Threads Crosses Half a Billion Monthly Users

Meta has announced that Threads now has 500 million monthly active users, a milestone reached almost three years after the app first launched. The figure brings the platform within striking distance of its main rival, X, which is estimated to have around 560 million monthly users, though that number has never been officially confirmed.

Threads posted remarkable momentum from its earliest days. It passed the 100 million user mark faster than ChatGPT managed back in 2023, a record that underscored the app's pull as it leaned on Instagram's existing ecosystem.

Communities Drive the Growth

Meta attributes its recent surge largely to topic-based discussion groups. Communities built around books, sports, parenting and music have helped users discover relevant content and stay engaged with the platform for longer.

Threads counted more than 200 communities by December 2025, and that number keeps expanding.

To reinforce this direction, Meta is rolling out new tools. These include a feed control feature called Your Algo, a successor to the earlier Dear Algo, along with custom icons tailored to individual communities. Its Live Conversation feature for real-time events will also reach every community by July 2026.

For now, Meta still decides which communities are allowed to form. The company says it plans to let users create their own communities in 2027, a shift that could meaningfully change how the platform operates.