Plurk
Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.
Overview
Plurk (Chinese 噗浪, "pulang") is a Taiwanese short-message platform with a horizontal timeline. It has existed since the late 2000s and retains a noticeable community in Taiwan, primarily around fandoms and handmade craft.
How the platform describes itself: «the social network for weirdos — a cool, uncompromising and loving community for those who did not fit in… some of the largest communities of cosplayers, knitters, anime fans and others have found their voice on Plurk». The same place names the attitude that sets the platform apart from its neighbours: «our users value privacy more than the users of other social networks: you do not have to give your real name or disclose your gender, location or age».
The robots file of plurk.com expressly prohibits crawling by the ClaudeBot robot, as well as by Amazonbot, Applebot-Extended, Bytespider, CCBot, Google-Extended, GPTBot and meta-externalagent, so everything set out below is gathered from the official app store listings and from the robots file itself.
Who's here
Plurk publishes no audience figures of its own — MAU, DAU or the number of accounts. There are only app store indicators, and each of those has its own owner.
Google reports for the Plurk app: more than 500 thousand downloads, 12.5 thousand reviews and an average rating of 3.0; the publisher is Plurk Inc.. That is Google's counter, not a measure of a live audience.
Apple gives, for the same app, 532 ratings at an average of 4.7, an 18+ age rating, a size of 133 MB and support for English and 43 other languages. The difference in ratings between the stores is large, and we have no explanation for it — we give both numbers as they stand.
The app's language list is the only confirmed guide to languages. There is no country breakdown of the audience.
The platform is alive, though: Google reports that the app was updated on 27 July 2026, and the crawling prohibition is set identically on the main host and on the domain without the www prefix — that is, it is maintained, not forgotten.
The operator is given in the Google Play listing: 噗浪股份有限公司 (Plurk Inc.), address — Taipei, Da'an district, along with the support address [email protected]. So behind the platform stands a Taiwanese legal entity, not an international holding.
Getting started
The registration and help pages — and with them the registration procedure, the account requirements and the existence of a business profile — sit on a closed domain.
One thing is known indirectly: the Apple listing gives the app an age rating of 18+, while Google puts it in the "parental guidance" category. These are the stores' assessments, not the platform's own age rule — Plurk does not name an age threshold of its own.
What you can publish
Of what is confirmed — what the platform lists in the description of its own app: custom emoticons created from images of any type, moving or still, and private messages with the ability to restrict who sees and can reply to each individual message. The description also mentions thoughts, moments, video and artwork — that is, text, images and video.
The community guidelines and terms of service — and with them the message length limits, file size limits and the list of prohibited content — sit on closed pages.
Indirect evidence about the set of sections comes from the robots file. The platform closes the paths /Users/, /Settings/, /Notifications/, /Cliques/, /Affiliate/, /Admin/, /IM/ and /API/ to crawling, along with the invitation redemption addresses. From this it is clear that Plurk has sections for private messages, groups ("cliques"), a partner programme and a programming interface — but what exactly they can do does not follow from a robots file.
How to grow
Advertising exists on the platform: Google marks the app with a "contains ads" label. There are no advertising pages — with purchase terms, formats or rates — among the available sources.
One more confirmation is the existence of a partner programme: the /Affiliate/ section is closed in the robots file. Its terms are unknown.
Path to monetization
Money here moves the other way: the user pays the platform.
The paid status is called Plurk Coin and is sold by periods. The prices from the Apple app listing on the date of the check: 1 coin for 30 days — 2.99 dollars, 6 coins for 180 days — 12.99 dollars, 12 coins for 360 days — 24.99 dollars, 24 coins for 720 days — 49.99 dollars. For the same app Google notes the presence of in-app purchases.
There is no official list in the open of what exactly the paid status includes: the description of the feature set is on closed pages.
Tools and automation
Plurk does have a programming interface — that follows from the /API/ section being separately closed in the robots file. Its documentation sits on the same closed domain — along with the list of methods, the authorization scheme and the rate limits.
The company's official GitHub repositories exist, but they have nothing to do with working on the platform: the Plurk organization has published Solace — a multilingual support and knowledge sharing platform in Python — and a hiring repository. There are no client libraries for the platform's interface there.
Limits and rules
- Robot access. The robots file prohibits crawling by the ClaudeBot robot and a number of other data collectors, and for the remaining agents declares content signals: search allowed, model training prohibited, use only as reference. We observed that prohibition.
- Closed sections of the site.
