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Twitter/X vs Mastodon: Which Secures Business Messaging?

Explore how US-based Twitter/X and EU's Mastodon compare on business security, with Mastodon offering decentralized control. Discover the safer choice today.

Last updated: February 19, 2026โ€ขReviewed by Built in EU Team

Should You Switch to Mastodon?

What You Gain

Enhanced privacy, decentralized control, no Cloud Act risk

Privacy advantage
Trade-offs

Less feature-rich, smaller user base, fewer real-time trends

Twitter/X has more features
Bottom Line

Switch for privacy and decentralization; stay for features and reach

At a Glance

Data Location
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธUS

US data laws

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บEU

GDPR protected

Pricing

Twitter/X

Contact

Mastodon

free

Migration
Medium difficulty~1-2 hours

Privacy & Compliance Comparison

Critical data sovereignty factors at a glance

CriteriaTwitter/XMastodon
Server Location
US (Primary), EU (Optional)EU (Varies by instance)
GDPR Compliance
Partial (SCCs)Full
Open Source
E2E Encryption
OptionalOptional
Data Portability
PartialFull export

CLOUD Act Notice

Twitter/X is a US company and must comply with CLOUD Act data requests, even for data stored in EU data centers. Mastodon is not subject to US jurisdiction.

Switching from
Twitter/X logo

Twitter/X

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

X Corp

VS
Switching to
Mastodon logo

Mastodon

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ

US Data Storage

Data subject to US CLOUD Act and may be accessed by US authorities

EU Data Protection

Data protected under GDPR with EU-only data residency

Certifications & Compliance

No certifications listed

Open Source
Self-Hostable
EU-hosted

Reasons to Switch

  • โœ“No ads; user-funded instances reduce noise
  • โœ“Decentralized; choose servers with specific rules
  • โœ“GDPR compliance; strong EU data protection
  • โœ“Open-source; community-driven improvements

Things to Consider

  • !Migration; manual follower and content transfer
  • !Learning curve; unfamiliar federated model
  • !Feature gaps; lacks trending topics and polls
Migration difficulty:
Medium
~1-2 hours

Migration Overview

Full guide
Difficulty
Medium
Time Estimate
~1-2 hours

Depends on data size and complexity

Quick Steps

1

Create Mastodon account and configure settings

2

Export and prepare data from Twitter/X

3

Import data, test integrations, and migrate users

Other alternatives to Twitter/X

Ready to make the switch?

Start using Mastodon today and take control of your data privacy.