Growth of the Fediverse (20260726)
Takeaways:
- All-Time MAU Peak (in last 7 Days): Piefed(6753), Writefreely(233609), Vernissage(205)
- Positive Daily Growth (6+ of last 7 Days): Piefed(7/7), Pixelfed(7/7), Writefreely(7/7), Vernissage(6/7)
- Weekly Growth (>5%, >500 MAU): Piefed(+5.9%), Pixelfed(+18.5%), Writefreely(+192.3%)
High-Level Notes:
- Writefreely is absolutely exploding right now (3x last week, 23x last month, 100x 3-months ago)
- Piefed is still likely under-counted by a few hundred MAU (due to an activity error, corrected in v1.7) and missing piefed.zip (not counted by fediverse.observer). I'd estimate piefed is at ~7200 right now.
- Vernissage recent growth seems to be just natural (not new update causing people to check it out or a big server being recently found)
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 | 6753 | 6701 | 6377 | 4109 | 4815 | 2064 | 1690 | 6753 |
| Lemmy | 35197 | 35233 | 35061 | 35078 | 36369 | 35644 | 41403 | 72618 |
| Mbin | 1050 | 1052 | 1084 | 1066 | 728 | 751 | 914 | 3967 |
| Threadiverse | 43000 | 42986 | 42522 | 40253 | 41912 | 38459 | 44007 | |
| Mastodon | 837570 | 838538 | 839406 | 816202 | 742727 | 734447 | 761222 | 2737163 |
| NodeBB | 62266 | 62736 | 61659 | 60716 | 70992 | 48425 | 47249 | 76801 |
| Pixelfed | 105382 | 105376 | 88923 | 96112 | 104501 | 117256 | 122559 | 338813 |
| Peertube | 46376 | 46536 | 46973 | 47206 | 43367 | 28285 | 25770 | 53333 |
| Writefreely | 233609 | 221092 | 79931 | 10734 | 2428 | 1570 | 11219 | 233609 |
| Loops | 3963 | 3996 | 4147 | 4420 | 3991 | 3021 | 28471 | 29821 |
| Bookwyrm | 1208 | 1206 | 1178 | 1206 | 2206 | 3752 | 3056 | 9429 |
| NeoDB | 1731 | 1730 | 1759 | 1776 | 1813 | 1977 | 1722 | 2025 |
| Friendica | 2451 | 2437 | 2417 | 2432 | 2400 | 1448 | 1814 | 4734 |
| Forgejo | 102 | 101 | 116 | 138 | 109 | 498 | 271 | 1168 |
| Catodon | 97 | 95 | 100 | 113 | 118 | 0 | 0 | 128 |
| Funkwhale | 151 | 155 | 156 | 192 | 241 | 266 | 299 | 1114 |
| Vernissage | 205 | 185 | 163 | 137 | 147 | 141 | 97 | 205 |
| Flohmarkt | 14 | 12 | 18 | 10 | 28 | 21 | 0 | 40 |
| Fediverse | 1338125 | 1327181 | 1169468 | 1081647 | 1016980 | 979566 | 1047756 |
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 | 52 | 376 | 2644 | 1938 | 4689 | 5063 | 0 |
| Lemmy | -36 | 136 | 119 | -1172 | -447 | -6206 | -37421 |
| Mbin | -2 | -34 | -16 | 322 | 299 | 136 | -2917 |
| Threadiverse | 14 | 478 | 2747 | 1088 | 4541 | -1007 | |
| Mastodon | -968 | -1836 | 21368 | 94843 | 103123 | 76348 | -1899593 |
| NodeBB | -470 | 607 | 1550 | -8726 | 13841 | 15017 | -14535 |
| Pixelfed | 6 | 16459 | 9270 | 881 | -11874 | -17177 | -233431 |
| Peertube | -160 | -597 | -830 | 3009 | 18091 | 20606 | -6957 |
| Writefreely | 12517 | 153678 | 222875 | 231181 | 232039 | 222390 | 0 |
| Loops | -33 | -184 | -457 | -28 | 942 | -24508 | -25858 |
| Bookwyrm | 2 | 30 | 2 | -998 | -2544 | -1848 | -8221 |
| NeoDB | 1 | -28 | -45 | -82 | -246 | 9 | -294 |
| Friendica | 14 | 34 | 19 | 51 | 1003 | 637 | -2283 |
| Forgejo | 1 | -14 | -36 | -7 | -396 | -169 | -1066 |
| Catodon | 2 | -3 | -16 | -21 | 0 | 0 | -31 |
| Funkwhale | -4 | -5 | -41 | -90 | -115 | -148 | -963 |
| Vernissage | 20 | 42 | 68 | 58 | 64 | 108 | 0 |
| Flohmarkt | 2 | -4 | 4 | -14 | -7 | 0 | -26 |
| Fediverse | 10944 | 168657 | 256478 | 321145 | 358559 | 290369 |
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 | 0.8% | 5.9% | 64.3% | 40.2% | 227.2% | 299.6% | 0.0% |
| Lemmy | -0.1% | 0.4% | 0.3% | -3.2% | -1.3% | -15.0% | -51.5% |
| Mbin | -0.2% | -3.1% | -1.5% | 44.2% | 39.8% | 14.9% | -73.5% |
