Bluesky vs. Threads: What’s the difference? [2025]

Bluesky and Threads are two of the apps vying to be Twitter’s successor. While X is technically still the same social network, the vibe has changed, and plenty of users have left since Elon Musk bought it. This has left the door open for apps like Bluesky and Meta’s Threads to try to recapture the spirit, user base, and cultural significance of Twitter. So how do they stack up?

I’m here to help you decide if Bluesky or Threads is the right social network for you. 

Table of contents:

Bluesky vs. Threads at a glance

Bluesky and Threads are both trying to do the same thing—become a Twitter alternative—but in slightly different ways. Before diving into the weeds, here’s a quick summary of the major features of both. 

Bluesky and Threads are both trying to be the new Twitter

Both Bluesky and Threads are trying very hard to be the new Twitter. While they both have some interesting ideas, at the most basic level, they’re very similar social networks. Here’s what I mean:

• Everyone has a profile—and most are public. You follow other people, and they can follow you. 

• There are lots of short text posts with character limits. Bluesky caps you at 300 characters, Threads at 500 characters. You can also attach links, images, videos, and the like. 

• Reposting, hashtags, likes, @mentions, and all the other social network bits that Twitter pioneered are all there.

• There’s a Discover feed of suggested content and a Following feed of all the people you follow. You can also create feeds of users and topics to follow (though Bluesky gives you more options here).

If you’ve used Twitter, the basics of using each social network will feel super familiar. 

With that said, Bluesky is a standalone social network, while Threads is an extension of Instagram in many ways—so let’s dig into that aspect.

Threads is built on top of Instagram

Threads is built on top of Instagram, which makes it work strangely in a few different ways. 

• If you don’t have Instagram, you can’t use Threads. The only way to sign up for a Threads account is using an Instagram account. The good news is you get the same handle. (If you’re in the EU, you can browse Threads without a profile, but it’s not the same thing at all.) 

• Threads doesn’t have direct messages. If you want to message someone, you have to follow a link to their Instagram profile and message them there. 

• A lot of settings are shared with Instagram and can only be managed through Instagram. 

There is some separation, though. For example, while anyone you follow on Instagram will be suggested to you on Threads, you don’t have to automatically follow them. Threads also has its own content filters, so you can hide posts that contain specific words or phrases without affecting Instagram. 

Still, for the most part, it’s best to think of Threads as an extension of Instagram rather than a standalone social network.

Of course, this also comes with benefits. Because of its connection with Instagram, there are likely a lot more people you know on Threads. Plus, if you’re in the habit of following politicians or brands, there’s a very good chance they’ve got a Threads account. The same can’t yet be said about Bluesky, where things are a bit more offbeat—like the early days of Twitter.

Bluesky is building a more open social web, so it has its own quirks

Don’t worry: Bluesky is also weird. Its developers are attempting to build a more open social web, so they’ve created a federated protocol called the Authenticated Transfer Protocol (AT Proto). So far, Bluesky is the only major user of the protocol, but in theory, anyone could build an interoperable social network. 

This all rears its head in a few places. While signing up through the official Bluesky apps is pretty simple, you’ll notice that usernames also include a domain name. For example, on Bluesky, my handle is @harryguinness.bsky.social—but anyone with the technical chops can set up a host with a different domain. Similarly, there are already a handful of third-party Bluesky clients, meaning you have your pick of apps. 

More critically, the same open philosophy dictates a lot of how the app works—at least in theory. On Bluesky, you can:

• Subscribe to different feeds with different underlying algorithms, like a Mutuals feed that includes posts from people who follow you back or a Science feed that includes content from approved curators. There are more than 45,000 of them listed on Goodfeeds. You can also create your own feeds, though, again, it requires some technical skills. 

• Use third-party moderation services to flag or hide content you don’t want to see.

• Employ powerful mute and block tools, including block lists and content filters.

Because it has an open API, you can also automate Bluesky with Zapier, to do things like automatically creating Bluesky posts based on activity in other apps, or sending Bluesky posts to your other apps. Here are a couple of examples:

Unfortunately, some of this still feels like a work in progress. The block tools work great, but both the different feeds and the third-party moderation services are less cohesive than the by-the-book algorithmic feeds and content moderation available on Threads. 

If you’re prepared to play around with it, you might be able to craft exactly the experience you want on Bluesky, but Threads is definitely the simpler option.

Threads is (kind of) open too

While Bluesky uses AT Proto, Meta is working on connecting Threads to the Fediverse, the other attempt at an open social network. It relies on ActivityPub and theoretically allows you to connect to other Fediverse networks like Mastodon and Flipboard.

These features are still in beta, and I can’t even test them because I’m in the EU. Regardless, they’re currently opt-in, so you have to go out of your way to connect your Threads account to the Fediverse, and you can’t yet follow accounts on other federated networks. While I’m a big fan of the idea, it’s not quite there yet.

Threads also has an API, so it works with tools like Hootsuite that also support Instagram. It’s not quite as permissive as Bluesky, but you can at least use other tools to post to Threads or view analytics about how your posts are performing. 

Neither has any monetization (yet)

Right now, neither Bluesky nor Threads is making money. While good in the short term, it raises serious questions about their longevity. After all, Twitter died in part because it wasn’t doing very well financially, so Musk was able to buy it. 

With that said, both Bluesky and Threads plan to make money in the future. Threads is pursuing Meta’s go-to advertising model—ads should roll out early this year. Bluesky has committed to an ad-free service and is planning a premium subscription called Bluesky+ that should also launch this year. 

Threads vs. Bluesky: Which should you choose?

First, the bad news. Neither Bluesky nor Threads is finished enough or popular enough to be the only social network you use, especially if you’re trying to market yourself or your business. While both are trying to take Twitter’s place in pop culture, neither has managed it yet.

But the good news: both social networks are free, and it’s not as if you’re locked into one forever. It’s very easy to give both a try and see which vibe suits you better.

Check back in 2026, and we’ll see if either app manages to take Twitter’s place as the go-to text-based social network.

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