days, Beluga every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
StarPterano versus Beluga: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarPteranoBeluga
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size20 MB11 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperSEGO TakayoshiBlimp

In-app purchases

None

StarPterano

No in-app purchases

None

Beluga

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is StarPterano free?
StarPterano is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Beluga free?
Beluga is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do StarPterano or Beluga have ads?
Neither StarPterano nor Beluga shows ads.
Which is updated more often, StarPterano or Beluga?
StarPterano ships an update every 4 days, and Beluga every 6 months. Most recently, StarPterano was updated on November 11, 2026 and Beluga on November 12, 2026.

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