Takeaways:

• Added 3 software to the report: Catodon, NodeBB, WriteFreely
  
• All-Time MAU Peak (in last 7 Days): Catodon, NodeBB, Peertube
  
• Positive Daily Growth (last ⁷⁄₇ Days): NodeBB
  
• Positive Daily Growth (last ⁶⁄₇ Days): Writefreely
  
• Weekly Growth (>10%, >500 MAU): NodeBB
  
• Weekly Growth (5-10%, >500 MAU): Writefreely, Bookwyrm
  
• Overall good week for the threadiverse (all 5 software gained MAU)
  
• Incorrect Mastodon server list caused a jump in then out of 40k and later 280k MAU (already reported to Fediverse-Observer dev and data became accurate Thursday)
  
• Without the Mastodon server list issue, the Fediverse would have a slightly positive overall week (+10k MAU, ~1%)
  

Monthly Active Users^[1]^:
| Software | Current | Yesterday[1D] | Last Week[7D] | Last Month[30D] | 3 Months Ago[90D] | 6 Months Ago[180D] | 1 Year Ago[365D] | All-Time Maximum |
| :——– | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: |
| Piefed | 5393 | 5377 | 5285 | 5416 | 1985 | 1791 | 369 | 6179 |
| Lemmy | 37399 | 37343 | 36803 | 37687 | 35319 | 37017 | 57206 | 72618 |
| Mbin | 758 | 755 | 740 | 793 | 706 | 794 | 919 | 3967 |
| Catodon | 106 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 106 |
| NodeBB | 73395 | 73121 | 64148 | 51114 | 30337 | 32317 | 313 | 73395 |
| Threadiverse | 117051 | 116634 | 106976 | 95010 | 68347 | 71919 | 58807 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Mastodon | 720549 | 721443 | 761307 | 779476 | 694063 | 693121 | 874464 | 2737163 |
| Pixelfed | 105644 | 105576 | 106671 | 126962 | 96106 | 107786 | 127784 | 338813 |
| Peertube | 45026 | 45936 | 45477 | 41265 | 27072 | 23520 | 33291 | 45936 |
| Writefreely | 12594 | 12601 | 11465 | 8657 | 1286 | 3365 | 2730 | 14709 |
| Loops | 4465 | 4496 | 4769 | 6968 | 2343 | 1006 | 0 | 29821 |
| Bookwyrm | 1818 | 1826 | 1706 | 1529 | 3257 | 2787 | 9377 | 9429 |
| Friendica | 2485 | 2485 | 2502 | 2634 | 1343 | 1643 | 3399 | 4734 |
| Forgejo | 123 | 138 | 131 | 110 | 489 | 398 | 654 | 1168 |
| Funkwhale | 268 | 268 | 290 | 302 | 200 | 254 | 399 | 1114 |
| Flohmarkt | 33 | 33 | 26 | 31 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Fediverse | 1010056 | 1011436 | 1041320 | 1062944 | 894529 | 905799 | 1110905 | |

Difference^[1]^:
| Software | -1 Day[1D] | -1 Week[7D] | -1 Month[30D] | -3 Months[90D] | -6 Months[180D] | -1 Year[365D] | -All-Time Maximum |
| :——– | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: |
| Piefed | 16 | 108 | -23 | 3408 | 3602 | 5024 | -786 |
| Lemmy | 56 | 596 | -288 | 2080 | 382 | -19807 | -35219 |
| Mbin | 3 | 18 | -35 | 52 | -36 | -161 | -3209 |
| Catodon | 68 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NodeBB | 274 | 9247 | 22281 | 43058 | 41078 | 73082 | 0 |
| Threadiverse | 417 | 10075 | 22041 | 48704 | 45132 | 58244 | |
| | | | | | | | |
| Mastodon | -894 | -40758 | -58927 | 26486 | 27428 | -153915 | -2016614 |
| Pixelfed | 68 | -1027 | -21318 | 9538 | -2142 | -22140 | -233169 |
| Peertube | -910 | -451 | 3761 | 17954 | 21506 | 11735 | -910 |
| Writefreely | -7 | 1129 | 3937 | 11308 | 9229 | 9864 | -2115 |
| Loops | -31 | -304 | -2503 | 2122 | 3459 | 0 | -25356 |
| Bookwyrm | -8 | 112 | 289 | -1439 | -969 | -7559 | -7611 |
| Friendica | 0 | -17 | -149 | 1142 | 842 | -914 | -2249 |
| Forgejo | -15 | -8 | 13 | -366 | -275 | -531 | -1045 |
| Funkwhale | 0 | -22 | -34 | 68 | 14 | -131 | -846 |
| Flohmarkt | 0 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | -7 |
| | | | | | | | |
| Fediverse | -1380 | -31264 | -52888 | 115527 | 104257 | -100849 | |

