Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Built a social network where your friends can't see your posts
I noticed I had reduced my posts to Facebook because I was self-conscious about what people would think. At the same time, I had an urge to post so I could receive validation by way of likes.
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Built a social network where your friends can't see your posts launched in 2015; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
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Overlead▲146Here's the problem: I launched two products. I wrote blog posts. I posted on X, built in public. I tried running ads. And you know what actually got me customers? Replying to someone on Reddit who asked, "What's the best tool for this?" One reply. Three signups. I felt like an idiot for not doing it sooner. But here's the issue: I don't have time to refresh Reddit all day looking for these posts. I have products to build. Bugs to fix. Emails to answer. Life to live. So I built Overlead to do the searching for me. Overlead scans Reddit, Quora, and Hacker News (and many more to come) for…
Feb 2026 · overlead.co · its alternatives →
- 2WD
Hey there, First time posting on Hacker News in about 2 years! The reason I’m posting is that I thought I’d write about the product I’ve been building, in hopes it resonates with people. Why build yet another social app? Because I deleted almost all social media around 3/4 years ago as it was just net negative on my life. There was very little that was truly interesting, I didn’t care about looking good to other people and because of the ‘media’ and ads, the apps were all designed to make me spend too much time for what I was getting. I hated it and what it meant for people’s behaviour,…
2022 · oncircles.com · its alternatives →
- 3TW
Hi! 3 months ago, while I was exploring my Facebook newsfeed, was the first time I really got bored of Facebook. I started to wonder why, and to be honest - I haven't figured it out yet. But I did start to think of the gaps Facebook doesn't cover. Maybe I'm wrong, but one of the things that came up to me is the subject of interests and users will to use social networks in order to get to know new friends (real ones), in an efficient-good way. I thought combining those two gaps is a really good idea. So I started to develop that big idea (double meaning) - interests based social network. The…
2012 · its alternatives →
- 4
See what the frontpage looked like the day you joined
2016 · its alternatives →
- 5AM
TLDR: I built a "quick and dirty " private social network for my friends, posted on Reddit and HN, got some interest so now have built it properly along with my brother. site link: https://intimost.com/login/ demo creds: [email protected] Demo123! Full version: I needed a social network where I can just send updates and nothing else. So I built it, my friends liked and now I have built it "for the world". Everything is private by default. - Text-only updates - No likes. Only views to acknowledge a post - [in development] Comments are private between the poster and…
Oct 2025 · its alternatives →
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Six perspectives on coming out, told firsthand by redditors
2016 · soundcloud.com · its alternatives →
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- 9MA
Hello. :) I've noticed for the last few years it feels like everyone has been saying the same thing, that social media got baaad, timelines feel hostile, nothing you see is actually from people you chose to follow, and every platform seems optimized for outrage, screenshots, and engagement bait rather than the original microblog ideas of the early 2010s I miss the 2010 social styles, where you have to share your @name with a friend IRL because search wasn't really search... A place where you followed people, saw what they wrote, stumbled into interesting discussions, and hashtags meant…
Jan 2026 · meepr.co · its alternatives →
- 10
Wave3▲8The other day I saw a post here on HN that featured a NYT article called "Where Have All My Deep Male Friendships Gone?" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44098369) and it definitely hit home. As a guy in my early 30s, it made me realize how I've let many of my most meaningful friendships fade. I have a good group of friends - and my wife - but it doesn't feel like when I was in college and hung out with a crew of 10+ people on a weekly basis. So, I decided to do something about it. I’ve launched wave3.social - a platform to help guys build in-person social circles with…
2025 · wave3.social · its alternatives →
- 11
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Quickpost▲10Hi HN, I’ve been building a small social network where the feed is always chronological — newest posts come first, always. It’s not 100% algorithm-free (there’s still basic filtering to avoid spam or abuse), but the core idea is that every user has a real chance to be seen, even with zero followers. It’s lightweight, works well on mobile, and supports both posts and comments. Most of the content is currently in Portuguese, since it started with a Brazilian audience, but the interface is mostly language-neutral. I’d love any feedback on the concept, UX, performance, or anything else. Thanks!
2025 · qqpost.netlify.app · its alternatives →
- 13WI
2019 · blog.simpleanalytics.io · its alternatives →
- 14CS
Hi HN, over the years of using the social media (Instagram, Pinterest, etc..), I’m quite weary of the trend that people tend to polish their content so well and post the perfect aspect of their lives. I feel like that I’m not one of them, and anything I post will be either not so polished to fit the “magazine” style of the community or so insignificant for anyone else to care about. Scrolling in those apps more and more and seeing more and more perfect lives, I feel like I was abused by those platforms and made me anxious about myself. I want an online space that can give my voice back,…
2023 · its alternatives →
- 15SO
Hey HN, My co-founders and I have been working on a project for the last month or so, and we'd like to get your input on it. We wanted to hear your thoughts on what we're doing - so check out our landing page, and let us know what you think/understand. Does it sounds like something you guys would want to use? http://www.thesharedweb.com/alpha/intro We'll tell you guys more about exactly what we're doing as the conversation evolves, but we just wanted to see what the initial reaction is, and what you understand (i.e. are we describing it in a way that makes sense). Really excited to hear your…
2010 · thesharedweb.com · its alternatives →
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- 17
I'm dreading the day Facebook flips my profile to Timeline. It takes away the focus from what I think is/used to be the best part of Facebook, a fun way to communicate with friends (by posting to their wall). So, my best friend and I built the kind of timeline we wish Facebook had. (Yes, it requires FB login. No, we won't spam.)
2012 · le-bond.com · its alternatives →
- 18PR
www.schmeebs.com I built this site in two days. I tried to make it a fusion of Twitter + Digg in that people will be able to follow certain "domains" of news then be able to see popular stuff from there. Its as real time as it can be at this point. Would welcome any thoughts on it!
2010 · its alternatives →
- 19
I missed what social media used to feel like, so I made an app to share real moments without algorithms deciding what matters. On the Apple App Store only, sorry Android.
2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 20
Loopn▲7Hey, Hackers! I am incredibly excited to finally share what we've been building: Loopn. For years, my professional networking experience felt more like a chore than an opportunity. I’m sure many of you can relate. My feed became a constant firehose of noise—off-topic posts, viral debates, and endless content that had little to do with my actual career goals. The very platforms that promised connection were paradoxically making it harder to find the right people. It felt like finding a meaningful connection required sifting through a mountain of this irrelevant content. We were all just…
2025 · loopn.io · its alternatives →
- 21AS
Hello Hacker News! In the past few weeks I've been working on a side project that allows you to post anonymously a short message and a photo that is tied to your location. Other people can see posts around them in a radius of 1 kilometer. Posts are ephemeral and disappear after one day. That's all. It started as an exercise to try to write a geohash index and to try nodejs and Redis. I'm not sure if/how it could be useful. Maybe it could be used as a quick way of sharing something with someone next to you, or to leave a reminder for someone at a specific location. Or it could be abused…
2015 · its alternatives →
- 22AA
Got started with Rails earlier this week. Thought it'd be fun if I built something quick based on the introductory tutorial I've always been fascinated by the actions of others when complete and absolute anonymity is granted. Especially when they are put into a position of power. The goal of this project is simply to see what happens to the site. Have at it! https://anonblog.herokuapp.com/
2013 · anonblog.herokuapp.com · its alternatives →
- 23WP
A proof of concept i've developed several months ago . The idea was to build a social network without users and learn Django. Warm Regards from Argentina. Martin.
2012 · doadoing.com · its alternatives →
- 24
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →