Comparison

Bluesky Social vs Threads

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

Head to head
About

Bluesky Social

This social app prioritizes meaningful conversations and user control. Discover trending topics, explore diverse community-curated feeds, and customize your experience with powerful moderation tools. It offers an ad-free environment and aims for an open, community-driven social internet.

Highlights
  • Ad-free social experience
  • Community-curated feeds
  • Customizable content filters
  • Starter Packs for quick setup
  • Open, community-driven protocol
  • Cross-app identity portability
Features
Read full description

Bluesky is the social app built for better conversations. Find your people, follow what you care about, and have fun online again — without ads or engagement traps. JOIN THE MOMENT See what people are talking about right now. From breaking news to big cultural moments, jump into conversations as they unfold and be part of what's happening. EXPLORE FEEDS Choose from thousands of community-built feeds covering news, art, pets, science, fandom, investing, culture, and everything in between. Stay updated with people you care about in your Following feed, or dive into new perspectives and trends in Discover. CONTROL YOUR SCROLL Use powerful moderation tools and content filters to shape exactly what you see. Hide what you don't want, follow what you do, and decide who can interact with you. JUMP RIGHT IN Starter Packs help you get going fast. Follow curated lists of interesting people with one tap and start building your community instantly. AVOID THE BILLIONAIRES The internet is too important to be controlled by a handful of powerful people. Bluesky is building an open, community-driven foundation for the social internet. With one account, you can use the Bluesky app and take your identity anywhere on the growing ecosystem of apps built on the same protocol.

About

Threads

Connect and share your thoughts on a platform designed for conversation. Discover trending topics, join communities based on your interests, and engage in discussions through text, images, and polls. You can also control your experience with privacy settings and direct messaging.

Highlights
  • Start conversations with text, images, polls, and more
  • Join discussions through replies
  • Stay updated on trending topics
  • Control content visibility and replies
  • Discover communities and creators
  • Private 1:1 and group direct messaging
Features
Read full description

Discover new perspectives and connect through conversation on Threads. See what people are talking about right now—from niche interests to big moments. With communities, you can find people who also care about your interests on Threads. Reply, listen, share or just follow along. Here’s what you can do on Threads: ■ Start a thread, share your take Have something on your mind? Take it to Threads. Share a thought, ask a question or open up a conversation. There’s more than one way to kick things off with text, images, polls, ghost posts and more. ■ Jump into replies Jump into the discussion, react to new ideas or just see where the conversation goes. Every thread is an invitation to join in. ■ Keep up with what’s trending From live scores to breaking moments, Threads helps you stay close to what’s happening —and join the conversation when you’ve got something to say. ■ Control the content you see Control who can reply to you, mention you or see your posts. Use Hidden Words to filter out posts and replies that include words or phrases you don’t want to see—so your experience stays on your terms. ■ Go deep on your interests Follow friends, creators and communities for every interest. Threads is built to help you discover new voices and join conversations—starting with the communities you care about most. ■ Connect over chat Keep the conversation going privately with 1:1 and group DMs. When a public thread gets more personal, move it to your inbox to go deeper or share it with a smaller group. Meta Terms: https://www.facebook.com/terms.php Meta Privacy Policy: https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policy Threads Supplemental Privacy Policy: https://help.instagram.com/515230437301944 Threads Supplemental Terms: https://help.instagram.com/769983657850450 Instagram Community Guidelines: https://help.instagram.com/477434105621119 Consumer Health Privacy Policy: https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policies/health Learn how we're working to help keep our communities safe across Meta technologies at the Meta Safety Center: https://about.meta.com/actions/safety

Screenshots

Bluesky Social4 screens
Threads4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Threads at 4.6 against Bluesky Social's 3.9. Threads also leads on ratings volume (2.2M vs 14K) and review sentiment (52% vs 33%). Bluesky Social's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 31) and ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, device support and iOS requirement 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. Threads sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Bluesky Social asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Threads holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Threads has 2.2M ratings behind it against 14K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 33% of Bluesky Social's written reviews are positive against 52% of Threads's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bluesky Social ships an update every 8 days, Threads weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Bluesky Social versus Threads: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBluesky SocialThreads
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (14K ratings)4.6 (2.2M ratings) — better
Positive reviews33.4% of reviews51.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings14K2.2M — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 daysWeekly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#85#2 — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS16.416.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size94 MB221 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperBluesky PBLLCInstagram, Inc.

