Instead of X (Twitter), try one of these 12.
Every alternative is lined up against X (Twitter) on what people actually switch for: price, open source, self-hosting, offline use and platforms. X (Twitter) sits in the first row, so you can see what you give up.
Alternative
Price
Open source
Self-host
Offline
Platforms
Likes
X (Twitter)What you have now
Real-time public conversation and news.
PriceFree
premium $8/mo
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web · iOS · Android
Reddit#1
Communities and threads about every topic.
PriceFree
premium $6/mo
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web · iOS · Android
LikesVisit ↗
Decentralised social network with a custom feed.
PriceFree
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web · iOS · Android
LikesVisit ↗
Mastodon#3
Decentralised microblogging across federated servers.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostYes
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web · iOS · Android
LikesVisit ↗
Threads#4
Meta’s text-first network tied to Instagram.
PriceFree
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web · iOS · Android
LikesVisit ↗
Tumblr#5
Blogging social platform for sharing interests, art, and media.
PriceFree
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflinePartial
Platforms
Web · Android · iOS
LikesVisit ↗
Privacy-friendly federated social network you can self-host.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostYes
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web
LikesVisit ↗
Minds#7
Open-source social network that pays creators for content.
PriceFreemium
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflinePartial
Platforms
Web · Android · iOS
LikesVisit ↗
Gab#8
Free-speech social network running decentralized open-source software.
PriceFreemium
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflinePartial
Platforms
Web · Android
LikesVisit ↗
Friendica#9
Distributed social network merging many platforms into one feed.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostYes
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web
LikesVisit ↗
Pleroma#10
Lightweight federated microblogging server on open protocols.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostYes
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web
LikesVisit ↗
Misskey#11
Customizable federated microblogging platform with rich features.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostYes
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web
LikesVisit ↗
nostr#12
Open protocol for censorship-resistant decentralized social networking.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostYes
OfflinePartial
Platforms
LikesVisit ↗
How to read this. “Yes” means fully supported by the maker. “Partial” means it works with caveats. Likes reflect community popularity; vendors can’t pay for them or for placement. Our pick, marked in lime, is the option we would point most people leaving X (Twitter) to first. How we compare.
X (Twitter) alternatives at a glance
X (Twitter) is a free social app (premium $8/mo). We compared 12 alternatives: 8 are open source, 10 are completely free, 6 can be self-hosted and 0 work fully offline. The most popular is Reddit, with 1.4k likes, while our pick is Bluesky.
