A Twitter alternative that prints the number.
Both platforms let a subscription buy reach. Only one of them tells you how much. On Surf it is 1.5x, 2.5x or 4x, written down, inside a formula you can read.
If the part that wore you down was the feeling that the ranking changed under you and nobody would say how, this page is the honest version of that answer.
Side by side.
| X | Surf | |
|---|---|---|
| How it makes money | Advertising and subscriptions | Subscriptions only |
| Ads in the feed | Yes, fewer on paid tiers | None, on any plan |
| Ranking weights published | Source partly released in 2023 | Every weight, kept current |
| Paid reach boost | Yes, not quantified | 1.5x, 2.5x, 4x, published |
| Feed without ranking | A Following tab | One switch, in the main feed |
| Why a post reached you | No | On every ranked post |
| Tune the ranking yourself | No | Ten sliders, or a sentence |
| Encrypted direct messages | On paid tiers, opt in | Default, for everyone |
| Long posts | On paid tiers | 2,200 characters free, to 10,000 |
Every row describing X reflects publicly documented behaviour and can change. Where they do something well, it says so.
Every post says why it is here.
One tap on a ranked post reads back the signals that surfaced it, straight from the ranking query, with no second call and no model involved. Show less, and that kind of post drops.
Read the formulaThe water was unreal this morning.
Why am I seeing this?
Gaining traction right now, from a topic you lean into.
Say it in a sentence.
Write a standing rule in plain English, up to twelve of them, and the feed keeps to it. Less negativity, more from people you know. Each one is visible, and each one has a switch.
See all featuresDescribe your feed
Where X still wins.
Surf is new, and the things it does not have are worth knowing before you move.
- The network is small and pre-launch. Reach on a new platform is a function of who is on it.
- There is no import of your posts, your following list, or your archive.
- Group threads above 256 members are not end-to-end encrypted. Below that, they are.
- Billing is monthly. There is no annual plan.
Questions people ask.
- How is a paid boost different from what X does?
- In kind, not much: both give subscribers more reach. In disclosure, entirely. Surf states the multiplier as a number, 1.5x on Sapphire, 2.5x on Pro, 4x on Ultra, and it sits inside the published formula. It cannot override a setting you chose, cannot pass a mute or a block, and cannot be pointed at one specific post.
- Can I turn the algorithm off completely?
- Yes. One switch drops the feed to newest first, with no scoring and no learning from what you do. Blocks, mutes and comfort filters still apply, because those are your settings rather than ranking.
- Are direct messages encrypted?
- Yes, by default, for every account including free ones. X3DH and Double Ratchet, X25519, AES-256-GCM, with a 60-digit safety number you can check against a contact. Group threads use sender keys up to 256 members; above that a thread is not end-to-end encrypted, and we say so rather than rounding up.
- What stops Surf from becoming ad-funded later?
- Nothing in a contract, and claiming otherwise would be a promise no company can make. What is true today is that there is no ad system to switch on: no advertiser API, no ad-targeting profile, and no ad-serving code. The revenue is subscriptions.
More in the help center, the algorithm page, and the full comparison.