mastodon
Your self-hosted, globally interconnected microblogging community
The Lens
By Erik Loyd, SaaS CEO and former COO/CFO of an AWS Premier Partner.
Updated Sep 2026
Mastodon is the software behind the Mastodon social network: posts, follows and timelines like X, except anyone can run a server and every server talks to the others. Someone on your server can follow anyone on any other Mastodon server, or on other software that speaks the same open standard (ActivityPub). AGPLv3, free.
Self-hosting is a full Rails deployment: PostgreSQL, Redis, Sidekiq for background jobs, a separate streaming service, an SMTP server for email, and object storage once media piles up. Elasticsearch is optional, for full-text search. The official guide assumes an Ubuntu or Debian box you have root on.
Most people shouldn't run their own. Masto.host manages one for you from $6/mo (about 5 active users) to $89/mo (about 2,000), and Mastodon's own team sells managed hosting to large organizations through sales. Solo or a small community: Masto.host. Organizations that want their own domain and full moderation control: self-host, or talk to Mastodon.
The catch isn't technical. Run a server and you're the moderator, the abuse desk and the legal contact for everyone on it. The software is the easy part.
Free vs Self-Hosted vs Paid
free self hosted paid cloudFree: The server software is AGPLv3 and free. Joining an existing server costs nothing.
Self-hosted: A Rails app plus PostgreSQL 14+, Redis 7+, Sidekiq, a Node streaming service, FFmpeg and an SMTP server, typically on one Ubuntu or Debian VPS to start. Media storage grows with federation, so plan for S3-style object storage. Elasticsearch is optional for full-text search.
Managed (third party): Masto.host, which labels itself an open beta, runs from Moon at $6/mo (2 GB database, 20 GB media, about 5 active users) through Planet $9, Star $19 and Constellation $39 to Galaxy at $89/mo (40 GB database, 400 GB media, about 2,000 active users), all plus tax. Extra resources are $10/mo; Elasticsearch is $5-10/mo.
Managed (official): Mastodon's team sells hosting, moderation and support to large organizations. No public price; it's sales-led.
Free software. Managed hosting from Masto.host starts at $6/mo; the real cost of self-hosting is moderation time, not servers.
What to do by team size
- Solo
- free to join a server; Masto.host at $6/mo for your own
- Small team
- Masto.host from $9-19/mo for a small community
- Medium team
- self-host with a real ops owner, or Masto.host Constellation at $39/mo
- Large team
- Mastodon's official managed hosting, or self-host with a moderation team
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License: GNU Affero General Public License v3.0
Must share source even for SaaS/network use. Strongest copyleft.
Commercial use: ✓ Yes
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