head to head · open source
Bluesky vs lemmy-ui
Bluesky has 18,364 GitHub stars, 2,872 forks, 2,400 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lemmy-ui has 1,014 stars, 383 forks, 55 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bluesky leads on adoption by 1,711% (18,364 vs 1,014 stars). Bluesky is written in TypeScript under MIT; lemmy-ui is written in CSS under AGPL-3.0. Bluesky has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, lemmy-ui 38%. 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-ui | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 1.0K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | CSS |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 383 |
| 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-ui if
- You want the lemmy-ui feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches CSS
- You evaluated both and lemmy-ui 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-ui
Lemmy UI 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 server can subscribe to forums…
read the full lemmy-ui overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Bluesky or lemmy-ui more popular?
Bluesky has 18,364 GitHub stars and lemmy-ui has 1,014. Bluesky has the larger community by that measure.
Are Bluesky and lemmy-ui free?
Both are open source. Bluesky is licensed under MIT and lemmy-ui under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Bluesky and lemmy-ui?
Bluesky is written in TypeScript and lemmy-ui in CSS. 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-ui?
Choose Bluesky if you want the larger community (18,364 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose lemmy-ui if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.