Mastodon has a new plan to make money: Hosting and support services for the open social web

Mastodon, the non-profit organization behind the decentralized social networking software, is introducing a fresh approach to revenue generation. In a significant shift from its previous reliance on donations and grants, the organization announced today that it will provide paid hosting, moderation, and support services for entities eager to participate in the open social web. This interconnected network, often referred to as the fediverse, enables individuals and organizations to create their own servers that can interact with others utilizing the same protocol, ActivityPub. This protocol supports various applications, including Mastodon, Meta’s Threads, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Misskey, and Lemmy, and has been incorporated into larger platforms like WordPress through plugins. While creating an account on a public Mastodon server is straightforward, many organizations prefer to manage their own servers to establish their own rules. However, this requires a certain level of technical expertise, similar to the choice between self-hosting a WordPress site versus using a managed service. To address this challenge, Mastodon is launching its hosting services, allowing organizations to manage their own servers with assistance from Mastodon’s team. This includes optional moderation services. For companies that have in-house tech teams but are unfamiliar with Mastodon’s federated software, support contracts will also be available. Mastodon’s offerings are tailored for accounts associated with brands or institutions rather than general-purpose servers with open sign-ups. Although exact pricing details were not disclosed, the company indicated that it would offer a flexible billing model based on selected options such as hosting, support, and moderation. Customers will retain the ability to set their own policies and rules. The organization has already been trialing this new service model by collaborating with various clients, including the European Commission, the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, and the city of Blois in France. These partnerships have helped Mastodon establish a more reliable revenue stream in contrast to its previous reliance on Patreon donations. Mastodon emphasizes that this initiative aims to diversify its revenue sources rather than replace existing models of support, including donations, grants, and merchandise sales. The organization will continue to operate its flagship server, mastodon.social, as a primary gateway for users interested in the fediverse. Felix Hlatky, Maston’s chief financial officer, expressed excitement about expanding services to organizations that align with their vision for a free, open, and decentralized social web. He noted that these new offerings would provide financial stability for Mastodon while reinforcing the resilience of the community-driven ecosystem.