Customer experience

Bluesky Social

All ratings13,720 ratings
Positive70.8%
Neutral3.8%
Negative25.4%
Written reviews2,018 reviews
Positive33.4%
Neutral12.3%
Negative54.3%

Threads

All ratings2,247,152 ratings
Positive90.7%
Neutral3.6%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews7,765 reviews
Positive51.7%
Neutral6.3%
Negative41.9%

User reviews

Bluesky Social

From 14K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth and streamlined app
  • 🔒 Effective block and moderation tools
  • 👍 Customizable feeds and content curation
  • 👍 Welcoming and positive community
  • 👍 Clean and user-friendly interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional app crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Lacking iPad-specific optimization
  • 🤖 Algorithm struggles to filter out unwanted content
  • 🔒 Public block lists can be an issue
  • 🔍 Limited DM and bookmarking features

Threads

From 2.2M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Clean and simple interface
  • 🚀 Smooth performance
  • 💡 Integrated with Instagram
  • 🤝 Sense of community
  • 😊 Positive and friendly environment

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 🤖 Too many suggested/random posts
  • 🔍 Lacking search and discovery features
  • 🔀 Difficulty switching between accounts
  • 📱 No iPad app

Bugs and requests

Bluesky Social

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes when tapping the retweet button
  • Feed not refreshing properly, showing outdated content
  • Inconsistent behavior when rotating iPad device
  • Inability to edit or delete posted content

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add support for direct messages, video uploads, and bookmarking
  • Improve iPad app experience with full-screen support
  • Enhance algorithm and content filtering capabilities
  • Implement private account and block list privacy options

Threads

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inability to post or comment
  • Disappearing posts and replies
  • Inconsistent account linking with Instagram

Requested features

5 requests
  • Chronological feed option
  • Hashtag and keyword search
  • Trending topics section
  • Bookmarking/saving posts
  • Direct messaging functionality

In-app purchases

None

Bluesky Social

No in-app purchases

12 purchases

Threads

Subscriptions12
  • No Ads Multi Tier3 variants$0.991 Month
  • No Ads Multi Tier2 variants$1.991 Month
  • No Ads Multi Tier3 variants$2.991 Month
Show 9 more
  • No Ads Multi Tier4 variants$3.991 Month
  • No ads (1 account)2 variants$7.991 Month
  • No ads (2 accounts)5 variants$12.991 Month
  • No ads (3 accounts)2 variants$17.991 Month
  • No ads (4 accounts)5 variants$21.991 Month
  • No ads (4 accounts)$22.991 Month
  • No ads (5 accounts)2 variants$26.991 Month
  • No ads (7 accounts)$37.991 Month
  • No ads (8 accounts)$42.991 Month

Questions

Is Bluesky Social free?
Bluesky Social is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Threads free?
Threads is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bluesky Social or Threads?
Threads is rated higher. Bluesky Social averages 3.9 out of 5 from 14K ratings, while Threads averages 4.6 from 2.2M ratings.
Do Bluesky Social or Threads have ads?
Threads shows ads; Bluesky Social does not.
Which is updated more often, Bluesky Social or Threads?
Bluesky Social ships an update every 8 days, and Threads weekly. Most recently, Bluesky Social was updated on September 25, 2026 and Threads on September 24, 2026.
Which is more popular, Bluesky Social or Threads?
Bluesky Social currently peaks at #85 in the App Store charts, and Threads at #2. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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