Relays

A relay is a piece of software that increases federation between instances that subscribe to that relay.
It is a great way for smaller instances to populate their federated timeline.

How to subscribe to a relay

Only instance admins can subscribe to a relay. In Mastodon you can do that by going to Settings > Administration > Relays. There you can enter the url of the relay - add "/inbox" at the end of it.
Then you just have to wait for your instance to be accepted by the relay owners.

List of ready to use Fediverse relays

• https://en.relay.friendi.ca
• https://federation.stream
• https://mastodon-relay.moew.science
• https://mastodon-relay.thedoodleproject.net
• https://relay.beckmeyer.us
• https://relay.chocoflan.net
• https://relay.fedi.agency
• https://relay.fedi.tools
• https://relay.fedibird.com
• https://relay.homunyan.com
• https://relay.gruenehoelle.nl
• https://relay.intahnet.co.uk
• https://relay.k3tan.com
• https://relay.libranet.de
• https://relay.minecloud.ro
• https://relay.social.tigwali.fr
• https://relay.toot.yukimochi.jp
• https://relay.masto.social
• https://relay.dog
• https://relay.national-defence.network
• https://rel.re
• https://relay.gay (requires pre-approval)

Comparison of Fediverse relay software

relay name	source	works with
		diaspora*	Mastodon	Misskey	Pleroma
Activity relay	https://github.com/yukimochi/Activity-Relay	✖️	✔️	✔️	✔️
ActivityRelay	https://git.pleroma.social/pleroma/relay	✖️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Pub relay	https://source.joinmastodon.org/mastodon/pub-relay	✖️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Seattle relay	https://gitlab.com/jankysolutions/social.seattle.wa.us/relay	✖️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Social relay	https://github.com/jaywink/social-relay	✔️	✖️	✖️	✖️
AodeRelay	https://git.asonix.dog/asonix/relay	✖️	✔️	✔️	✔️

You can find usage statistics of relay software from The Federation for activityrelay, activity-relay, aoderelay, pub-relay, selective-relay, unicarelay.

How to install your own Fediverse relay for beginners

To be written.