Lemmy is a free, open-source link aggregator and discussion forum for the fediverse, built as a self-hostable alternative to Reddit. Communities live on independent servers that federate over ActivityPub, so you can subscribe to them and post from whichever instance you join.
Reviewed by Marco Wollank
Lemmy
join-lemmy.org/instances 2 ratings so far*
Rate Lemmy: No account needed
Threat level
Hardened
A hardened pick. Worth the effort once you have chosen to shrink your footprint on purpose. Enough for most people. Threat levels
Our take
The most active Reddit-style corner of the fediverse, and the realistic landing spot if you want threaded communities without one company owning the platform or mining your activity. The catch is scale and fragmentation: communities are smaller and scattered across instances, and the server you pick shapes what you see, since some instances block others. Pick Lemmy if you want self-governed forums and will help seed the communities you miss; skip it if you need Reddit’s sheer breadth on day one.
GitHub at a glance
LemmyNet/lemmy
Stars
14,498
+ 47 this week
Last commit
14d ago
healthy
License
AGPL-3.0
Latest release
0.19.19
1mo ago
Stars, last 35d
Website at a glance
join-lemmy.org
D score 30
Weak website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested 4d ago
Inspect this site yourself
Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.
Lemmy alternatives
Lemmy license, in plain English
AGPL-3.0 Strong copyleft · network
Free to use, even commercially. Changes must be published under the same license, and running a modified version as a network service counts as distributing it.
Permits
- Commercial use
- Modification
- Distribution
- Patent use
- Private use
Requires
- Disclose source
- Network use is distribution
- Same license
- State changes
- License and copyright notice
Does not provide
- Liability cover
- Warranty
Why it matters: The network clause is the point. Anyone who runs a modified version as a hosted service has to publish those changes, so the code handling your data stays inspectable. This is why privacy-first projects reach for AGPL.
Plain-language summary of the project's license, not legal advice. Read the full text for the exact terms.
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