Compare Mastodon Followers
Comparing Accounts on Different Servers
A Mastodon handle has two parts: the username, and the server after the second @. An account at @user@fosstodon.org and one at @user@mastodon.social compare exactly like two accounts on the same server.
Server boundaries still shape what you see day to day. Each server keeps its own copy of the accounts it knows about elsewhere in the fediverse, so a remote profile in your app can show a follower list that's shorter than its follower count. That's how federation works. The account's home server keeps the full list.
How to Compare Mastodon Followers
- Connect your Mastodon account to Fedica.
- Enter two or more full handles, like @user@instance.social. They can sit on any server.
- Check the shared followers for each pair, and for the group as a whole.
- Export the shared followers as a list, or save them in Fedica for a reach analysis later.
Accounts That Hide Their Followers
Mastodon lets anyone hide their followers and following lists from their profile, and plenty of people do. Fedica respects that setting. An account with a hidden list adds no followers to the comparison, so any pair that includes it comes back with zero overlap.
Everything else in the comparison still works. Leave the hidden account in and you'll see the overlap between the others, or take it out to keep the results tidy.
What Mastodon Follower Overlap Is Good For
- Rebuilding after you leave X: compare a handful of accounts you already follow on Mastodon, then follow the people they have in common.
- Bridging communities: compare well-known accounts from two servers, like a science server and a journalism server, to see whether their audiences already overlap.
- Planning a joint event or a cross-promotion, when you'd rather reach a new part of the fediverse than the people who already follow you.
Mastodon Compare Followers Specs
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Platform | Mastodon, accounts on any server |
| Handle format | @user@instance.social |
| Accounts compared | Two to 30 at once |
| Hidden follower lists | Respected; the account adds no followers to the result |
| Export and save | Export shared followers, or save them to analyze their reach later |
| Plan availability | Research plan or higher |
Fedica's plans lists what each tier costs.
Your Audience Beyond the Fediverse
If the people you're comparing also post on Bluesky, compare Bluesky followers there too, custom-domain handles included. For the part of your audience still on X, compare X/Twitter followers and turn the overlap into an X Ads Audience.
The overview page lets you compare followers on other networks side by side.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I compare followers across different Mastodon servers?
- Yes, accounts on different servers compare the same way as two accounts on one server.
Why don't follower counts match what I see in the app?
- Your app shows accounts from other servers through your own server's copy of them. That copy can be missing followers your server has never seen, so a remote profile's follower list often looks shorter than its count. Accounts that hide their follower list add a gap of their own. For the number an account reports itself, open its profile on its home server.
What happens if an account hides its followers?
- That account adds no followers to the comparison, so every pair that includes it shows no overlap.
Is comparing Mastodon followers free?
- Scheduling Mastodon posts is free on Fedica, while comparing followers comes with the Research plan or higher.