head to head · open source
Lemmy vs databag
Lemmy has 14,599 GitHub stars, 966 forks, 129 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. databag has 1,489 stars, 95 forks, 59 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Lemmy leads on adoption by 880% (14,599 vs 1,489 stars). Lemmy is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0; databag is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Lemmy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, databag 6%. Lemmy 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 | databag | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-06-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 966 | ⑂ 95 |
| 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 databag if
- You want the databag feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and databag 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 databag
Databag is a fast and lightweight self hosted messenger written in TypeScript under the Apache 2.0 license. It belongs to the community and social networking ecosystem, with topics spanning decentralized web, federated chat, mobile messenger, and self hosted server projects. Clients are available through F Droid as well as the Google and Apple stores.
read the full databag overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lemmy or databag more popular?
Lemmy has 14,599 GitHub stars and databag has 1,489. Lemmy has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lemmy and databag free?
Both are open source. Lemmy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and databag under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lemmy and databag?
Lemmy is written in Rust and databag in TypeScript. 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 databag?
Choose Lemmy if you want the larger community (14,599 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose databag if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.