Beyond Login: How OpenMeet Became Part of the Decentralized Social Web

A year ago, we added AT Protocol login to OpenMeet. Back then, Meetup charged $24/month. Today it’s up to $50/month.

But something bigger happened: we went from “login with AT Protocol” to building on the protocol itself.

Your Events Live on Your PDS

When you create an event on OpenMeet with an AT Protocol account, you can choose to publish it to the protocol. That means:

Your event data lives in your Personal Data Server (PDS) - not locked in our database
You own it - if OpenMeet disappeared tomorrow, your data wouldn’t
It’s portable - other AT Protocol apps can read and display your events

You can toggle this on or off per event. Your data, your choice.

Here’s where it gets interesting. We use the community events lexicon - a shared schema for events and RSVPs on the AT Protocol.

This means:

Create an event on smokesignal.events → it appears on OpenMeet
RSVP on OpenMeet → smokesignal sees it
We read from the firehose → any app using the community lexicon can interoperate

This is real federation. Not “we’ll export your data someday” - actual, working interoperability between independent platforms.

	Meetup	OpenMeet
Price	up to $50/month	Free
Your data	Locked in their servers	On your PDS (if you choose)
Portability	Export a CSV, maybe	Live federation with other apps
If they shut down	Everything gone	Your data survives

When Meetup raises prices or changes terms, organizers have no leverage. Their communities are hostage.

With OpenMeet on AT Protocol, your community data is yours. We’re just one way to access it.

Since launching:

300+ community organizers using OpenMeet
2,400+ events created
58 active groups from Coast Riders in Vancouver to Kona Freethinkers in Hawaii
Federation live with smokesignal.events

If you believe your community data should be yours:

The future of community is decentralized. We’re building it now.

P.S. Still paying $50/month for Meetup? Your events deserve a home you actually own.