Comparison

Librem Chat vs Mastodon

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

Head to head
About

Librem Chat

This app provides secure text, voice, and video communication with end-to-end encryption. Share images, videos, and files in chat rooms while keeping conversations private. It is free and open-source software.

Highlights
  • End-to-end encryption
  • Text chat rooms
  • Voice and video calls
  • Image, video, and file sharing
  • Free and open-source
Features
Read full description

* Chat rooms * Share images, videos, and files * Make voice and video calls * Keep your conversations secret with end-to-end encryption * Free and open-source software (FOSS)

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

Librem Chat4 screens
Mastodon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Mastodon at 4.5 against Librem Chat's 3.8. Mastodon also leads on ratings volume (13K vs 11) and review sentiment (48% vs 33%). Librem Chat's advantage is iOS requirement (10.0 vs 18.6). On price, update cadence, 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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Mastodon holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mastodon has 13K ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 33% of Librem Chat's written reviews are positive against 48% of Mastodon's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Librem Chat versus Mastodon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLibrem ChatMastodon
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (11 ratings)4.5 (13K ratings) — better
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews48.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1113K — better
Update frequencyMonthlyMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS10.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size116 MB111 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperPURISM, SPCMastodon GmbH

Customer experience

Librem Chat

All ratings11 ratings
Positive63.6%
Neutral9.1%
Negative27.3%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral33.3%
Negative33.3%

Mastodon

All ratings13,481 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral5.9%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews890 reviews
Positive48.3%
Neutral18.8%
Negative32.9%

Bugs and requests

Librem Chat

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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

Librem Chat

No in-app purchases

None

Mastodon

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Librem Chat free?
Librem Chat 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, Librem Chat or Mastodon?
Mastodon is rated higher. Librem Chat averages 3.8 out of 5 from 11 ratings, while Mastodon averages 4.5 from 13K ratings.
Do Librem Chat or Mastodon have ads?
Neither Librem Chat nor Mastodon shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Librem Chat or Mastodon?
Librem Chat ships an update monthly, and Mastodon monthly. Most recently, Librem Chat was updated on November 11, 2026 and Mastodon on November 12, 2026.

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