head to head · open source
Lemmy vs Ech0
Lemmy has 14,659 GitHub stars, 973 forks, 129 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ech0 has 2,085 stars, 161 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Lemmy leads on adoption by 603% (14,659 vs 2,085 stars). Lemmy is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0; Ech0 is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. Lemmy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Ech0 8%. 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 | Ech0 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 973 | ⑂ 161 |
| 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 Ech0 if
- You want the Ech0 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Ech0 fits your workflow better
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 →
About Ech0
Ech0 Preview · Official Site & Documentation · Releases · Ech0 Hub A self hosted personal microblog where your timeline can be shared, discussed, and fully owned. Tools like Memos are great for capturing quick thoughts. Ech0 is built for what comes next: publishing those ideas to a personal timeline that others can follow and interact with. Run it on your own server, keep full control of your content, and keep a personal space that still feels connected through optional comments and sharing. It stays lightweight, easy to deploy, and fully open source. Great fit if you want to: run a personal public or semi…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lemmy or Ech0 more popular?
Lemmy has 14,659 GitHub stars and Ech0 has 2,085. Lemmy has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lemmy and Ech0 free?
Both are open source. Lemmy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Ech0 under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lemmy and Ech0?
Lemmy is written in Rust and Ech0 in Go. 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 Ech0?
Choose Lemmy if you want the larger community (14,659 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Ech0 if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.