Comparison

Mastodon vs IronCircles

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

IronCircles

Create your own private, end-to-end encrypted social networks with robust voting controls. Share messages, photos, and videos securely with features like hidden chats and disappearing messages. Organize events, to-do lists, and custom votes within your secure community.

Highlights
  • End-to-end encrypted networks
  • Member voting for access
  • Hidden chats
  • Locked photo vaults
  • Disappearing messages
  • Event scheduling
  • Customizable to-do lists
Features
Read full description

IronCircles is a platform that generates private social networks so anyone can have one. Each network is E2E encrypted with Forward Secrecy. This platform blends the security principles in Secure Messaging with the rich features of Social Networks and puts control in the hands of the members. People cannot join your network or conversation without express permission through a robust voting model. Privacy features include hidden chats, locked photo vaults, disappearing messages, one time view images/videos, and granular control over what can be shared. Go beyond Secure Messaging by scheduling events, creating to do lists, sharing recipes, creating custom votes, storing credentials, and exchanging hi def videos. You can as many private networks as you want. The UI blends everything into a simple, seamless experience. Want actual privacy? Join IronCircles. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://ironcircles.com/policies

Screenshots

Mastodon4 screens
IronCircles4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Mastodon at none against IronCircles's 1. Mastodon also leads on ratings volume (13K vs 8). IronCircles's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). On price, ads and device support 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. IronCircles sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $1.99 per month. Mastodon asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

IronCircles holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mastodon has 13K ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mastodon ships an update monthly, IronCircles every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Mastodon versus IronCircles: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMastodonIronCircles
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (13K ratings)4.8 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings13K — better8
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.614.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size110 MB245 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperMastodon GmbHIronCircles Inc

Customer experience

Mastodon

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

IronCircles

All ratings8 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

IronCircles

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Mastodon

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

IronCircles

Subscriptions1
  • Privacy+$1.991 Month

Questions

Is Mastodon free?
Mastodon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is IronCircles free?
IronCircles is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Mastodon or IronCircles?
IronCircles is rated higher. Mastodon averages 4.5 out of 5 from 13K ratings, while IronCircles averages 4.8 from 8 ratings.
Do Mastodon or IronCircles have ads?
Neither Mastodon nor IronCircles shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mastodon or IronCircles?
Mastodon ships an update monthly, and IronCircles every 2 weeks. Most recently, Mastodon was updated on October 19, 2026 and IronCircles on October 2, 2026.

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