Comparison

Tapatalk vs Mastodon

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

Head to head
About

Tapatalk

Access and participate in over 200,000 online forums worldwide. Share photos and videos easily, and receive instant notifications. This app transforms how you engage with online communities on your mobile device.

Highlights
  • Access 200,000+ online forums
  • Unlimited photo and video sharing
  • Instant push notifications
  • Easy posting
  • Mobile forum interaction
Features
Read full description

Tapatalk connects to over 200,000 online forums worldwide. Post easily with unlimited Photo and Video sharing and instant push notifications. Tapatalk forever change the way you interact with online forums on mobile. Here are some of the top sites available in Tapatalk: MacRumors Forums iMore CrackBerry Forums Grasscity Forum HTCMania HowardForums.com Audizine Apple iPhone Forum DroidForums.net Bimmerforums.com Operation Sports AnandTech Forums Pentax Photography Forums Tapatalk Support Group The Rolex Forums NASIOC Jamii Forums BariatricPal GSM-Forum ( gsmhosting ) ForoMTB.com SA 4x4 Community Forum Diabetes Forum Guru Gossip Phonandroid ReefCentral Calguns.net EDCForums.com MyBroadband ADSLGATE.COM My Support Forums Windows Forums hisse.net Audi-Sport.net Spacetime Studios Frandroid Expedition Portal The Outdoors Trader VW Audi Forum Wizaz.pl GMAT Club Forum AnabolicMinds Xiaomi Europe Support Pelican Parts Forums BMW FAQ Club H.A.M.B. Hardware Upgrade Forum FerrariChat.com Practical Machinist The Two Plus Two Forums Tomshw.it Forum svtperformance.com Toyota 4Runner Forums ForoiPhone TZ-UK Windows Central Student Doctor Network DualSIM - Móviles chinos IronMag Bodybuilding Forums TractorByNet GM-Trucks.com Glock Forum GeekHack SamMobile Crappie.com Fishing Forum.hr Smith & Wesson Forum Veterans Benefits Network Hammock Forums YTMD The Firing Line Cheap Ass Gamer Littleone SmartCanucks PriusChat FT86Club MHH AUTO Vaping Underground Forum TriniTuner.com The MousePad CAMARO5 www.itdunya.com Apfeltalk Digital Kaos Forum Evolutionary.org Forums CSS Forum USA Carry Everything iPhone Burbuja.info Digital Eliteboard AGOnline rogerK radioamatori e CB CNCzone.com BMWMOTOS.COM Tapatalk is absolutely free, but to support us, you can also purchase VIP status that will allow you to view Tapatalk ad free. VIP status is US$0.99 per month subscription, and will auto-renew until you elect to cancel. If you are interested in purchasing VIP status, go to Me>Settings, and scroll down to Advanced Options to subscribe. Information about the optional subscribtion to view Tapatalk ad free: - Subscription periods are either 1 month or 1 year. If you select the Monthly subscription, you will have a free trial for one month. - Unless you cancel 24 hours before the end of the free trial, you will be charged the monthly subscription rate. - At the end of subscribtion period, your subscription renews. You must cancel at least 24 hours before free trial expires to cancel subscription - Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at the confirmation of purchase. - Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period. - After purchase, you can manage and/or cancel your subscription by going to your account settings for the App Store. - Privacy policy: http://tapatalk.com/privacy.php - Term of use: https://tapatalk.com/license.php Affiliate Disclosure: Tapatalk is a member of the eBay Partner Network. The forum owner may earn commissions from qualifying purchases made through affiliate links on this site.

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.

Screenshots

Tapatalk4 screens
Mastodon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Mastodon at none against Tapatalk's 10. Mastodon also leads on ads (none vs shown). Tapatalk's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Tapatalk sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $0.49 per month. Mastodon asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for Tapatalk against 4.5 for Mastodon. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 16K and 13K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 49% of Tapatalk's written reviews are positive against 48% of Mastodon's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tapatalk ships an update every 3 weeks, Mastodon monthly. Both last shipped on October 17, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Tapatalk versus Mastodon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTapatalkMastodon
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (16K ratings)4.5 (13K ratings) — better
Positive reviews49.4% of reviews — better48.3% of reviews
Number of ratings16K — better13K
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size122 MB110 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperEverforo, IncMastodon GmbH

Customer experience

Tapatalk

All ratings15,545 ratings
Positive84.7%
Neutral5.6%
Negative9.7%
Written reviews1,911 reviews
Positive49.4%
Neutral7.0%
Negative43.6%

Mastodon

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

User reviews

Tapatalk

From 16K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Convenient forum access
  • 📚 Wide range of supported forums
  • 🗓️ Helpful for keeping track of forum activity

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
  • 🔋 Drains battery quickly
  • 🤖 Aggressive and intrusive advertising
  • 🤯 Confusing and constantly changing UI
  • 🔒 Login and permission issues

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

Bugs and requests

Tapatalk

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Inability to access password-protected forums
  • Duplicate/missing post notifications
  • Inconsistent behavior across iOS versions
  • Broken 'like' and 'quote' functionality

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to start new threads
  • More customization options
  • Improved notification system
  • Better support for image/media uploads
  • Seamless integration with forum websites

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

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Tapatalk

Subscriptions7
  • Tapatalk VIP Access (Monthly)1 Month trial$0.491 Month
  • Tapatalk VIP Access (Monthly)1 Month trial2 variants$0.991 Month
  • Tapatalk VIP Access (Monthly)3 Months trial$0.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • Tapatalk VIP Access (Monthly)6 Months trial$0.991 Month
  • Tapatalk VIP Access (Annual)$4.991 Year
  • Tapatalk VIP Access (Yearly)$4.991 Year
  • Tapatalk VIP Access (Annual)$9.991 Year
One-time2
  • 1-month VIP pass$0.99
  • Tapatalk VIP Access (Lifetime)$29.99
None

Mastodon

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tapatalk free?
Tapatalk is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mastodon free?
Mastodon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Tapatalk or Mastodon?
Mastodon is rated higher. Tapatalk averages 4.4 out of 5 from 16K ratings, while Mastodon averages 4.5 from 13K ratings.
Do Tapatalk or Mastodon have ads?
Tapatalk shows ads; Mastodon does not.
Which is updated more often, Tapatalk or Mastodon?
Tapatalk ships an update every 3 weeks, and Mastodon monthly. Most recently, Tapatalk was updated on October 17, 2026 and Mastodon on October 17, 2026.

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