A dead-simple, unstoppable protocol for social media and beyond — no company owns it, no server can silence you, and anyone can build on it.
Nostr stands for Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays. It is a bare-bones open protocol — essentially a shared language that any app, server, or person can speak — for publishing and reading short messages on the internet.
Think of it like email, but for social media. No single company runs email — Gmail, Outlook and your work server all talk to each other using the same rules. Nostr applies that same logic to posts, follows, likes, and direct messages.
The result: you own your identity and your content. There is no platform that can ban you, no algorithm deciding what you see, and no data centre whose shutdown takes everything offline.
Nostr is an open protocol that lets anyone publish signed messages to any server, readable by any app, controlled by no one.
No tokens, no mining, no consensus. Just cryptographic keys and simple servers called relays.
When you join Nostr you generate a public key (your username, shareable) and a private key (your password, never share it). Your public key is your identity — no email or phone required.
npub1sg6p…xhv7
Relays are simple servers that store and forward your messages. They don't interpret content — they just hold signed events. Connect to as many or as few as you like. If one goes down, your content lives on the others.
wss://relay.damus.io
Everything on Nostr is an event — a small JSON object containing your message, a timestamp, your public key, and a cryptographic signature that proves it's genuinely from you without needing a central authority.
text note · DM · reaction · article
A client is the app you use to read and write to Nostr — like Damus on iOS, Amethyst on Android, or Primal on the web. Because the protocol is open, dozens of clients exist and you can switch any time — your identity comes with you.
Damus · Primal · Amethyst · Snort
No single relay or client controls the network. Getting banned from one relay is like being kicked out of one coffee shop — every other one still serves you.
Your keypair is your account. Take it to any client, any relay, forever. No platform can delete your identity — only you hold the private key.
Because the protocol is public, anyone can build on it — social feeds, marketplaces, live streaming, Git hosting — all sharing the same identity layer.
Zapping — sending small Bitcoin tips directly to a creator — is built into the protocol itself. No payment processor required.
You see what you follow, in order. There is no engagement-maximising algorithm deciding what outrages you most. The feed is yours to curate.
Your followers, posts, and DMs aren't locked to one app. Switch clients the way you switch email providers — everything comes with you.
| Nostr | Twitter / X | Mastodon | Bluesky | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identity ownership | ✦ Your keypair | ✗ Platform | ~ Instance server | ~ DNS handle |
| Censorship resistance | ✦ High | ✗ Low | ~ Medium | ~ Medium |
| Native payments | ✦ Lightning zaps | ✗ None | ✗ None | ✗ None |
| Algorithm-free feed | ✦ Yes | ✗ No | ✦ Yes | ✦ Yes |
| Open protocol | ✦ Yes (NIPs) | ✗ No | ✦ ActivityPub | ~ AT Protocol |
| Requires account signup | ✦ No | ✗ Yes | ✗ Yes | ✗ Yes |
✦ = advantage · ~ = partial · ✗ = disadvantage
Download an app that speaks Nostr. Primal (web & mobile) or Damus (iOS) are the friendliest starting points. The client will generate your keys on first launch.
Your nsec1… private key is your entire identity. Write it on paper and store it safely. If you lose it, you lose your account permanently. There is no "forgot password".
Your client connects to a default set of relays automatically. To improve reach and redundancy, add a few more from the public list at nostr.watch. Aim for 5–10 reliable relays.
Search by npub or by NIP-05 verified username (formatted like an email address). Follow a few accounts in your field — the feed fills up quickly.
To send and receive Lightning tips, connect a Lightning wallet — Alby or Wallet of Satoshi are the most common choices. Set your Lightning address in your profile and you can start receiving zaps immediately.
By default your identity is a public key with no name attached — pseudonymous rather than anonymous. You can share as much or as little personal information as you choose. For stronger anonymity you'd need to combine it with Tor or a VPN.
You can publish a deletion event, and well-behaved relays and clients will honour it. But because anyone can archive Nostr data, you should treat posts as permanent. Think of deletion as a request, not a guarantee.
No. Nostr and Bitcoin are independent. You can post, follow, and message without ever touching a wallet. Lightning zaps are an optional feature you can add whenever you're ready.
Relays set their own policies — some require a small payment or invite to post, others are open. Clients add mute/block lists and Web of Trust filtering. It's a different model to centralised moderation, and it's still maturing.
Not at all. The protocol supports long-form articles, live streams, marketplaces, Git repositories, collaborative notes, and more — all identified by event "kind" numbers. The ecosystem is growing fast.
The protocol was created by a pseudonymous developer known as fiatjaf in 2020. It gained major momentum in late 2022 when Jack Dorsey publicly endorsed it and donated to its development.