9 Decentralized, P2P and Open Source Alternatives to Mainstream Social Media Platforms Like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Reddit

1. Minds

Alternative to: Facebook and YouTube
Features: Open-Source codebase, Blockchain
Self-host: No

On Minds, you can post videos, blogs, and images and set statuses. You can also message and video chat securely with groups or directly with friends. Trending feeds and hashtags allow you to discover articles of your interest.

That’s not it. You also have the option to earn tokens for your contributions. These tokens can be used to upgrade your channel. Creators can receive direct payments in USD, Bitcoin, and Ether from fans.

1. Aether

Alternative to: Reddit
Features: Open Source, P2P
Self-host: No

Aether is an open-source, P2P platform for self-governing communities with auditable moderation and mod elections.

The content on Aether is ephemeral in nature and it is kept only for six months unless someone saves it. Since it is P2P, there is no centralized servers.

An interesting feature of Aether is its democratic communities. Communities elect mods and can impeach them by votes.

1. Mastodon

Alternative to: Twitter
Features: Open Source, Decentralized
Self-host: Yes

1. LBRY

Alternative to: YouTube
Features: Open Source, Decentralized, Blockchain
Self-host: No

At the core, LBRY is a blockchain-based decentralization protocol. Moreover protocol, you get a digital marketplace powered by its own cryptocurrency.

Though LBRY allows creators to offer various kinds of digital content like movies, books, and games, it is essentially promoted as a YouTube alternative. You can access the video-sharing platform on Odysee.

We have covered LBRY on It’s FOSS in the past, and you may read that for more details. If you are joining LBRY, don’t forget to follow It’s FOSS there through the link below.

1. Pixelfed

Alternative to: Instagram
Features: Decentralized, Open-Source
Self-host: Yes

Pixelfed utilizes the same underlying open protocol used by Mastodon, i.e., ActivityPub.

So, you can interact with Mastodon instances through Pixelfed as well. I haven’t tried it yet, but theoretically, you should be able to do that. You should find several active Pixelfed instances to sign up.

Pixelfed is a simple alternative to Instagram if you want control over your data and privacy. You get to control the privacy of your images without any advertisements in the platform.

You get the same basics of a photo-sharing platform. However, you do not have an algorithm powering the timeline, it follows a chronological order, without collecting any of your data for a personalized experience.

1. Peertube

Alternative to: YouTube
Features: Decentralized, P2P
Self-host: Yes

Developed by French company Framasoft, PeerTube is a decentralized video streaming platform. PeerTube uses the BitTorrent protocol to share bandwidth between users.

PeerTube aims to resist corporate monopoly. It does not rely on ads and does not track you. Keep in mind that your IP address is not anonymous here.

There are various instances of PeerTube available where you can host your videos, or host them yourself. Some instances may charge money, while most are free.

1. Diaspora

Alternative to: Facebook
Features: Decentralized, Open Source
Self-host: Yes

Diaspora was one of the earliest decentralized social networks. This was back in 2010 and Diaspora was touted as a Facebook alternative. It did get some deserving limelight in its initial years, but it got confined to only a handful of niche members.

Similar to Mastodon, Diaspora is composed of pods. You can register with a pod or host your own pod. The Big Tech doesn’t own your data, you do.

1. Dtube

Alternative to: YouTube
Features: Decentralized, Blockchain
Self-host: No

1. Signal

Alternative to: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger
Features: Open Source
Self-host: No

Unlike the end-to-end encrypted chats in WhatsApp, Signal doesn’t track you, share your data and invade your privacy.

Signal rose to fame when Edward Snowden endorsed it. It got even more famous when Elon Musk tweeted about it after WhatsApp’s controversial privacy policy change sharing user data with Facebook.

Signal uses its open-source Signal protocol to give you end-to-end encrypted messages and calls.