head to head · open source
Bluesky vs Lemmy
Bluesky has 18,364 GitHub stars, 2,872 forks, 2,400 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Lemmy has 14,659 stars, 973 forks, 129 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bluesky leads on adoption by 25% (18,364 vs 14,659 stars). Bluesky is written in TypeScript under MIT; Lemmy is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. Bluesky has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Lemmy 7%. Bluesky was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Bluesky | Lemmy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 15K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 973 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Bluesky if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Lemmy if
- You want the Lemmy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Lemmy fits your workflow better
About Bluesky
Bluesky Social App Welcome friends! This is the codebase for the Bluesky Social app. Get the app itself: Web: bsky.app iOS: App Store Android: Play Store Development Resources This is a React Native application, written in the TypeScript programming language. It builds on the atproto TypeScript packages (like @atproto/api ), which are also open source, but in a different git repository. There is a small amount of Go language source code (in ./bskyweb/ ), for a web service that returns the React Native Web application. The Build Instructions are a good place to get started with the app itself. The Authenticated…
read the full Bluesky overview →
About Lemmy
English Español Русский 汉语 漢語 日本語 Lemmy A link aggregator and forum for the fediverse. Join Lemmy · Documentation · Matrix Chat · Report Bug · Request Feature · Releases · Code of Conduct About The Project Lemmy is similar to sites like Reddit, Lobste.rs, or Hacker News: you subscribe to forums you're interested in, post links and discussions, then vote, and comment on them. Behind the scenes, it is very different; anyone can easily run a server, and all these servers are federated (think email), and connected to the same universe, called the Fediverse. For a link aggregator, this means a user registered on one…
read the full Lemmy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Bluesky or Lemmy more popular?
Bluesky has 18,364 GitHub stars and Lemmy has 14,659. Bluesky has the larger community by that measure.
Are Bluesky and Lemmy free?
Both are open source. Bluesky is licensed under MIT and Lemmy under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Bluesky and Lemmy?
Bluesky is written in TypeScript and Lemmy in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Bluesky or Lemmy?
Choose Bluesky if you want the larger community (18,364 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Lemmy if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.