Mastodon Instances with Software Developers
Tags: mastodon, developers, socialmedia, programmers
Published: 2023-05-17 22:11:04

If you are a software engineer or someone learning or interested in software development you might want to create an account on an instance with other software developers so that your local timeline is full of relevant content.

For [Fedidevs](https://fedidevs.com/) I have indexed some of the most popular Mastodon instances and used regexes to try and find accounts that belong to software developers.

I indexed only a small percentage (0.225% by my count 😅) of all Mastodon instances, but this set of instances includes the majority of English-speaking users on Mastodon (see the full list of instances in the [FAQ page](https://fedidevs.com/faq/)).

## The results

```
Count	Instance
2963	mastodon.social
1083	hachyderm.io
513		mastodon.online
447		ruby.social
441		mstdn.social
377		fosstodon.org
361		infosec.exchange
343		mas.to
335		phpc.social
258		techhub.social
```

No surprise that [mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social) is on top here. It's one of the largest Mastodon instances with more than 1 million users. That's 1/6 of Mastodon's total users according to [mastodon.help](https://mastodon.help). Even though [mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social) has the most developers of any instance, it also has the most users so the percentage of developers is not that high and your local timeline will most likely not have content relevant to you.

[hachyderm.io](https://hachyderm.io) is an LGBTQIA+ and BLM safe space focused on tech industry professionals worldwide.

[mastodon.online](https://mastodon.online/) is another very popular general purpose instance.

[phpc.social](https://phpc.social/) and [ruby.social](https://ruby.social/) are instances for people interested in Ruby and PHP programming languages.

[fosstodon.org](https://fosstodon.org/) a community for anyone interested in technology; particularly free and open source software. The custom emojis on this instance are amazing 👌

[infosec.exchange](https://infosec.exchange/) focuses on info/cyber security. If that's what you are interested in this is probably the best instance for you!

[techhub.social](https://techhub.social) is primarily for passionate technologists, but according to the instance description everyone is welcome.

## Breakdown by popular languages

### Python developers

```
Count	Instance
562	mastodon.social
294	hachyderm.io
124	fosstodon.org
108	mastodon.online
100	mas.to
99	infosec.exchange
97	mstdn.social
73	techhub.social
48	mastodon.gamedev.place
35	mastodon.worldCount
```

The Python community has recently started to migrate away from Twitter and a lot of prominent Python community members no longer post on Twitter.

Besides the two largest instances most Python developers seem to hang out on [fosstodon.org](https://fosstodon.org/). This is where some of the largest Python-related accounts live, including the [official account](https://fosstodon.org/@ThePSF@fosstodon.org) for the Python Software Foundation, [Michael Kennedy](https://fosstodon.org/@mkennedy@fosstodon.org), [Brett Cannon](https://fosstodon.org/@brettcannon@fosstodon.org), and others.

### JavaScript developers

```

Count	Instance
448	mastodon.social
299	hachyderm.io
95	techhub.social
89	mas.to
84	phpc.social
82	mastodon.online
74	fosstodon.org
73	mstdn.social
59	ruby.social
38	infosec.exchange

```

The top two largest instances for JavaScript developers are the same as the Python ones, but fosstodon.org isn't as popular with JavaScript developers as it is with Python developers.

### Rust developers

```
Count	Instance
458	hachyderm.io
226	mastodon.social
57	mastodon.gamedev.place
52	mas.to
49	infosec.exchange
42	mastodon.online
38	fosstodon.org
30	mstdn.social
28	techhub.social
17	chaos.social
```

Rust developers seem to prefer [hachyderm.io](https://hachyderm.io) over [mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social) and it seems to be the only programming language with these instances switched.

### Ruby developers

```
Count	Instance
478	ruby.social
151	mastodon.social
118	hachyderm.io
25	mastodon.online
24	mas.to
18	mstdn.social
17	infosec.exchange
15	techhub.social
13	mastodon.world
12	fosstodon.org
```

No surprise that Ruby developers prefer the ruby Mastodon instance - [ruby.social](https://ruby.social).

### PHP developers

```
Count	Instance
370	phpc.social
200	mastodon.social
38	fosstodon.org
38	mas.to
36	hachyderm.io
31	mastodon.online
24	mstdn.social
15	infosec.exchange
13	mastodon.gamedev.place
12	techhub.social
```

Similar to Ruby developers PHP developers also have their instance [phpc.social](phpc.social). Unlike the Ruby community, it seems like the PHP community is more spread out and the official PHP instance takes up a smaller percentage of users than the ruby.social instance in the Ruby community.

### Other popular languages

[Fedidevs](https://fedidevs.com/) also allows filtering by [Java](https://fedidevs.com/java/), [C#](https://fedidevs.com/csharp/), [Golang](https://fedidevs.com/golang/), and others. But the amount of accounts isn't as high as the ones listed in this article so I've omitted it for brevity. Let me know if you would still want to see the statistics for these in the comments below.