Periwinkle launches managed PDS service for AT Protocol users

Berlin-based startup Periwinkle has launched a service that allows users to set up a social media account on their own domain. The company offers a fully managed Personal Data Server (PDS), which is part of the infrastructure for the AT Protocol—the open source technology for decentralized social media. According to founder Charles Blumenthal, Periwinkle is the first-to-market fully managed PDS service, noting that no other provider is currently offering this. The service handles server updates, backups, and monitoring, removing the technical maintenance burden for non-technical users who want to control their own social media presence.

The launch comes as Bluesky, the social media platform using the AT Protocol, has grown to more than 43 million registered users. Blumenthal, a former software engineer at McKinsey, believes the market for owning personal data will likely expand over time as users seek alternatives to centralized platforms. “It’s really not a great idea that a couple of billionaires have control over the way billions of people communicate,” said Blumenthal, the founder of Periwinkle. He questioned whether users would hesitate to leave legacy platforms like Twitter if they could seamlessly migrate all of their followers and content to a competitor simply by logging in.

Periwinkle offers several hosting tiers, with options to host data in either the EU or the U.S. The pricing structure includes:

• Free Plan: Includes 500MB of storage for users to try the service.
• Basic Plan: Costs $4 per month, supporting five handles and 5GB of storage with real-time backups.
• Pro Plan: Costs $14 per month and provides 25GB of storage.
• Team Plan: Costs $30 per month and provides 50GB of storage.

While other alternative PDS providers exist, they target different use cases. For example, Blacksky focuses on tools for building self-governable online communities, while Eurosky offers a suite of services for building on open social protocols. Periwinkle positions itself as a managed hosting provider specifically for individual and organizational decentralized social media accounts.

Why it matters

Periwinkle lowers the barrier for non-technical users to own their social media data by offering a fully managed PDS service on the AT Protocol, removing the technical burden of server maintenance.