Mastodon is a far more closed off network. The value of a network is explicitly in how many people are connected.

Mastodon is like separate, large chat rooms with an interface that *looks* like social media. But connecting to the broader Mastodon network is horrible. I used it for a short time and it really felt like there was no global network at all. The likelihood that I could search and find any random user was extremely low.

#Nostr is actually a cohesive network. I can connect to as many relays as I want and reach essentially any user. It ends up feeling exactly like a single large network like Twitter (which is massively valuable because you can find practically anyone one it) even though it’s made up of dozens or maybe even hundreds of relays now, and likely a great many more in the future.

If I search for someone, I find them. I can take my feed and pubkey with me everywhere I go no matter what relays I want to use.

Nostr is nothing like Mastodon in practice.