X rival Cohost to shut down due to financial constraints
Cohost, a social media platform that was launched as a competitor to X, has announced its impending shutdown. The company made this announcement via its staff account earlier this week. Similar to X, Cohost allowed users to follow others, view posts in a feed, and like and repost content shared by others. However, it set itself apart by focusing on a chronological feed without trending topics and supporting long-form posts.
Business model and premium subscription
Cohost was unique in its business approach, choosing not to rely on advertising. Instead, it offered a premium subscription called Cohost Plus that provided advanced features such as an increased file size limit for uploads. The company had plans to introduce creator tools like tips and the ability to sell subscriptions. This innovative model was part of Cohost's broader mission to challenge tech giants with its anti-capitalist and anti-Big Tech stance.
Founders' vision and challenges
Cohost was founded by the not-for-profit software company, Anti Software Software Club. The founders, Colin Bayer and Jae Kaplan, expressed their vision in a 2020 statement: "We think we can do better, by building tools that focus on fair dealing and sustainable growth rather than market dominance." Despite its ambitious goals to disrupt X and Meta, Cohost faced stiff competition from these platforms as well as decentralized social networking options such as Mastodon and Bluesky.
Reasons for shutdown and future plans
Cohost has cited "lack of funding and burnout" as the primary reasons for its shutdown, which is planned for the end of 2024. The company clarified that all remaining funds are being used to cover server and operational costs. Starting October 2, 2024, the site will become read-only with efforts being made to keep servers online until year-end. Control of Cohost's source code will be transferred to an unnamed individual who funded most of their operations.
Financial struggles and user migration
Cohost had been transparent about its financial difficulties since March, revealing that its primary funder had ceased communication as funds were dwindling. The platform had only 30,000 monthly active users and 2,630 subscribers as of March 11, 2024. To cover a deficit of $17,000 (roughly ₹12 lakh), it needed to sell an additional 3,400 subscriptions—a goal deemed unattainable by the team. Following the announcement of Cohost's shutdown, many former users and engineers have started migrating to Mastodon and Bluesky.
