Mastodon Username Checker

Q: Can two people have the same Mastodon username?

Yes, on different servers. @mia@mastodon.social and @mia@fosstodon.org are separate accounts. On one server, each username is unique.

By FreeUsername · Reviewed October 14, 2026 · Editorial policy

A Mastodon handle has two parts, like an email address: @name@server. The same name can belong to different people on different servers, so "is it taken?" always means "on which server?". The box below checks mastodon.social, the largest server, and our full Mastodon username search checks 44 servers at once.

What we tested (October 2026)

How the check works: The box on this page loads mastodon.social/@name. Our full search checks 44 servers, most through Mastodon's public account lookup API (api/v1/accounts/lookup) and a few by loading the profile page.
Live test on 14 October 2026, 45 checks per name: Gargron, the public account of Mastodon's founder, came back Found on mastodon.social in both of our mastodon.social checks. Accounts named Gargron also came back Found on mstdn.social and mstdn.jp, which shows that the same name can exist on several servers. 34 checks came back Not found and 7 gave no clear answer.
Made-up handle: qzvx7k2wplm came back Not found on 39 of 45 checks and was never Found. The other 6 gave no clear answer: libretooth.gr rate-limited us (HTTP 429), mastodon.cloud returned HTTP 502, vmst.io returned HTTP 410 (Gone), social.tchncs.de served a bot check, mastodonbooks.net redirected, and lor.sh answered ambiguously. mastodon.online also gave no clear answer for Gargron.
Control: kev, the admin account on fosstodon.org, came back Found on fosstodon.org.

Mastodon username rules

Handle format	@username@server, for example @[email protected]. The profile lives at https://server/@username.
Allowed characters	Letters, numbers and underscores only (no periods or hyphens in a local username).
Length	Up to 30 characters, per Mastodon's source code.
Uniqueness	Per server. Mastodon's docs say the same username can be registered on different servers, and there is no way to claim all of them ahead of time.
Changing it	Not possible on the same server. You create a new account and move your followers to it.
Deleted accounts	Deleting an account makes its profile and username unusable forever on that server.

Sources: Mastodon docs: signing up for an account, Mastodon docs: moving or leaving accounts, Mastodon docs: profile link verification, Mastodon docs: WebFinger, Mastodon source: account model (username format and length). Last reviewed 2026-10-14. Platforms change their rules; the linked help pages are the final word.

How to search for someone on Mastodon by username

You need the server as well as the name. Open https://server/@name in a browser, or paste the full address, @name@server, into the search box of your own Mastodon account. The Mastodon docs say the search box accepts a full address or profile URL and fetches remote accounts from their server.

If you only know the name, our full username search tries it on the 44 servers listed below. This page does not look up real names.

Which Mastodon servers we check

The live check on this page asks mastodon.social. The full username search covers 44 Mastodon servers: 101010.pl, c.im, chaos.social, defcon.social, expressional.social, federated.press, fosstodon.org, graphics.social, hcommons.social, hometech.social, hostux.social, libretooth.gr, lor.sh, mapstodon.space, masto.nyc, mastodon.art, mastodon.cloud, mastodon.gamedev.place, mastodon.online, mastodon.scot, mastodon.sdf.org, mastodon.social, mastodon.top, mastodon.uno, mastodon.world, mastodon.xyz, mastodonapp.uk, mastodonbooks.net, meow.social, mstdn.ca, mstdn.io, mstdn.jp, mstdn.party, mstdn.social, musician.social, nitecrew.rip, poweredbygay.social, rigcz.club, social.tchncs.de, tilde.zone, toot.community, tooting.ch, vkl.world and vmst.io.

There are thousands of Mastodon servers, so a name that is free on all of these can still be taken on a server we do not cover. If you have picked a server, open https://server/@name there to be sure.

Most servers answer through Mastodon's public account lookup (api/v1/accounts/lookup), which needs no login. A few are checked by loading the profile page. A server that is down, rate-limits us or has shut down shows Blocked or Unknown, not Not found.

Mastodon username checker: a search for @yourname showing whether the Mastodon username is taken or available

How to check a Mastodon username

Enter just the username part, without the @ or the server: mia, not @[email protected].
The box checks mastodon.social by loading mastodon.social/@<name>. "The page you are looking for isn't here" means no local account uses that name.
For any other server, open https://<server>/@<name> in your browser, or use the full search to test the 44 servers we cover in one go.
The sign-up form on the server you choose is the final word, because deleted usernames stay blocked even when no profile shows.

Mastodon username taken? What you can do

Pick another server. Because names are per server, @mia may be free on a smaller community server even if mastodon.social has it.
Choose a server that fits your topic (art, tech, a city or a language), then claim your usual name there.
Add an underscore or a short word if you want to stay on a particular server: mia_draws.
You cannot hold a name on every server in advance, so do not worry about copycats on servers you never use; link your real profile from your website instead.

How to change your Mastodon username

You cannot rename an account on the same server. Create a new account with the name you want, on the same or another server.
On the new account, add an alias that points to the old one, under Account settings, Moving from a different account.
On the old account, set up the move to the new one and choose to move followers. Followers transfer automatically; your posts do not.
Export and import your follows, blocks, mutes and bookmarks separately. After a move there is a 30-day cooldown before you can migrate again.

Reserved and restricted names

Each server runs its own rules, and admins can block names on their server. Mastodon itself does not publish a reserved list. Once an account is deleted, its username can never be registered again on that server, which stops anyone from taking over an old identity there.

Tips

Put your full handle, @name@server, in your other bios. Just @name is ambiguous on Mastodon.
Mastodon supports profile link verification: link your website from your profile and add a rel="me" link back, and the link shows as verified.
Lookups use WebFinger, so apps and other servers can find @name@server from the handle alone.

Frequently asked questions

Can two people have the same Mastodon username?

Yes, on different servers. @[email protected] and @[email protected] are separate accounts. On one server, each username is unique.

Can I change my Mastodon username?

Not on the same server. You create a new account and use Mastodon's move feature, which redirects your old profile and moves your followers. Your posts stay behind.

What characters can a Mastodon username have?

Letters, numbers and underscores, up to 30 characters. Periods and hyphens are not allowed in a local username.

Does this checker cover every Mastodon server?

No. The box checks mastodon.social, and our full search covers 44 servers. There are thousands more, so check your chosen server directly.

Also check on other top platforms

Each platform has its own checker page with its own rules. Pick one to test the same name there.

Check all 3,450+ sites at once with the full username search, or get the Android app to run the same search from your phone.

FreeUsername: Username Checker

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