head to head · open source
Lemmy vs Maskbook
Lemmy has 14,659 GitHub stars, 973 forks, 129 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Maskbook has 1,588 stars, 315 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. Lemmy leads on adoption by 823% (14,659 vs 1,588 stars). Lemmy is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0; Maskbook is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Lemmy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Maskbook 20%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Lemmy | Maskbook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 973 | ⑂ 315 |
| 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 Maskbook if
- You want the Maskbook feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Maskbook 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 Maskbook
Mask Network [![GitHub license][badge license]][license] [![Join the chat at [![Chrome Web Store][badge chrome]][client chrome] [![Mozilla Add on][badge firefox]][client firefox] [![Opera][badge opera]][client opera] [![FOSSA Status][badge fossa]][fossa] [![Crowdin][badge crowdin]][crowdin] Mask Network is a portal to the new, open internet, that bridge from Web2.0 to Web3.0 . With Mask Network, you can send encrypted posts to your friends, trade your best token on X (formerly Twitter), enjoy NFT pfps, participate in crypto lucky draws, and share encrypted files on the platforms you are already using. For…
read the full Maskbook overview →
More in Community & Social
Related comparisons
More Social Networking projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Social Networking field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Lemmy or Maskbook more popular?
Lemmy has 14,659 GitHub stars and Maskbook has 1,588. Lemmy has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lemmy and Maskbook free?
Both are open source. Lemmy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Maskbook under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lemmy and Maskbook?
Lemmy is written in Rust and Maskbook 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 Maskbook?
Choose Lemmy if you want the larger community (14,659 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Maskbook if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.