Today we explain how does Mastodon make money. Have you lately signed up for Mastodon, a service heralded as a Twitter substitute? Do you find the decentralized system with its many open-sourced servers amazing? Therefore, you must be wondering how Mastodon generates revenue. In order to understand how Mastodon generates revenue, we have attempted to decipher the source of income in this post.
Mastodon is a decentralized open-source microblogging platform that has recently gained popularity online. Unlike all other social networking websites, it runs on user-managed servers. Users have the option to coexist in a group known as a “federation.” In Mastodon, this is referred to as a Fediverse.
Mastodon’s CEO, Eugene Rochko, told CNN in an interview that since Elon Musk took over Twitter, the app has added more than 230,000 new users. So, if Mastodon is a free and open-source platform, how does Mastodon make money?
How does Mastodon make money?
Mastodon appears to operate differently from other social networking sites in this regard, as subscription fees and adverts appear to be the main revenue sources. It is an open-source platform without advertisements, so users are not bothered by having to pay a monthly charge to do without them.
So how does Mastodon make money, given that it will have necessary operating costs and development costs.
Sponsorship
On its website, Mastodon invites users to become sponsors. By becoming a sponsor, a business’s logo and a “go follow” link will be displayed to users on the Mastodon website. Direct user sponsorship is possible through the platform. By visiting the Mastodon website, you can easily “Become a sponsor” by clicking on the button. This will assist Mastodon in earning money. The list of sponsors will also be available on their official website.
Patreon sponsors
Contributions through Patreon are encouraged from users. The creators’ works are displayed to Patreon subscribers through this for-profit subscription service. It is a platform that links creators and their supporters so that the latter can pay their preferred creators in the form of rewards and fees.
Users of Mastodon are encouraged to donate to them on Patreon. By clicking the “Go to Patreon” button on the Mastodon official website, users can contribute to the company’s financial success.
Fediverse subscription
According to the decentralized network’s protocols, the Mastodon Fediverse is a network of linked servers that can communicate with one another. Depending on your interests, you can use these Mastodon servers for a variety of different services.
One such fully managed hosting service for Mastodon that aids in running a Mastodon server is Masto.host. For assistance in purchasing and maintaining their own Mastodon server, users of such servers are required to pay a subscription fee.
Community fee
On the Mastodon servers, users can build their own communities based on their interests. Users of such servers must pay a minimal subscription fee to cover operating and maintenance costs. You will be able to work on servers with lots of processing threads and high capacity. Depending on the server you use and the subscription plan you choose, you will also be given up to 400GB of cloud storage space and the ability to host up to 2000 active users.
Cloud storage
Users can purchase cloud storage space from Mastodon servers. For an additional $10/month, you can choose to purchase additional resources and add-ons that include 4 processing threads, 4GB of database capacity, and 40GB of additional media storage. This could assist Mastodon in making money to cover operating expenses.
Elastic search fee
Elastic search and full-text searches are supported on Mastodon. This is not the default setting. On the Mastodon servers, users can enable it and search for their own posts. They may examine all of their direct communications as well as posts that they have authored, liked, and were mentioned in.
Due to the fact that elastic search does not permit looking for arbitrary stings inside the accessible database, it is a paid-for service offered on Mastodon.
Crowdfunding
A different community owns and runs each Mastodon server. The server’s operation is costly. Mastodon raises money through crowd funding rather than obtaining external financing. This makes it possible for them to use online platforms to collect money from a lot of people.
Advertisements
Most online platforms rely on advertising revenue to fund their operations. A decentralized platform like Mastodon discourages advertising. However, Mastodon-based independent servers are permitted to host advertising. Mastodon thus generates revenue by advertising on their own servers.
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