Mastodon: Self-Hosted Social Media Platform

Mastodon is a decentralized, open-source social media platform that uses the ActivityPub protocol to connect independent servers into a federated network known as the Fediverse. With over 49,000 GitHub stars, Mastodon is the most widely adopted alternative to Twitter/X for users and communities seeking social media without corporate control. Each Mastodon server operates independently while allowing users to interact across the entire network.

Self-hosting a Mastodon instance means you own the social platform — you set the rules, control moderation, and your community's data stays on your server.

Key Features

• Microblogging with 500-character posts, polls, media attachments, and content warnings
• Federation via ActivityPub for interoperability with the broader Fediverse
• Comprehensive moderation tools with server-level and user-level controls
• Chronological timeline with no algorithmic manipulation or promoted content
• Custom emoji, themes, and branding for personalizing your instance
• Full-text search across posts, users, and hashtags
• OAuth-based API for building custom clients and integrations
• Import and export tools for account migration between instances

Why Self-Host Mastodon?

Community sovereignty. Running your own Mastodon instance means your community is not subject to another server's moderation decisions, policy changes, or shutdown. You define the rules, curate the federation list, and ensure your community persists on your terms.

No algorithmic manipulation. Mastodon shows posts chronologically — no engagement optimization, no promoted content, and no invisible curation deciding what your users see. Self-hosting ensures this principle stays intact without depending on someone else's server.

Brand and identity control. A self-hosted instance runs on your domain, reinforcing your brand identity. Organizations, communities, and projects use custom Mastodon instances as official communication channels that they fully control.

Data ownership and privacy. User posts, direct messages, and profile data reside on your server. You control data retention policies, backup schedules, and who has administrative access. No third party mines your community's social data for advertising.

System Requirements

Resource	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	2 vCPUs	4+ vCPUs
RAM	4 GB	8 GB
Storage	20 GB SSD	50 GB SSD
OS	Ubuntu 22.04+	Ubuntu 24.04

Mastodon runs multiple services (web, streaming, Sidekiq workers) and uses PostgreSQL and Redis. Resource usage scales with the number of active users and federated connections. A small community instance (under 100 users) runs comfortably on 4 GB RAM.

Getting Started

The fastest way to deploy Mastodon on your VPS is with Docker Compose through Dokploy. Our step-by-step deployment guide walks you through the full setup, including persistent storage, environment configuration, and SSL.

Deploy Mastodon with Dokploy →

Alternatives

• Pleroma — Lightweight ActivityPub server with lower resource requirements than Mastodon
• Misskey — Feature-rich Fediverse platform with drive storage and custom reactions
• GoToSocial — Lightweight ActivityPub server written in Go focused on safety and simplicity
• Pixelfed — Federated image sharing platform inspired by Instagram

FAQ

Can my Mastodon users interact with users on other servers? Yes. Federation is the core concept of Mastodon. Users on your instance can follow, reply to, and boost posts from users on any other Mastodon instance or compatible Fediverse server. It works seamlessly — users just use the full @user@domain.tld address format.

How many users can a self-hosted Mastodon instance handle? A VPS with 4 GB RAM and 2 vCPUs comfortably supports a small community of 50-200 active users. Larger instances (thousands of users) need more CPU for Sidekiq background jobs and more storage for media attachments. Scaling Sidekiq workers horizontally helps with growth.

Can I migrate my account from another Mastodon server? Yes. Mastodon supports account migration — you can move your followers, following list, blocks, and mutes to a new instance. Your posts do not transfer automatically, but the social graph migrates cleanly, and a redirect is set up on the old account.

What does it take to moderate a Mastodon instance? Mastodon provides server-wide rules, per-user moderation (silence, suspend), domain-level blocks for problematic servers, and a report review system. For a small community instance, moderation is manageable by one or two admins. Larger instances benefit from a dedicated moderation team.

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Recommended VPS Providers

Looking for the best VPS to run Mastodon? Read our Best VPS for Mastodon guide — we compare top providers for performance, pricing, and reliability.

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App data sourced from selfh.st open-source directory.