@atomicpoet @gabriel_berardi
And Mastodon for $6/mo.

The initial downside of your own instance: Your federated timeline would coincide with your home timeline and your local timeline will coincide with what you post yourself. You can increase the volume of the federated timeline by connecting to a relay (multiple instances are feeding relays) or by using a followbot (not everyone likes those, though). You can increase your own visibility only by getting people to follow you.