That's sort of my point. Managed hosting is exactly what I get for free from SDF (or mastodon.social), so what's the benefit?

_you_ don't get managed hosting from mastodon.social the site owner does (if they used a service like this). You just get an account that someone else manages the infrastructure beneath.

This gives you your own instance, which in addition to using your own ___domain, means you can can set the rules of the server (what kind of speech is and isn't allowed), you can boot people you don't want. You can control who gets in. you can control what other servers are blocked (i assume that is an option in pleroma too).

Do you really get to set all the rules? This lists no terms of service at this point, but is there any reason to assume that the rules will be significantly more lax than e.g. twitter.com?

As a person who've had their VPS disconnected by OVH over a malicious link posted by a third-party on my service, I am very skeptical.

Additionally other instances could very well block all Togethr instances if they see abuse from customers, the same way they can block an instance if they see abuse from their members.

Every Togethr instrnce has a separate ___domain name and IP address, so blocking them all for no reason isn't really possible.

Blocking any given one is of course.

By "not possible" you mean that it's not a feature that exists in Mastodon today. In that sense you are right.

I mean there is no way to tell if an instance is hosted by Togethr or not.

It's running a custom version of Pleroma and is therefore very identifiable.

A clear business model and alignment of interests, as a customer. Also no lock in since the customer owns their ___domain.

How is SDF funded? How can anyone be certain it will continue to be funded, if it offers a service gratis that costs the provider money to operate? Is that funding source aligned with my beliefs and interests? These are questions you don't have when you just pay for things.

Another example: I use FastMail with a custom ___domain. Yes, I could just use Gmail, but I don't, for the reasons listed above.

SDF has been a self-sustaining non-profit since the 80's. I'm much more skeptical of a newcomer than of them, personally

But you can't use Gmail with a custom ___domain for free. I bet that's a decision point

You can't use Fastmail for free at all, custom ___domain or no.

Yes. But what I am saying is since gmail becomes paid for custom domains, you _then_ decide, you might as well pay someone else.

In one of the former fediverse hype cycles (either 2020 or 2018...) I made an account on an instance that was not one of the main 5 ones and followed a bunch of people. Some weeks ago I looked at that account and literally 90% of the accounts I had followed had vanished because the instances _they_ were on went offline in the meantime. Honestly a little surprised the one I chose was still offline, as it's also just a random small one.

Yes, this is probably not so likely for mastodon.social or SDF, but still. It's just like getting a free email account at some random place, it could be gone every day.

I agree, but I was concerned if mastodon.social was sufficiently funded so I started giving them a tiny amount of money every month.

I suppose it would be good to have Mastodon on my own ___domain, but I really don't care that much (I have had my website on my own ___domain for 30+ years).

Your own ___domain?

you get to set your own federation rules, and perform your own moderation.

And switch to self-hosting or another hosting company whenever you want, never need to change your address because you own the ___domain. Control and freedom.

Also support from humans who are paid to support you.