Lemmy is a decentralized, open-source alternative to Reddit, allowing users to host and join discussion communities across federated servers in the Fediverse.

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🚀 Overview

Lemmy is a self-hostable, federated link aggregator and forum software that serves as a privacy-focused alternative to centralized platforms like Reddit. It enables users to create and join communities (called "communities" or "magazines") on independent servers that interconnect via the ActivityPub protocol, forming the "Lemmyverse."

It solves the problems of corporate-controlled social media, including advertising, user tracking, opaque algorithms, and censorship risks, by giving users and communities full control through self-hosting and federation. No single entity controls the network.

Built for everyday users seeking an ad-free discussion experience, server administrators wanting to run their own instances, and developers extending it with custom apps. The project was created to provide a truly free, open platform outside big tech influence.

• What problem does this project solve? Centralized platforms' privacy invasions, ads, and control.
• Who is it built for? Fediverse enthusiasts, Reddit migrants, self-hosters.
• Why did you build it? To escape corporate meddling and empower users/communities.

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✨ Key Features

• Upvotes and downvotes with full scores like old Reddit, threaded comments, and sorting options for engaging discussions.
• Federation via ActivityPub: subscribe to communities across servers, cross-posting support.
• Powerful blocking, filtering, and curation tools with no tracking or ads.
• Self-hostable on low-resource hardware (e.g., Raspberry Pi) using Docker or Ansible.
• Optional: Private messaging, NSFW support, full data export/erasure, RSS feeds.

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🛠 Tech Stack

• Frontend: Inferno, TypeScript, CSS
• Backend: Rust (Actix-web), Diesel ORM
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Auth: Custom (JWT-based)
• Hosting: Self-hosted (Docker, Ansible), Cloudflare optional for instances

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👥 Who Is This For?

This project is useful for:

• Developers who want to self-host a Reddit-like platform or build clients via open API
• Teams looking for decentralized community forums without vendor lock-in
• Indie makers building Fediverse apps or migrating communities from Reddit

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📸 Screenshots / Demo

• Live demo: https://join-lemmy.org/instances (try public instances like lemmy.ml)
• GitHub: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy

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🔥 Project Status

• 🟢 Actively building

Last updated: 2026-03-24

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❓ FAQ

Is this project free?

Yes — Open Source under AGPL license. No ads, tracking, or paid tiers; funded by donations.

Is the source code available?

Yes — https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy (backend), https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-ui (frontend)

Can I contribute?

Yes — report bugs/feature requests via GitHub issues, submit PRs following contribution docs, translate via Weblate, or join Matrix development chat at https://matrix.to/#/#lemmydev:matrix.org.

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📬 Contact & Links

• Website: https://join-lemmy.org
• GitHub: https://github.com/LemmyNet
• Twitter/X: N/A (use Matrix for community)
• Email: N/A (contact via GitHub/Matrix)

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