Mastodon introduces email newsletters, allowing individuals without an account to follow creators on the open social web.

      TL;DR: Mastodon 4.6 introduces email newsletters for creators, Collections for profile discovery, and redesigned profiles, all intended to expand from 735K MAU.

      Mastodon is wagering that email, the oldest enduring communication protocol online, can address its primary challenge: reaching those who will never sign up for a fediverse account. The open-source social platform launched version 4.6 on Tuesday, featuring the ability for creators to send their posts directly to email subscribers. Individuals interested in following a Mastodon account now only need an email inbox, bypassing the need to join the platform.

      The email newsletter feature is not enabled by default. Developers at Mastodon opted to limit it due to concerns that sending newsletters can “significantly increase the costs of operating a Mastodon server,” as stated in their blog. Creators wishing to utilize this feature need a designated role with the appropriate permissions, meaning they either operate their own server, use one managed by Mastodon’s paid institutional service, or arrange access with their current server operator.

      This limitation is intentional. Mastodon indicated that the feature is mainly aimed at institutional users, highlighting the hosting and moderation services it started providing to organizations in September 2025. Existing clients include the European Commission, the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, and the French city of Blois, yet independent journalists and bloggers with their own servers can also benefit from it.

      This feature tackles a significant growth limitation. Mastodon reportedly has around 735,000 monthly active users, while the broader fediverse has over a million active accounts. In contrast, Bluesky has 44.8 million registered users, and Threads boasts over 450 million monthly active users, making Mastodon’s audience only a small fraction of these platforms.

      Email newsletters might entirely circumvent this issue. A media organization with its own Mastodon server could simultaneously reach fediverse users and email subscribers, eliminating the need for the latter to comprehend how to navigate fediverse servers. The anonymity offered by email subscriptions may also attract users who shy away from newsletter services that monitor reading habits for advertising.

      Since Mastodon accounts are portable, creators who cultivate an email subscriber list can transition to a different server while retaining their audience. This portability represents one of the few advantages the fediverse has over centralized platforms, where leaving typically means losing followers.

      The 4.6 release also brings Collections, which resemble the curated account lists originated by Bluesky as Starter Packs and adopted by Threads in its own format. Users can compile shareable lists of up to 25 recommended profiles, with features allowing any listed user to remove themselves at any time. Collections can be found on the creator’s profile under a “Featured” tab.

      Mastodon developed this feature with abuse prevention in focus. Users who haven’t opted in to a “Feature me in discovery experiences” setting cannot be added to any collection, and notification is sent to users when they are included. Any changes to a collection’s title or description prompt another notification, and there’s no “follow all” option, compelling users to assess each profile individually instead of bulk-following potential spam-filled lists.

      Profile pages have been revamped to highlight information users find most valuable, based on community feedback. The editing process now occurs directly on the profile page, eliminating the need to go to a separate settings area, and users can crop images and headers in place while including alt text for accessibility. New features allow users to hide or customize the media tab, controlling whether it displays attachments from replies.

      Improvements to accessibility extend beyond profiles. The release enhances keyboard navigation, focus management, color contrast, and screen reader performance throughout the interface. A significant portion of this effort was funded by the Dutch government, according to the Mastodon team.

      Mastodon does not accept venture capital, does not engage in advertising, and does not sell user data, which appeals to privacy-conscious users but limits growth resources. The launch of the institutional hosting service last year marked its first serious effort for a commercial revenue stream. The newsletter feature expands this institutional strategy by providing organizations with motivation to choose Mastodon over other publishing platforms.

      Whether email can significantly broaden the fediverse remains uncertain. While this feature reduces the barrier for following creators, it does not resolve the network effects challenge that has kept Mastodon’s user count stagnant while its centralized competitors have gained hundreds of millions of users. However, it does offer a pathway for the open social web to connect with individuals using infrastructure that predates all social networks and will likely endure beyond them.