| Threadiverse | 0.0% | 1.1% | 6.8% | 2.6% | 11.8% | -2.3% | |
| Mastodon | -0.1% | -0.2% | 2.6% | 12.8% | 14.0% | 10.0% | -69.4% |
| NodeBB | -0.7% | 1.0% | 2.6% | -12.3% | 28.6% | 31.8% | -18.9% |
| Pixelfed | 0.0% | 18.5% | 9.6% | 0.8% | -10.1% | -14.0% | -68.9% |
| Peertube | -0.3% | -1.3% | -1.8% | 6.9% | 64.0% | 80.0% | -13.0% |
| Writefreely | 5.7% | 192.3% | 2076.3% | 9521.5% | 14779.6% | 1982.3% | 0.0% |
| Loops | -0.8% | -4.4% | -10.3% | -0.7% | 31.2% | -86.1% | -86.7% |
| Bookwyrm | 0.2% | 2.5% | 0.2% | -45.2% | -67.8% | -60.5% | -87.2% |
| NeoDB | 0.1% | -1.6% | -2.5% | -4.5% | -12.4% | 0.5% | -14.5% |
| Friendica | 0.6% | 1.4% | 0.8% | 2.1% | 69.3% | 35.1% | -48.2% |
| Forgejo | 1.0% | -12.1% | -26.1% | -6.4% | -79.5% | -62.4% | -91.3% |
| Catodon | 2.1% | -3.0% | -14.2% | -17.8% | 0.0% | 0.0% | -24.2% |
| Funkwhale | -2.6% | -3.2% | -21.4% | -37.3% | -43.2% | -49.5% | -86.4% |
| Vernissage | 10.8% | 25.8% | 49.6% | 39.5% | 45.4% | 111.3% | 0.0% |
| Flohmarkt | 16.7% | -22.2% | 40.0% | -50.0% | -33.3% | 0.0% | -65.0% |
| Fediverse | 0.8% | 14.4% | 23.7% | 31.6% | 36.6% | 27.7% |
Tracker Comparison^[1,2]^:
| Software | Fediverse-Observer^[1]^ | FediDB ^[2]^ |
|---|---|---|
| Piefed | 6753 | 7454 |
| Lemmy | 35197 | 44970 |
| Mbin | 1050 | 1298 |
| Threadiverse | 43000 | 53722 |
| Mastodon | 837570 | 965045 |
| NodeBB | 62266 | 16655 |
| Pixelfed | 105382 | 106203 |
| Peertube | 46376 | 43747 |
| Writefreely | 233609 | 112801 |
| Loops | 3963 | 4071 |
| Bookwyrm | 1208 | 3428 |
| NeoDB | 1731 | 1763 |
| Friendica | 2451 | 3123 |
| Forgejo | 102 | 1672 |
| Catodon | 97 | 0 |
| Funkwhale | 151 | 717 |
| Vernissage | 205 | 214 |
| Flohmarkt | 14 | 0 |
| Fediverse | 1338125 | 1313161 |
- Source: [1] Fediverse-Observer, [2] FediDB, Analysis Code
Notes:
- Threadiverse is Piefed, Lemmy, and Mbin. Fediverse only accounts for listed software [17], not the other [112] software tracked by Fediverse-Observer.
- 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].
- 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).
Edit: Added the "High-Level Notes" header, removed excess period punctuation, and add piefed estimate sentence.
6 replies
All kids these days want to do is write!
Haha. Yeah! They need to go back to watching TV and playing videogames. This writing is going to rot their brains! /s
I just hope no youth get access to it! The horror!
Make it so you have to scan your drivers license with your computer every time you open a word processor!
Haha. That's funny, but also made me a bit sad, that that's kind of where the world is heading (internet IDs).
Hopefully, the world tosses that off before too long and prevents word processor stop and frisk!
I wonder how Writefreely is spreading so quickly; now Fediverse Observer lists nearly 275,000 MAU.
If it's anything like other federated platforms, I expect most users will leave after the hype wears off, but it's still impressive.
It does seem like there was a die off, after an introduction/hype peak (introduction: 2022-11, local/previous maximum: 2024-08, new maximum: this month).
I don't follow the software closely so tough for me to say why they are growing so fast.
I think it might have been partially an activity bug (like piefed). Checking through some writefreely servers, it seems they had negligible activity until June and then they exploded.
But the biggest server (paper.wf) had regular users and user growth. Then user growth exploded in July (~2.5x).
So possibly a combination of factors.