/Users/,/Settings/,/Notifications/,/Cliques/,/Affiliate/,/Admin/,/IM/,/API/and the invitation redemption addresses are closed to crawling. - User data. By the developer's declaration on Google Play, data is not passed to third parties; the app may collect personal details, photographs and video and three more categories; transmission is encrypted; data deletion can be requested. This is the developer's self-declaration, not a check by Google.
- Jurisdiction. The operator is a Taiwanese company with an address in Taipei; the applicable law is not named.
- The stores' age ratings. 18+ at Apple and "parental guidance" at Google.
Who it's for
It suits projects working with a Taiwanese audience and with fandom communities: the platform itself names the communities of cosplayers, knitters and anime fans as its mainstay. It suits those for whom it matters that disclosing personal data is optional: that is the platform's declared position.
It does not suit planning by numbers: the platform publishes no audience indicators of its own, and the advertising terms are not described in the open. It does not suit projects that need built-in monetization: here the user pays the platform, not the platform the author. And it does not suit automation from a shared panel: the interface documentation is closed.
Before you invest in Plurk, open the platform yourself and check the terms of service, the community guidelines and the make-up of the paid status.
Verified data
The checked data this deep dive rests on.
About the platform
the operator is 噗浪股份有限公司 (Plurk Inc.), with an address in Taipei, Da'an district; the support address is [email protected]
The developer information block in the Google Play listing
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform describes itself as «the social network for weirdos» and names the communities of cosplayers, knitters and anime fans as its mainstay; it separately stresses that it does not require a real name, gender, location or age
source, checked 2026-07-28
Who's here
Google Play: more than 500 thousand downloads, 12.5 thousand reviews, an average rating of 3.0; the app was updated on 27 July 2026
The numbers belong to Google and do not measure the platform's audience
source, checked 2026-07-28
App Store: 532 ratings at an average of 4.7, an 18+ age rating, a size of 133 MB; the publisher is Plurk Inc.
The numbers belong to Apple; we do not explain the discrepancy in ratings between the stores
source, checked 2026-07-28
Account and access
there is no age threshold of the platform's own in the available sources; the stores apply their own ratings: 18+ at Apple, «parental guidance» at Google
The stores' ratings are not the same as a platform rule
source, checked 2026-07-28
What you can publish
in the app description the platform names custom emoticons created from images of any type, and private messages with the ability to restrict who sees and can reply to each message; thoughts, moments, video and artwork are mentioned
There are no message length or file size limits in the available sources
source, checked 2026-07-28
Advertising
Google marks the app with a «contains ads» label
The formats, the rates and the advertising moderation rules were not verified: there are no advertising pages among the available sources
source, checked 2026-07-28
Pricing
in-app purchases in the Apple app: 1 Plurk Coin for 30 days — 2.99 dollars, 6 coins for 180 days — 12.99, 12 coins for 360 days — 24.99, 24 coins for 720 days — 49.99
No official list of the features the paid status unlocks could be found
source, checked 2026-07-28
Restrictions
the plurk.com robots file expressly prohibits crawling by the ClaudeBot robot, as well as by Amazonbot, Applebot-Extended, Bytespider, CCBot, CloudflareBrowserRenderingCrawler, Google-Extended, GPTBot and meta-externalagent; for the remaining agents content signals are declared: search allowed, model training prohibited, use only as reference
The prohibition was observed: not a single page of the domain was requested, so the terms of service, the rules and the help centre were not verified
source, checked 2026-07-28
its own block of rules closes the paths /Users/, /Settings/, /Notifications/, /Cliques/, /Affiliate/, /Admin/, /IM/, /API/, /Friends/inviteFriends/ and the invitation redemption addresses to crawling
This indirectly confirms the existence of private messages, groups («cliques»), a partner programme and a programming interface
source, checked 2026-07-28
the same restriction is set on the domain without the www prefix
Checked separately
source, checked 2026-07-28
Legal
by the developer's self-declaration on Google Play, data is not passed to third parties; the app may collect personal details, photographs and video and three more categories; transmission is encrypted; data deletion can be requested
This is the developer's statement, not a check by Google
source, checked 2026-07-28
API access
the Plurk organization on GitHub has published Solace (a multilingual support and knowledge sharing platform in Python) and a hiring repository; there are no client libraries for the platform's interface there
Checked through the GitHub programming interface
source, checked 2026-07-28
Languages
the interface language of the home page: en
The language is taken from the markup attribute, the versions from hreflang
source, checked 2026-07-28
the Apple app listing declares English and 43 other languages
The only confirmed guide to languages; consistent with the database record that the home page language is en
source, checked 2026-07-28
Catalogue section: all similar See also: catalogue index · region: Southeast Asia · scheduler comparison · find by situation · platform restrictions