Change (%)^[1]^:
| Software | -1 Day[1D] | -1 Week[7D] | -1 Month[30D] | -3 Months[90D] | -6 Months[180D] | -1 Year[365D] | -All-Time Maximum |
| :——– | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: | ——-: |
| Piefed | 0.3% | 2.0% | -0.4% | 171.7% | 201.1% | 1361.5% | -12.7% |
| Lemmy | 0.1% | 1.6% | -0.8% | 5.9% | 1.0% | -34.6% | -48.5% |
| Mbin | 0.4% | 2.4% | -4.4% | 7.4% | -4.5% | -17.5% | -80.9% |
| Catodon | 178.9% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| NodeBB | 0.4% | 14.4% | 43.6% | 141.9% | 127.1% | 23348.9% | 0.0% |
| Threadiverse | 0.4% | 9.4% | 23.2% | 71.3% | 62.8% | 99.0% | |
| | | | | | | | |
| Mastodon | -0.1% | -5.4% | -7.6% | 3.8% | 4.0% | -17.6% | -73.7% |
| Pixelfed | 0.1% | -1.0% | -16.8% | 9.9% | -2.0% | -17.3% | -68.8% |
| Peertube | -2.0% | -1.0% | 9.1% | 66.3% | 91.4% | 35.2% | -2.0% |
| Writefreely | -0.1% | 9.8% | 45.5% | 879.3% | 274.3% | 361.3% | -14.4% |
| Loops | -0.7% | -6.4% | -35.9% | 90.6% | 343.8% | 0.0% | -85.0% |
| Bookwyrm | -0.4% | 6.6% | 18.9% | -44.2% | -34.8% | -80.6% | -80.7% |
| Friendica | 0.0% | -0.7% | -5.7% | 85.0% | 51.2% | -26.9% | -47.5% |
| Forgejo | -10.9% | -6.1% | 11.8% | -74.8% | -69.1% | -81.2% | -89.5% |
| Funkwhale | 0.0% | -7.6% | -11.3% | 34.0% | 5.5% | -32.8% | -75.9% |
| Flohmarkt | 0.0% | 26.9% | 6.5% | 43.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | -17.5% |
| | | | | | | | |
| Fediverse | -0.1% | -3.0% | -5.0% | 12.9% | 11.5% | -9.1% | |

Tracker Comparison^[1,2]^:
| Software | Fediverse-Observer^[1]^ | FediDB ^[2]^ |
| :——– | ——-: | ——-: |
| Piefed | 5393 | 5676 |
| Lemmy | 37399 | 48154 |
| Mbin | 758 | 1370 |
| Catodon | 106 | 0 |
| NodeBB | 73395 | 9474 |
| Threadiverse | 117051 | 64674 |
| | | |
| Mastodon | 720549 | 1000198 |
| Pixelfed | 105644 | 109780 |
| Peertube | 45026 | 41235 |
| Writefreely | 12594 | 13530 |
| Loops | 4465 | 4507 |
| Bookwyrm | 1818 | 4039 |
| Friendica | 2485 | 3214 |
| Forgejo | 123 | 1672 |
| Funkwhale | 268 | 755 |
| | | |
| Fediverse | 1010056 | 1243604 |

