Comparison

Mastodon vs Farcaster

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

Head to head
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.

About

Farcaster

A decentralized social network where users control their identity and data. Connect with a global community by creating a profile, posting public messages, and engaging in private conversations. Experience a new way to socialize online.

Highlights
  • Decentralized social network
  • User-controlled identity
  • Create public profile
  • Post public messages
  • Send private messages
  • Discover users and profiles
Read full description

Sign up requires an in-app purchase. Farcaster is a new type of social network. It's decentralized, like email, which means you control your account and identity. It's an ever-growing community of interesting, curious people from all over the world. Connect with others by creating a profile and posting public messages. What can you do with Farcaster: - Create a Farcaster account and public profile - Post and reply to public messages - Send private messages to friends - Find other users and visit public profiles You can keep updated by following us on (@farcaster) or on X (@farcaster_xyz). If you need to contact support, please send an email to support+ios@neynar.com.

Screenshots

Mastodon4 screens
Farcaster3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Mastodon at none against Farcaster's 16. Mastodon also leads on ratings volume (13K vs 1.1K). Farcaster's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs monthly) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.6). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. Farcaster sells 16 one-off in-app purchases. Mastodon asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Mastodon against 4.6 for Farcaster. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mastodon has 13K ratings behind it against 1.1K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 48% of Mastodon's written reviews are positive against 50% of Farcaster's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mastodon ships an update monthly, Farcaster every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Mastodon versus Farcaster: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMastodonFarcaster
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (13K ratings)4.6 (1.1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.3% of reviews50.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings13K — better1.1K
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size110 MB92 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperMastodon GmbHMerkle Manufactory

Customer experience

Mastodon

All ratings13,481 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral5.9%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews889 reviews
Positive48.3%
Neutral18.8%
Negative33.0%

Farcaster

All ratings1,126 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral0.4%
Negative8.7%
Written reviews585 reviews
Positive50.4%
Neutral3.2%
Negative46.3%

User reviews

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

Farcaster

From 1.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth experience
  • 🌟 Great community
  • 💡 Innovative features
  • 🌐 Decentralized social network
  • 👍 User-friendly interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 💰 Paid subscription required
  • 🤖 Issues with bots/spam
  • 🌐 Onboarding challenges
  • 🤔 Confusing payment process

Bugs and 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

Farcaster

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Registration issues
  • Inability to upload photos
  • Crashes and app instability
  • Problems with in-app purchases
  • Sync issues between devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Multi-language support
  • Improved notifications
  • Expanded content sharing options
  • Better integration with web3 tools
  • Enhanced analytics and metrics

In-app purchases

None

Mastodon

No in-app purchases

16 purchases

Farcaster

One-time16
  • Warpcast Gas Fee$1.00
  • Warpcast Gas Fee$2.00
  • Warpcast Gas Fee$3.00
Show 13 more
  • Onchain Gas Fee$5.00
  • Onchain Gas Fee$9.00
  • Warpcast Gas Fee$12.00
  • Onchain Gas Fee$18.00
  • Warpcast Gas Fee$24.00
  • Onchain Gas Fee$27.00
  • Warpcast Gas Fee$36.00
  • Onchain Gas Fee$45.00
  • Warpcast Gas Fee$48.00
  • Onchain Gas Fee$54.00
  • Warpcast Gas Fee$60.00
  • Warpcast Gas Fee$72.00
  • Warpcast Gas Fee$80.00

Questions

Is Mastodon free?
Mastodon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Farcaster free?
Farcaster is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Mastodon or Farcaster?
Farcaster is rated higher. Mastodon averages 4.5 out of 5 from 13K ratings, while Farcaster averages 4.6 from 1.1K ratings.
Do Mastodon or Farcaster have ads?
Neither Mastodon nor Farcaster shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mastodon or Farcaster?
Mastodon ships an update monthly, and Farcaster every 5 days. Most recently, Mastodon was updated on October 23, 2026 and Farcaster on October 21, 2026.

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