Fediverse instances

I'm trying to get my friends to leave Twitter, so I compiled this list of instances on the Fediverse to recommend.

Disclaimer: I can't guarantee the safety of every link on this site, they were fine when I wrote this, but I can't be held responsible for content off this site. Disclaimer over.

The list:

The order of these, inside of each category, is randomised. All of the instance names are clickable links. See the key on the left-hand side (or on the bottom, on mobile) for details. Descriptions, where applicable (for instances that aren't general purpose) describe what an instance is orientered towards (i.e. art, games, etc). All of these instances, unless noted otherwise, are explicitly or implicitly progressive, left-wing, or similar. Due to safety considerations, qualities such as "the admins are trans" or similar aren't listed (this is a publicly accessible website).

Instances I trust / can recommend:

I know/trust the admin teams well enough to recommend these as good instances that probably won't turn out to be secretly horrible.

• Eldritch Cafe eldritch.cafe
  (12.6k users, invite-only)
• chaos.social chaos.social
  (11k users, invite-only)
• The Octodon octodon.social
  (12.1k users, invite-only)
• mastodon.ART mastodon.art
  (artists, creators)
  (32k users, registrations manually approved)
• CatCatNya catcatnya.com
  (250 users, registrations manually approved)
• Scholar Social scholar.social
  (researchers, students, librarians, teachers)
  (4.8k users, invite-only)
• Indiepocalypse indiepocalypse.social
  (independent creators)
  (280 users, registrations manually approved)
• Tootsite toot.site
  (1.2k users, registrations manually approved)

Instances that are okay:

As far as I know, these are okay, but I don't have extensive experience with them and can't vouch for them – your mileage may vary.

• strangeobject.space strangeobject.space
  (300 users, invite-only)
• weirder.earth weirder.earth
  (1.1k users, invite-only)
• Todon.nl todon.nl
  (3.3k users, registrations manually approved)
• Troet Cafe troet.cafe
  (German left-libs)
  (40.2k users, registrations open)
• LGBTQIA+ Tech Mastodon tech.lgbt
  (11.6k users, registrations manually approved)
• Queer Party queer.party
  (for queer and non-queer users)
  (6.1k users, registrations manually approved)
• The Wandering Shop wandering.shop
  (SF and fantasy community)
  (3.5k users, invite-only)

Instances to avoid:

These are under-moderated (by lack of staff or due to weird ideas about what doesn't count as bigotry) or otherwise not a great place to be.

• Mastodon mastodon.social
  (run by Mastodon devs, notoriously under-moderated)
  (1.2M users, registrations open)
• Mastodon mastodon.online
  (run by Mastodon devs, notoriously under-moderated)
  (179.2k users, registrations open)
• Newsie newsie.social
  (for journalists, permits transphobia)
  (20.9k users, invite-only)
• journa.host journa.host
  (for journalists, permits transphobia)
  (3k users, registrations closed)
• Universeodon Social Media universeodon.com
  (unmoderated, admin in bed with Facebook)
  (74.7k users, registrations open)
• tchncs.de social.tchncs.de
  (techbros, often undermoderated)
  (20.7k users, registrations open)
• Fosstodon fosstodon.org
  (techbros, often undermoderated)
  (58.9k users, registrations manually approved)