Study
Guides, glossary, and comparisons. Written by people who actually use Nostr every day. Start with the basics below, or jump to the section you need.
Your Nostr identity is a key pair, not an account. Switching clients keeps everything: followers, posts, DMs, profile. The full playbook.
9 min readEverything a new user needs in one guide. Not just signup. What to do in week one, week two, week four. Milestones from tourist to regular.
8 min readExport Threads data, create a Nostr identity, and rebuild your audience on an open protocol where Meta has no control. A migration guide.
8 min readNostr's censorship resistance is not marketing. It is a consequence of how the protocol is built. What gets protected, what does not.
7 min readWhat Nostr protects, what it leaks, and the specific threat models it handles well or badly. A frank security assessment in 2026.
7 min readNostr is decentralized in specific ways and not in others. What the protocol guarantees, what client behavior adds, and what 'decentralized' means.
7 min readStart-to-finish walkthrough for a brand new Nostr account. Pick a client, generate keys, back them up, and be posting in under five minutes.
7 min readNostr is a protocol, not a platform. The distinction shapes everything about how it works, why it cannot be captured, and what it can do.
7 min readNostr itself costs nothing. Some things on top (premium names, paid relays, wallets) have fees. The full pricing breakdown for 2026.
7 min readHonest reasons people actually switch to Nostr in 2026. Ownership, zaps, censorship resistance, the small community, and real problems it solves.
8 min readThe shortest path from zero Nostr knowledge to a working account. Five minutes to sign up, fifteen more to understand what you are using.
7 min readUnder the hood, Nostr is 200 lines of spec. Events, signatures, relays, subscriptions. Every moving piece with concrete examples.
10 min readOpen an app, get a pair of keys, follow some people, post. What starting Nostr looks like in 2026, with the details nobody warns you about.
9 min readNostr is a simple, open protocol for social media and identity. No company runs it, no account can be deleted by anyone but you. Plain English.
7 min readVerification on Nostr is NIP-05, not Twitter Blue. What it means, how to get the check, and what the verification actually proves (and does not).
7 min readOne and two-letter Nostr identifiers exist, they cost more for a reason, and owning one is a specific identity statement. What premium names cost.
7 min readHost your own NIP-05 on a domain you control. Why you might want to, how to set it up in minutes, and what it gives you that a managed service does not.
7 min readUnlike any centralized platform, your Nostr identity moves with you across clients, relays, and services. What portability means in practice.
7 min readYour Nostr username is yours forever once claimed. How to pick one that is findable, memorable, on-brand, and does not fight search engines.
7 min readStep-by-step guide to claiming a readable Nostr identifier. The fastest managed option, the fully self-hosted setup, costs, and verification.
8 min readConcrete backup options for your Nostr private key, ranked by safety. What works, what does not, and the mistakes that turn a backup into account loss.
8 min readThe two prefixes every Nostr user sees. One is your public identity. The other is a secret that owns your account. How to tell them apart.
7 min readEvery Nostr account is a pair of keys. One you share, one you guard. What they are, what they do, how they are encoded, and how not to lose them.
9 min readNIP-05 is the email-shaped identifier you use on Nostr: alice@nostr.blog. What it actually does, what it does not, and how to get one.
8 min readTo receive zaps you need a Lightning address that publishes zap receipts. How to set one up, verify it works, and fix zaps that go invisible.
7 min readThree popular Lightning wallets for Nostr users compared. Custodial vs non-custodial, setup friction, Nostr integration, and which one fits you.
6 min readWallet of Satoshi is the easiest Lightning wallet to set up and common for Nostr zapping. How to pair it, what it does well, and its limits.
7 min readFive reliable ways to get sats into a Lightning wallet, from in-app purchases to exchanges to peer-to-peer. Real fees, delays, and regional gaps.
7 min readThe complete setup for a Lightning wallet that zaps cleanly on Nostr. Which wallet, how to fund it, how to pair it, and troubleshooting tips.
7 min readNWC bridges your Nostr client and your Lightning wallet. It lets your feed zap without the wallet being baked in. How the pairing works.
7 min readSending your first zap takes about two minutes once your wallet is funded. Here is the setup, the actual flow, and what to do if the zap does not land.
6 min readZaps are one-click Bitcoin Lightning tips that show up on Nostr feeds. What they are, how the receipt flow works, and how to send or receive one.
7 min readThe Bitcoin layer that makes sub-cent tips practical. How Lightning works, why Nostr uses it for zaps, and what you need to send and receive sats.
8 min readDesktop Nostr is a smaller scene than mobile, but serious users need it. Gossip, Coracle, and PWAs: what each one does, and which fits your workflow.
8 min readBrowser-based Nostr clients need no install and work on any device. Which ones are worth using, what they do well, and when native is better.
7 min readAmethyst is the densest feature set of any Nostr client. What it does well, where its complexity trips up new users, and whether you should install it.
6 min readAndroid has the richest Nostr client scene of any platform. Amethyst, Primal, Voyage, and the signer apps that make daily Nostr use safer.
6 min readEvery Nostr app available on iOS, ranked by usability. Damus, Primal, Nostur, the web path through Safari, and when to use each.
6 min readA side-by-side of the two most installed Nostr clients. Signup flow, feed design, zap UX, and the tradeoffs between a neutral reader and an opinionated product.
7 min readA practical comparison of the Nostr clients worth using today. Mobile, web, desktop, long-form specialists. What each one does well and where they fall short.
7 min readThree different answers to the same problem. How Nostr, Bluesky, and Mastodon differ on identity, architecture, moderation, and who picks which.
9 min readWhat actually differs between Nostr and Twitter/X in 2026. Identity, moderation, algorithms, monetization, and who should switch.
9 min readNostr has no moderation team, but spam is not unsolved. What actually works: proof of work, paid relays, web-of-trust filters, mute lists.
8 min readNostr DMs use encryption but the privacy model has gaps. What NIP-04, NIP-44, and NIP-17 gift wraps protect, and when to use Signal instead.
8 min readNostr supports full-length articles, not just short posts. How NIP-23 works, which clients handle long-form well, and why writers are moving to it.
8 min readA practical guide to running a Nostr relay on a cheap VPS. Which software, how to configure it, what it costs, and why you might want to.
8 min readNIPs are how Nostr evolves. Each is a proposal for a feature or convention. What NIPs are, which ones matter, and how to read them.
7 min readPaid relays promise spam-free feeds, higher retention, better uptime. What they actually deliver in 2026, which are worth using, when free is fine.
6 min readRelays are the small, independent servers that hold Nostr posts and forward them. What they do, why the design is unusual, and how to choose.
7 min read