Comparison

Mastodon vs Spill

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

Spill

Connect with others through live audio, video, and chat. Discover trending topics, join or create communities, and engage in daily games. Share your ideas and art, or simply join the conversation.

Highlights
  • Discover trending topics
  • Create and join communities
  • Live audio, video, and chat
  • Share ideas and art
  • Play daily games
  • Virtual conversation spaces
Features
Read full description

See What’s Tea  -Discover the hottest Spills and most popular topics Find Your People  -Create your own Groups and discover communities from around the world Spill your way  -Share your ideas, art, inspiration or join in the conversation Go Live With Friends  -Create a virtual space for conversations with live audio, video & chat Play Daily Games  -Climb the Leaderboard with ‘What’s The Word’. Learn how to play Spades, or start a table of your own

Screenshots

Mastodon4 screens
Spill4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Spill at every 9 days against Mastodon's monthly. Spill also leads on review sentiment (64% vs 48%) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.6). Mastodon's advantage is monetization model (free vs ad-supported) and ratings volume (13K vs 1.6K). On price, rating, 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Mastodon against 4.6 for Spill. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mastodon has 13K ratings behind it against 1.6K, 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 64% of Spill's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mastodon ships an update monthly, Spill every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Mastodon versus Spill: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMastodonSpill
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (13K ratings)4.6 (1.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.3% of reviews63.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings13K — better1.6K
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterAd-supported
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.616.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size110 MB217 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperMastodon GmbHReal Spill Corporation

Customer experience

Mastodon

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

Spill

All ratings1,634 ratings
Positive88.4%
Neutral2.0%
Negative9.5%
Written reviews194 reviews
Positive63.9%
Neutral8.8%
Negative27.3%

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

Spill

From 1.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth app experience
  • 👍 Positive and productive engagement
  • 🔒 Safe and inclusive community
  • 🎨 Stylish and customizable design
  • 🌟 Excellent community features (Tea Parties, Spades, etc.)

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔑 Issues with login/signup process
  • 🔧 Needs more customization options
  • 🔍 Limited search functionality

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

Spill

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Difficulty changing email/phone number
  • Groups feature causing crashes
  • Misaligned UI elements on sign-up

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add ability to edit/delete posts
  • Improve notification system
  • Integrate music/audio sharing
  • Expand group/community features

In-app purchases

None

Mastodon

No in-app purchases

None

Spill

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mastodon free?
Mastodon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Spill free?
Spill is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Mastodon or Spill?
Spill is rated higher. Mastodon averages 4.5 out of 5 from 13K ratings, while Spill averages 4.6 from 1.6K ratings.
Do Mastodon or Spill have ads?
Neither Mastodon nor Spill shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mastodon or Spill?
Mastodon ships an update monthly, and Spill every 9 days. Most recently, Mastodon was updated on September 24, 2026 and Spill on September 22, 2026.

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