Threads and Bluesky are both text-first networks that grew as alternatives to X. Threads is Meta’s app, with 500 million monthly users in June 2026 and one main feed that Meta ranks. Bluesky is smaller, with 41.41 million accounts at the end of 2025, and lets people pick their own feeds and moderation. Choose Threads if your audience is on Instagram, Bluesky if it has moved there.
Key Takeaways
- Size: Meta reported 500 million monthly active users on Threads in June 2026. Bluesky reported 41.41 million accounts at the end of 2025. The two count different things, but the gap is more than tenfold.
- Length: a Threads post holds 500 characters, with an optional text attachment of up to 10,000. A Bluesky post holds 300 graphemes.
- Media: Threads takes carousels of 2 to 20 images and videos, and videos of up to 5 minutes through its API. Bluesky takes up to 4 images in its standard image format, or one video of up to 10 minutes.
- Feeds: Threads ranks a feed for you, lets you nudge its topics and supports pinned custom feeds. On Bluesky anyone can build a feed, and people pin the ones they want.
- Openness: Threads can share public posts to the fediverse through ActivityPub, as an optional beta not offered in the European Region. Bluesky runs on its own open protocol, and accounts can live on servers Bluesky does not run.
Threads vs Bluesky at a glance
Every row comes from Meta’s or Bluesky’s own documentation, announcements or code, read in October 2026. Where a figure applies only to posts published through an API, the row says so.
| Threads | Bluesky | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 500 million monthly active users (June 2026) | 41.41 million accounts (end of 2025) |
| Post length | 500 characters; text attachment up to 10,000 | 300 graphemes |
| Links per post | Up to 5 through the API; the first becomes the preview card | One link preview card per post |
| Images | Carousel of 2 to 20 images and videos | Up to 4 images, each up to 2 MB |
| Video | Up to 5 minutes through the API | Up to 10 minutes, 300 MB |
| Main feed | Ranked by Meta; topic requests through Dear Algo and Your Algo; custom feeds can be pinned | Following, Discover and any custom feed you pin |
| Moderation | Run by Meta | Bluesky’s own, plus independent services you can add |
| Open network | Optional beta sharing to the fediverse (ActivityPub), outside the European Region | Built on the AT Protocol |
Size and feeds decide most choices. Threads puts you in front of a large, Meta-ranked audience. Bluesky gives a smaller audience more control over what it sees.
Which is bigger, Threads or Bluesky?
Threads, by a wide margin. On 16 June 2026 Meta announced that “Threads has reached 500 million monthly active users”, and Engadget’s report on the announcement noted roughly 100 million added since August 2025. Bluesky’s 2025 transparency report says Bluesky grew “from 25.94M to 41.41M users” during 2025, counting accounts on its own servers and on independently run ones.
The measures differ: monthly active users count people who used the app that month, while Bluesky’s figure counts accounts. Even so, Threads is more than ten times larger. If your audience is broad, such as consumer brands or creators who already have Instagram followers, Threads is where more of them are. If your readers are in the communities that moved to Bluesky, the smaller network can still be the busier one for you.
How do posting limits compare?
A Threads post holds 500 characters and a Bluesky post 300 graphemes, so the same idea needs about 40% fewer characters on Bluesky. Threads also lets text-only posts carry a text attachment of up to 10,000 characters for long-form writing, according to Meta’s developer documentation. Bluesky has no equivalent; longer ideas become a thread of replies.
Media differs too. Threads carousels hold 2 to 20 images or videos, and its API accepts videos of up to five minutes. Bluesky’s standard image format holds four images of up to 2 MB each. Bluesky’s protocol now also defines a gallery of up to 10 images, after Bluesky wrote in January 2026 that “four photos aren’t enough”; whether your app offers it yet varies. Bluesky raised its video limit to 10 minutes and 300 MB in August 2026.
If you post the same idea to both, write it for Bluesky first. A post that fits 300 graphemes fits Threads unchanged unless it is heavy on emoji, while a 500-character Threads post has to be cut down. The free Threads post formatter and Bluesky post formatter help with line breaks before you paste. How Bluesky counts emoji and shortens links is covered in our guide to Bluesky’s character limits, and the Threads side in our guide to the Threads character limit.
How do the feeds decide what you see?
On Threads, Meta ranks the main feed and you steer it with topic requests. On Bluesky the choice is yours: anyone can create a feed, and people pin the ones they want next to Following and Discover. Threads has public custom feeds too, but its main feed stays the one Meta ranks.
Dear Algo, launched on 11 February 2026, lets you post a public request that starts “Dear Algo” to see more or less of a topic for three days. Your Algo, announced in June 2026, lets you make requests that only you can see, lasting one, three or seven days, starting in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Since February 2025, Threads custom feeds can be shared and pinned.
