Comparison

Mastodon vs HumHub

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

HumHub

This open-source platform facilitates communication and collaboration within organizations. It allows users to create dedicated spaces, share content, manage projects, and interact with colleagues through features like direct messaging and group chats.

Highlights
  • Create and manage organizational spaces
  • User profiles with customizable fields
  • Direct messaging and group chats
  • Content sharing and commenting
  • Project management and calendars
  • Wiki pages and file storage
  • Extensible with over 70 modules
Features
Read full description

Use HumHub to communicate and collaborate, share content and interact with all people in your organization. The open source software is used by various organizations and companies as Corporate Social Network/Intranet. Create and operate your very own Network or Information- and Communication-Platform. Main function and deployment: HumHub allows network operators to create Spaces (rooms) and invite any number of users. These have their own profiles, can send direct messages to one another, follow and connect with each other, post and comment on content, create group chats, share, collaborate and store files, create wiki pages, landing pages and galleries, plan and manage projects, use calendars, create events and much more. Users of the software: HumHub can be extended with over 70 modules. Thus, countless functions can be added, making the software suitable for daily use in many different organizational forms. As a social networking software, HumHub is used by numerous Municipalities and Communes, Educational Institutions (Universities and Schools), Associations, Clubs, Parties, Unions as well as SMEs and Major Corporations. Our Vision: "With HumHub, we help people all over the world to communicate better, connect and simplify daily work." More software features: - User profiles with customizable profile fields - Clear design and intuitive usability - GDPR-compliant hosting by us or hosting on-premise - Various single sign-on features and interfaces - Sending of push notifications - Automatic notification system and e-mail summaries - Assignment of various roles and permissions to users - Search and filter function for any content - Software is available in over 30 languages - The most used modules include: Wiki, Messenger, News Module, Theme Builder, Translation Manager, Custom Pages, OnlyOffice Connector, Files, LDAP, SAML SSO, Polls

Screenshots

Mastodon4 screens
HumHub4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Mastodon at 4.5 against HumHub's 4.0. Mastodon also leads on ratings volume (13K vs 2) and review sentiment (48% vs 33%). HumHub's advantage is iOS requirement (16.6 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 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mastodon has 13K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 48% of Mastodon's written reviews are positive against 33% of HumHub's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mastodon ships an update monthly, HumHub every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on October 22, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Mastodon versus HumHub: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMastodonHumHub
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (13K ratings) — better4.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews48.3% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings13K — better2
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.616.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size110 MB34 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperMastodon GmbHHumHub GmbH & Co. KG

Customer experience

Mastodon

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

HumHub

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral33.3%
Negative33.3%

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

HumHub

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Mastodon

No in-app purchases

None

HumHub

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mastodon free?
Mastodon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is HumHub free?
HumHub is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Mastodon or HumHub?
Mastodon is rated higher. Mastodon averages 4.5 out of 5 from 13K ratings, while HumHub averages 4.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Mastodon or HumHub have ads?
Neither Mastodon nor HumHub shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mastodon or HumHub?
Mastodon ships an update monthly, and HumHub every 4 weeks. Most recently, Mastodon was updated on October 22, 2026 and HumHub on October 22, 2026.

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