An ongoing project to list alternatives to apps/websites:
- Facebook ("walled garden" micro-blogging and media sharing)
- Minds
- join the website or create a separate community website
- hashtags are separated from the post for a more elegant folksonomy
- politically agnostic but leans towards libertarian interests
- official mobile app available, but with restrictions
- Locals
- join a Locals site that someone else has created or have your own Locals site
- centred around niche hobby communities rather than individuals
- politically agnostic but leans towards libertarian and conservative ideals
- official mobile app available
- Minds
- Twitter/X ("public timeline" micro-blogging and media sharing)
- Truth Social
- essentially a Twitter clone with minor variations
- US-centric, of course, as it centres around Trump
- still lots of non-political content if you know where to find it
- official mobile app available
- Gab
- a complicated Twitter/Facebook imitation
- self-proclaimed "free-speech" app
- contains functionality to filter out reposts more easily than on X
- usually associated with the "far-right" due to no censorship (aka "content moderation")
- no official mobile app available (must download .apk for Android)
- Truth Social
- Tumblr (mini-blogging with website-like profile pages)
- Telegram
- a very unique style of app that takes getting used to
- contains peer-to-peer chats, as well as "channels" that resemble Twitter/X feeds
- posts can be as short or as long as the author makes them, using only text or can have polls, audio, images, video, etc.
- "channels" (i.e. timelines) can have a "preview URL" that displays content in the form of a blog
- much less "social friction" than micro-blogging websites / apps
- usually associated with Russia and Eastern Europe, but contact with other channels is limited unless you seek it out
- official mobile app available
- Gitbook
- make pages rather than blog posts
- originally used for technical documentation but can function as personal websites and personal blogs
- practical for "slow" content rather than "up-to-the-minute" stuff
- no social aspects aside from rating a page
- politically agnostic (as of January 2025)
- no mobile app available; all editing done on desktop browser
- Telegram
- Gmail (e-mail)
- Protonmail
- claims to provide more privacy in e-mails than Gmail
- recently introduced e-mail snoozing but functionality is still less than Gmail
- politically agnostic (as of January 2025)
- official mobile app available
- Protonmail
- Instagram (photo sharing)
- 500px
- focuses more on you having a place to store your photos than having social media functions (although there are "likes")
- politically agnostic (as of January 2025)
- official mobile app available
- VSCO
- greater focus on quality images
- rudimentary social media functions exist but not a primary focus
- politically agnostic (as of January 2025)
- official mobile app available
- 500px
- YouTube (video sharing)
- Rumble
- pretty much a YouTube clone with a different design
- contains a whole host of advanced features
- liberal monetization with withdrawals via PayPal
- heavily political
- official mobile app available
- Odysee
- a less well-designed YouTube clone than Rumble but quite functional
- contains text-only blogging capabilities
- monetization with cryptocurrency
- less political than Rumble
- official mobile app available
- Vimeo
- an old competitor to YouTube that requires payment for uploading
- focus lies on quality video and film-making
- politically agnostic (might be left-leaning)
- official mobile app available
- Rumble
older post
The "ends" of web development
The "ends" of web development