Mumsnet vs Mastodon
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mumsnet
Connect with a large community of parents for advice, support, and discussions on childrearing and life's challenges. Access a wealth of shared experiences and practical tips from fellow users anytime, anywhere.
- Parenting advice and tips
- Community support forum
- Real-world dilemma discussions
- Childrearing guidance
- Virtual support network
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Mumsnet is the UK’s most popular website for parents. Be part of the conversation as it happens, no matter where you are or what time it is, with our app. Whether you're after tried and tested childrearing tips, straight-talking advice on real-world dilemmas or some virtual support when life gets overwhelming, you’ll find people ready and willing to help out: between them, there’s nothing Mumsnetters don’t have covered. As one user says: "It's like having a thousand extra sisters you never knew you needed."
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
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Mastodon at none against Mumsnet's shown. Mastodon also leads on ratings volume (13K vs 11) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). Mumsnet's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.5). On price, review sentiment, update cadence 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.
Mumsnet holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mastodon has 13K ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 53% of Mumsnet's written reviews are positive against 48% of Mastodon's.
Mumsnet ships an update every 3 weeks, Mastodon monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mumsnet | Mastodon |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (11 ratings) — better | 4.5 (13K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 52.7% of reviews — better | 48.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 11 | 13K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 49 MB | 110 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Mumsnet Ltd | Mastodon GmbH |
Customer experience
Mumsnet
Mastodon
User reviews
Mumsnet
From 11 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great advice and information
- 👍 Helpful community support
- 👍 Simple and intuitive UI
- 👍 Fast and smooth performance
- 👍 User-friendly navigation
Room to improve
- 😠 Frequent ads redirecting to Amazon
- 😠 Unusable due to animated ads
- 😠 App is sluggish
- 😠 Filled with bullies and trolls
- 😠 Nasty site with abuse and hate
Mastodon
From 13K App Store ratingsWhat 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
Mumsnet
Reported bugs
8 issues- App crashes frequently
- App won't open after update
- Posts disappear when trying to create username
- Latest upgrade makes paragraphs unreadable
- Quotes are not separated or are indented awkwardly
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- End of posts are truncated
- App causes iPhone to crash requiring restart
- App no longer works on wifi
Requested features
7 requests- Dark mode option
- Make app accessible with screen readers
- Add private message function
- Add push notifications
- Add a 'Like' or 'Vote Up' button
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Ability to access original poster's comments easily
- Open links within the app
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
Mumsnet
No in-app purchases
Mastodon
No in-app purchases









