head to head · open source
Lemmy vs core
Lemmy has 14,599 GitHub stars, 966 forks, 129 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. core has 8,833 stars, 2,059 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Lemmy leads on adoption by 65% (14,599 vs 8,833 stars). Lemmy is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0; core is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. Lemmy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, core 23%. core 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
| Lemmy | core | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 8.8K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 966 | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Lemmy if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick core if
- You want the core feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and core fits your workflow better
About Lemmy
Lemmy is a link aggregator and forum platform for the Fediverse, written in Rust and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It supports communities where users subscribe to forums, post links and discussions, vote, and comment. Each server can operate independently while remaining federated through ActivityPub, so users on one server can interact with users and communities on other servers.
read the full Lemmy overview →
About core
ownCloud Core is the server side component of ownCloud Classic, an open source file platform written in PHP and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It provides file storage, synchronization, and sharing, and it ships WebDAV, CalDAV, and CardDAV servers alongside a plugin architecture that other ownCloud apps extend. The repository is the main one for ownCloud Classic and serves as the foundation for apps such as Activity, Calendar, and Contacts. Development is stewarded by the Kiteworks Open Source Program Office under the ownCloud brand.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lemmy or core more popular?
Lemmy has 14,599 GitHub stars and core has 8,833. Lemmy has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lemmy and core free?
Both are open source. Lemmy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and core under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lemmy and core?
Lemmy is written in Rust and core in PHP. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Lemmy or core?
Choose Lemmy if you want the larger community (14,599 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose core if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.