Mastodon vs Groucho
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
Read full descriptionHide 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.
Groucho
This app facilitates real-life connections by forming small, compatible groups for recurring in-person dinner parties and activities. It uses guided interviews for matching, focusing on genuine interaction over public metrics.
- Private guided interviews for matching
- Formation of small, compatible groups
- Coordination of recurring in-person dinners
- Focus on conversation-based matching
- No public metrics like likes or followers
- Emphasis on face-to-face connection
Read full descriptionHide full description
Groucho Real-life, personalized social clubs. Instead of profiles, swipes, or public metrics, Groucho begins with a private, guided interview. You speak naturally about how you think, what you enjoy, and how you relate to others. From that conversation, Groucho forms a small group of compatible people and coordinates recurring, in-person dinner parties and other club activities. Groucho is built for real-world connection: • In-person groups, not online feeds • Small, recurring meetings, not one-off encounters • Conversation-based matching, not questionnaires • No likes, followers, or public scores This isn’t a dating app or a social network. It’s a private social club for those who crave genuine, face-to-face connection without the pressure to perform. Less scrolling. More presence. Deeper, life-enriching connection.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Groucho at 100% against Mastodon's 48%. Groucho also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.6). Mastodon's advantage is ratings volume (13K vs 5). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Groucho holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mastodon has 13K ratings behind it against 5, 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 100% of Groucho's.
Mastodon ships an update monthly, Groucho every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mastodon | Groucho |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (13K ratings) | 5.0 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 48.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 13K — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 110 MB | 58 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Mastodon GmbH | Trampoline LLC |
Customer experience
Mastodon
Groucho
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
Groucho
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Mastodon
No in-app purchases
Groucho
No in-app purchases