On Bluesky, the 2023 announcement of custom feeds put it plainly: “anyone can create a feed”. Discover, Bluesky’s own general feed, “mixes in a global view of what’s trending in the network with posts from accounts you follow and posts from accounts near your social graph”. For a brand, that means reach on Bluesky can come from being included in topic feeds that other people run.
Which network is more open?
Bluesky is the more open of the two: it is built on its own AT Protocol, and accounts can live on servers Bluesky does not run. Threads connects to an open protocol too, ActivityPub, the one behind Mastodon, but as an optional sharing feature that lets people on other servers follow and reply to you. Meta’s help center limits fediverse sharing to public profiles, people 18 or older, profiles created with an Instagram account and people outside the European Region, and still calls it a beta.
Bluesky’s transparency report counts accounts on those independent servers in its total. Moderation follows the same idea: since March 2024 users can add independent moderation services “like building blocks” on top of Bluesky’s own. If owning your presence outside one company matters to you, Bluesky goes further.
Which should you post on?
Post on Threads if your audience is already on Instagram, if you want the larger pool, or if you post photo and video carousels. Post on Bluesky if your audience moved there, if you write short posts for a smaller crowd, or if being outside a large company’s platform matters to you.
Many accounts post on both, and the cost of adding the second network is low when the posts are written to the 300-grapheme limit. Our comparison of Bluesky and X covers the third network in this group, the pairing of Threads and X has its own comparison, and the guide to choosing the right social media platform helps when the question is broader than these three.
How does PostNext handle posting to both?
PostNext schedules Threads and Bluesky from one calendar, with different capabilities on each. On Threads it publishes text, images, videos and carousels, and can publish a multi-post thread together at the scheduled time, each post replying to the one before. On Bluesky it publishes text posts with up to four images, each post on its own; Bluesky threads, replies and video are posted in the Bluesky app.
The PostNext Threads scheduler also lets you set posting slots and fill the next free one. Threads post metrics are not available in PostNext yet, so read impressions and replies in the Threads app. PostNext can also duplicate a post across channels, so one idea can be copied to Bluesky and trimmed to 300 graphemes. For the Bluesky side step by step, see our guide to scheduling Bluesky posts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Threads bigger than Bluesky?
Yes. Meta announced 500 million monthly active users on Threads in June 2026. Bluesky reported 41.41 million accounts at the end of 2025. Monthly users and accounts are different measures, but Threads is more than ten times larger either way.
What is the character limit on Threads and Bluesky?
A Threads post holds 500 characters, and text-only posts can add a text attachment of up to 10,000 characters. A Bluesky post holds 300 graphemes. Write to 300 if you post the same text to both.
Can Threads and Bluesky users follow each other?
Not directly, as far as we found. Threads connects to the fediverse through ActivityPub, the protocol Mastodon uses, while Bluesky runs on the AT Protocol, a different system. Neither company’s help pages we read describe following accounts across the two.
Which is better for brands, Threads or Bluesky?
Threads suits brands with a broad or Instagram-based audience, because it is far larger and supports carousels of up to 20 images and videos. Bluesky suits brands whose audience already moved there, and reach there can come from being part of topic feeds that others build.
Can you schedule posts to Threads and Bluesky?
Yes, with tools that use each platform’s API. Threads offers publishing through Meta’s Threads API, and Bluesky through its open protocol with an app password. PostNext schedules both from one calendar, with text and up to four images on Bluesky.
Related reading
- Bluesky vs X: Which Should You Post On in 2026?
- How to Schedule Bluesky Posts in 2026 (Step by Step)
- Choosing the Right Social Media Platform
- The 10 Most Popular Social Media Platforms in 2026
Sources
- Meta, New Features to Celebrate 500 Million Monthly Users on Threads, 16 June 2026 (read October 2026)
- Meta, Control Your Threads Feed With New Dear Algo Feature, 11 February 2026
- Meta for Developers, Threads API overview, posts and text attachments (October 2026)
- Threads Help Center, Turn on sharing to the fediverse on Threads and About Threads and the fediverse (October 2026)
- Bluesky, 2025 Transparency Report, What’s Next at Bluesky, custom feeds and stackable moderation
- Bluesky lexicons on GitHub, app.bsky.feed.post, embed.images and embed.gallery (October 2026)
- Engadget, Meta’s Threads app now has half a billion monthly users, 16 June 2026 (read October 2026)
- Bluesky, video update announcement, 25 August 2026
- PostNext, postnext.io/threads-scheduler (October 2026)