• Source: [1] Fediverse-Observer, [2] FediDB
  

Notes:

1. Threadiverse is Piefed, Lemmy, Mbin, Catadon, and NodeBB. Fediverse only accounts for listed software [15], not the other [114] software tracked by Fediverse-Observer.
2. Fediverse-Observer provides daily MAU back to 20221130. FediDB only provides a current snapshot (snapshot within the last 15 minutes, no time series data) and only tracks some of the software [67].
3. FediDB seems to use unclear math to get there counts and overestimate the MAU on most software (see previous post, if interested in learning more).
   

Catodon is not a Threadiverse app. It’s a clone of Mastodon, forked from a clone of Misskey*

*hot take: a .Net rewrite transforms Iceshrimp from a Misskey fork to a Misskey clone

Catodon is apparently working on it. Catodon announcement post:

https://threadiverse.link/tarte.nuage-libre.fr/c/fediverse/p/274152/catodon-joining-the-threadiverse

@macfranc

Thank you very much. I'm still incredibly impressed by the quality of feedback I get here.

Do you have any links on the failed projects? It would be great to be able to learn more from them.

Also links about details on incompatibilities would be very helpful. I'll have to worry about Mastodon compatibility as much as possible. Simply because it is the silver back gorilla in the #Fediverse

Week in Fediverse 2026-04-03

Servers

- TinyAP v0.1.7
- Iceshrimp v2026.4.1
- Gush! v0.0.34
- Ktistec v3.3.5
- Socialhome v0.23.0
- PeerTube v8.1.4
- Misskey v2026.3.2
- NeoDB v0.13.0
- PieFed v1.6.14
- Wafrn v2026.03.03

Clients

- nicolium v0.1.2
- Voyager v2.45.1
- Blorp v1.12.0
- Mitra Mini: A headless ActivityPub client that implements FEP-ae97 specification

Tools and Plugins

- Friends v4.0 (WordPress plugin)

For developers

- BotKit v0.4.0

Protocol

- FEP-1a11: Send Announces Containing Many Activities

-----

#WeekInFediverse #Fediverse #ActivityPub

Previous edition: https://mitra.social/objects/019d30f2-2656-7043-04d6-328ad9750e23

Meeting minutes from the last Social Web Working Group call, which covered topics like discovery, groups, trust and safety, and more.

https://github.com/w3c/socialwg/blob/main/meetings/2026/2026-04-03-CG-WG-joint.md

Reminder that the fediverse is a "group project" and really does take a village.

Care to join in and help?

#fediverse #ActivityPub #W3C #SocialWeb

@zenbeater

Thank you very much. Yet another instance of very constructive feedback. This is the #Fediverse at its best.

I did spend some thoughts on the name.

1. It should not clash with the big existing professional network(s).
2. The name should convey, what it is.
3. It should be reasonably catchy.

Of course I'm happy to read other, maybe better options.

Attorney Cindy Cohn talks to Jon Stewart about her new book, “Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance,” and her work as executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is the world’s biggest and oldest digital rights organization. She recounts the fight against sweeping government surveillance after ⁹⁄₁₁, her reservations about internet regulations backfiring if placed in the wrong hands, and why the solution to these problems is a combination of comprehensive privacy law, revised business models of giant tech companies who make money off of user data, and more platform choices for individuals. “A world where there are five big media companies that decide everything that we see and how we see it… the answer isn’t to try to take a dictator and make them a better dictator. The answer is to get rid of the dictators and make them less important.”

She mentions Mastodon and Jon doesn’t understand how reddit is curating his experience. It’s a good piece because they’re such opposites, but both have great intentions.

