I’ve been using several Steem decentralized applications or dapps for about 2 years and I’d like to review the social platforms built on Steem and share my recommendations.

Keep in mind that for the most part, all the platforms being reviewed today generally have the same underlying concept, they use one account to access everything, and all your posts exist on Steem while the platforms are just interfaces to that content. For the most part, the only difference you get with these applications is how they filter content, the design & layout, and the communities.

I used https://app.co/, https://www.stateofthedapps.com/, and user recommendations.

Note that most platform takes different amounts of commission off your earnings as a fee except for Steemit, so consider that when picking a platform to use

That being said, let’s dive in!

Social Steem Platforms

Steemit – This is the first interface built for Steem and is very raw and simple, but what I like about it is that it’s just an easy access to everything on Steem. I like being somewhere unfiltered for the true fully decentralized unmanipulated experience. While I encounter more spam etc., I prefer this and I just got used to it from having started on Steemit over 2 years ago. I highly recommend it, but if you have trouble using it, try SteemPeak or Busy. https://steemit.com/

Busy – This is one of the best alternatives to Steemit. This really comes down to preference, but I do feel that Busy is easier to use for new users as it has a more user friendly UI, but I still prefer to use Steemit mainly because I just use DTube and then answer comments via Steemit, but I highly recommend Busy. It is a much smoother transition from legacy platforms to Steem blockchain dapps. - https://busy.org/

Alpha – Very similar to Steemit, but it has a slightly cleaner design. There are also communities you can join, like groups and you don’t have to option to downvote. Instead of the regular voting system, you can rate a post between 1-5 stars and then the star rating is what would supposedly determine post quality. Good platform though I don’t see why you’d bother unless you really liked the communities or the design. The explore section is feeding me 3-day old posts as new so that should be a red flag right there. - https://alpha.1ramp.io

NTopaz – This is somewhat of a social platform, but it is mainly geared towards art. This runs normally as a Steem interface, but you might only take note of it given you want to be involved in a niche art community. - https://www.ntopaz.com

Dlike - They have their own token that you can earn alongside Steem similar to DTube, but the community is lacking, and the website is slow to load. I do not recommend it when you could just use Steemit or Busy unless you’re keen on earning DLike. - https://dlike.io

SteemPeak – This definitely has the best UI and has higher quality content that is curated for each major category. I think this is a really great way to experience Steem and they also have Tribes which are like groups. While filtering the content into curation feeds provides more high-quality content, for me personally I want the most decentralized experience by seeing everything and not just what has been curated. I get exactly why that’s appealing, but it’s not what I personally prefer. https://steempeak.com/ - This is a great FAQ for Steempeak and Steem in general - https://steempeak.com/about/faq

DTube – This is in my opinion, the best Steem video hosting platform. They also have their own cryptocurrency called DTC which you can earn and alongside your Steem. This is the best YouTube alternative. It has the largest community and allows you to easily import from YouTube too if you don’t want to reupload videos from scratch here. The interesting thing is that you have two accounts you can use: your Steem account and your DTube account. You can just post to DTube or post to both DTube and Steem to maximize your earnings and reach. It looks a lot like YouTube, and you can expect it to function similarly whereas the algorithms are of course unbiased. - https://d.tube/

Vimm.tv – This offers you another video hosting application, but is focused on live-streaming and thus acts a great alternative to Twitch or DLive if you’ve been roped into believing DLive is a real blockchain platform - https://www.vimm.tv

3Speak – This is another great video hosting application similar to DTube. Personally I prefer DTube, it’s faster and has a bigger community, but I 100% support 3Speak and think they are doing great work. If you prefer it to DTube, then you should use it. https://3speak.online/

DSound – This is the Soundcloud alternative for Steem where the only thing they show on the platform is audio uploaded via DSound. This acts as an awesome way for users to earn money for their songs and podcasts. I highly recommend checking this out and using it - https://dsound.audio

Steepshot – Steepshot started as an amazing alternative to Instagram on the Steem network. They filter Steem content to only show images. Unfortunately, they have stopped supporting the application. Their web browser version doesn’t work anymore, and their Android version isn’t supported either. It currently only works for iOS, but given it’s not supported I wouldn’t recommend you bother using it. In its prime, it was an awesome platform and I helped them with marketing for several months. I’m actually still listed as part of their marketing team and their social posts are extremely old and outdated which goes to show how they’re not really supported anymore. https://steepshot.io/

Appics – Not out yet – Posed to be a new replacement for Steepshot which was an alternative to Instagram. https://appics.com/

Steem Alternatives

Smoke.io - *This is a cannabis niche platform alternative to Steem. This platform doesn’t exist on the Steem network and has its own separate blockchain unlike the rest listed. I don’t have much of an opinion of it as I haven’t used it more than signing up and posting a couple times, but if you like marijuana and want to share earn cryptocurrency while engaging with a community based around the topic of marijuana, then this is the place for you. It’s fairly active and works very similar to Steemit. https://smoke.io

Scorum – *This is another niche Steem alternative platform focused on sports. If you love sports and want to engage with a community that is purely focused on sports. It’s very active and has an engaged community. https://scorum.com

Mobile Steem Dapps

Partiko – Partiko is easily the best mobile application for Steem with its only real competitor being Esteem. You can also use Steem via a browser, but most people will opt into using an application on a mobile device. It’s got a great design and it’s easy to use. They also gift you points for every action you do which you can then redeem for a vote from them on your content. Works well with Steemconnect - https://partiko.app

Esteem – This is the next best mobile application for Steem. It’s slower and clunkier than Partiko and doesn’t offer as many incentives for using Esteem. I would recommend Partiko out of the two, but this is the next best bet over using a Steem application via your mobile browser. - https://esteem.app/

Wherein – This app was not English, so I didn’t test it. http://www.wherein.io

Add-ons

SteemPlus - I didn’t mention this in the video, but you should look at using Steem-Plus which improves a lot of features on Steemit and makes it way easier to use. I highly recommend using it if you decide to use Steemit - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/steemplus/mjbkjgcplmaneajhcbegoffkedeankaj?hl=en