What it does
Mastodon is free, open-source software for running a social network that connects with other participating servers. Organizations can host their own community and set its rules, or create accounts on an existing server. Administration requires a local account; hosting and email delivery are separate operating costs.
Running a Mastodon server starts with a host, a domain and an email delivery service. After installation, create and approve an Owner account with the documented command-line tools. Sign in and open Preferences > Administration > Site settings to enter the contact details, server description and community rules, then save the changes.
Moderation acts on your server's view of the network. Freeze stops a local account from acting while preserving its content; Limit reduces visibility locally. Suspension hides the account and retains its data for administrators for up to thirty days, unless deleted sooner. Cross-server follow relationships can break and do not automatically return with reinstatement.
For a maintenance notice, use Administration > Announcements > New announcement. Add the message and publish it immediately or schedule it. It then appears in members' announcement feeds.
The server software is available under AGPLv3 without a software subscription. Budget separately for hosting, email, backups and ongoing administration.
Strengths
- A local account can be frozen without removing its content
- Announcements support immediate or scheduled server notices
Watch out for
- Restoring a suspended account does not rebuild broken remote follows
Best for
- Organizations operating a social community under their own server rules
Sources
- Release v4.7.3 · mastodon/mastodon · GitHub (Oct 26, 2026)
- Mastodon decentralized social networking (Oct 27, 2026)
- Mastodon moderation actions and announcements (Oct 27, 2026)
- Install a Mastodon server (Oct 27, 2026)
- Configure a new Mastodon server (Oct 27, 2026)
- GNU Affero General Public License v3 (Oct 27, 2026)