The #CFP for the Fediverse & Social Web track at COSCUP 2026 (Taipei, Aug 8–9) is now open! If you’re working on #ActivityPub, the #fediverse, or anything in the open social web space, we’d love to hear from you. The deadline is May 9. #COSCUP is free to attend.

👉 https://hackers.pub/@fedidevkr/2026/fediverse-social-web-track-at-coscup-2026-cfp

(Boosts appreciated!)

#SocialWeb #fedidev

Here’s an interesting thought experiment.

Way back in the 1980s and 90s, Usenet was a sorta-federated discussion forum (using the NNTP protocol) that was very popular. It still exists and is distributing 400 million messages each day (mostly spam and trash as far as I can tell). Hard numbers are difficult to come by but it seems like Usenet is capable of significantly higher throughput. Why is that?

The big thing holding ActivityPub back is the fan-out. You know the story - someone with 50,000 followers causes their instance to send up to 50,000 HTTP POSTs every time they click the little spinny star or reply to something.

It’s basically a hub-and-spoke network topology. Except everyone takes turns being the hub, ideally, but not much in practice. And in this topology, the hubs are where the strain and bottlenecks are.

Back in the 1980s they had computers literally 1000 times slower than ours and network links to match. So how did they do this? With a peer to peer network topology! When a new post is made, they don’t send it to everyone they just send it to a handful of other servers. Those servers in turn forward the post on to a handful of other peers, and so on, until the whole network receives the post. No individual server is a single point of failure and none has to bear the full brunt of orchestrating it all.

Let’s do a picture. A creates a post and sends it to B and D.

A ─ B ─ C  
 \      /  
   ─ D ─  

B sends it on to C.

Meanwhile D sends it on the C also but C already has it so does nothing more. IRL this would be a much larger mesh. Who peers with who can be a mixture of manual selection and random spiciness.

Posts can arrive out of order so each server would need to wait until the dependencies between posts are resolved before making them available to clients. That’s a bit tricky.

In the ActivityPub-over-NNTP idea, each NNTP post would be a thin wrapper around a data structure containing the HTTP headers (with signature and digest) and JSON that a normal HTTP POSTed Activity would have. Servers would use NNTP to distribute the activities and upon receiving one they’d POST it to their own /inbox to run the usual ActivityPub processing that their AP instance does.

{  
  "headers": {  
    "Signature": "...",  
    "Digest": "...",  
    "Date": "..."  
  },  
  "activity": { ... normal ActivityPub JSON ... }  
}  

In this way there is no need to rewrite ActivityPub semantics as only the transport layer changes. Our existing inbox logic remains intact.

NNTP comes with a lot of historical baggage so we’d probably need to evolve the protocol a bit. Maybe use HTTP requests (even http2 streams?) instead of the original line-oriented text protocol using raw TCP sockets. But you get the idea.

Thoughts?

Yes, I think that’s part of NNTP already. Each post has a list of the servers it has traveled through so when considering where to forward the post on to a server can check if it’s already been there. That would help somewhat but still there would be quite a few times when a server discards posts.

I haven’t gotten deep enough into this yet but I’m sure there have been protocol improvements since NNTP that address this. Gossip protocols have been experimented with since the early 2000s. For example, rather than servers saying to others “I have this post, do you want it?” they might say “the most recent post I have in the fediverse@lemmy.world community is #5” and another server which only has posts #1 and #2 would respond “cool, give me posts #3, #4 and #5”.

Good point.

Catodon is a new Sharkey/Misskey fork.

List of servers (pretty small): https://catodon.fediverse.observer/list

Well, for me it is different from twitter/mastodon because there is a reasonable post lenght restriction 5000 characters, and misskey is one of the best UI of the fediverse. So it is better, there is a good balance between thread/microblog.

Once they support well thread, i will probably crosspost lot content from them here. News, scientifics, political…and it will ease up my work as a community animator. I can relay content for news but that’s lot work.

For me, here, we miss 2 things :

• a rss reader
• microblog support

This story is from March 9th. The Bluesky my butt app announcement was around March 29th.