The best Twitter alternatives of 2023: Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, and more (2024)

FAQs

Which Twitter alternative is best? ›

Bluedsky does offer private accounts but doesn't use two-factor authentication – which Mastodon does. Plus, if your Bluesky account is private, your posts are only hidden from view for users who haven't logged in to the site. The data is public to any other server connected to the network.

Mastodon. SparkToro and its team members use Mastodon to connect with marketers. Mastodon is a "federation" of different servers with 14 million users as of September 2023 (compared to Twitter's 540 million). It works a lot like Twitter, but you get more characters to write and can edit your posts—both for free.

Threads, of course, is backed by Meta/Facebook/Instagram, which means it has a lot of runway and availability of resources. Bluesky has a full mobile and desktop environment. Threads has a mobile environment with most of the necessary functionality, and the desktop web environment has improved since last summer.

Twitter's Top competitors in the social-media category are Facebook, Instagram, HubSpot Marketing Hub. You can view a full list of Twitter competitors here. 6sense uses advanced data mining and AI algorithms to track customers and competitors of Twitter and 40,000 other technologies on the internet.

500 character limit: Mastodon's 500 character limit allows for more comprehensive self-expression compared to Twitter (free plan). Enhanced privacy controls: In contrast to Twitter, Mastodon empowers users with greater control over their post visibility and content accessibility.

Scaling audiences. Right now Mastodon in general has relatively few users, and Twitter's value largely comes from the network effect of already have many users. It requires a lot of marketing to get enough growth to create this value, and we've already seen that Mastodon cannot fund much marketing.

A Twitter spokeswoman told tech website The Verge that the journalists' ban was related to the live sharing of location data. This came after Mr Musk vowed to sue the owner of a Twitter account that tracked his private jet.

In many ways, yes. However, Bluesky does not yet have DMs or some advanced tools like adding accounts to lists. Additionally, Twitter does not use a decentralized protocol like ActivityPub or AT. Bluesky was initially kicked off as a project convened by Jack Dorsey in 2019 when he was CEO of Twitter.

Should I use Threads or Twitter? ›

Ultimately, the best platform for you will depend on your individual needs and preferences. If you want to share longer-form content with your followers in a more personal way, then Threads is a good option. If you want to reach a wider audience and engage in more public conversations, then Twitter is a better choice.

Today, Bluesky is opening to the public after nearly a year as an invitation-only app, with Graber as its CEO. With a little over 3 million users, it's mounting a long-shot bid to take on the company that spawned it — and to set social media on a course that no single captain can control.

However, the new Twitter isn't all good news. As the Social Media Executive at Dusted, the main reason I'd stick with the standard version of Twitter is the 'moments' feature, which I find very useful when looking up current events and the latest news. The Lite version doesn't have this feature.

Other smaller start-ups have pushed their own untested apps as the next alternative to Twitter, including Spill, Hive, CounterSocial, T2 and Post. An app called Bluesky has taken off with some of Twitter's big-name users.

In many ways, yes. However, Bluesky does not yet have DMs or some advanced tools like adding accounts to lists. Additionally, Twitter does not use a decentralized protocol like ActivityPub or AT. Bluesky was initially kicked off as a project convened by Jack Dorsey in 2019 when he was CEO of Twitter.

In February 2023, Mastodon's users reportedly stood at 1.4 million, which was a stark drop from its 2.5 million monthly users in December 2022. The current numbers signal a good trajectory for Mastodon, as it continues to grow despite something of a rollercoaster in growth.