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Alternatives to Instagram and TikTok
Photos, video and following people on networks that no single company runs.
Ranked by score out of 30, most convivial first.
PeerTube
Video sharing on servers run by many people, built by a French non-profit.
Mastodon
A social network of independent servers with no ads and no algorithmic feed.
Pixelfed
A free, open-source photo-sharing network that works like Instagram without the company.
Loops
A federated short-video app from the Pixelfed team, with no ads.
For comparison
The big names these tools are measured against. We review them as benchmarks, so they sit outside the directory.
About these tools
Instagram and TikTok show what the score is for. They are free because advertising pays for them, and their feeds use infinite scroll, autoplay, notifications and recommendations. Our scoring puts them far below the open alternatives, and the comparison above shows by how much.
Mastodon is a network of independent servers with no ads and no algorithmic feed, Pixelfed shares photos the way Instagram does, Loops is a short-video app from the same developer, and PeerTube is video hosting from a French non-profit. They are smaller, and some are young, so the honest trade-off is audience.
How to choose
Start with where your friends already are, since a social network is only as good as the people on it. Then check how the feed works, who pays for it, and whether you could take your followers with you if you left. Most of these let you follow people across servers, which makes leaving easier than it is on the big apps.
Frequently asked questions
What is an alternative to Instagram?
Pixelfed is a free, open-source photo-sharing network that doesn't run on one company's servers, and Mastodon handles photos and text together.