head to head · open source
Lemmy vs MaterialAbout
Lemmy has 14,599 GitHub stars, 966 forks, 129 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. MaterialAbout has 1,511 stars, 208 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Lemmy leads on adoption by 866% (14,599 vs 1,511 stars). Lemmy is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0; MaterialAbout is written in Java under MIT. Lemmy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, MaterialAbout 14%. 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 | MaterialAbout | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-03-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 966 | ⑂ 208 |
| 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 MaterialAbout if
- You want the MaterialAbout feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and MaterialAbout 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 MaterialAbout
MaterialAbout is an Android library written in Java and released under the MIT license. It provides a material design about screen for Android apps, combining a developer profile and application information. The project lives in the Android ecosystem and is intended for mobile developers.
read the full MaterialAbout overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lemmy or MaterialAbout more popular?
Lemmy has 14,599 GitHub stars and MaterialAbout has 1,511. Lemmy has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lemmy and MaterialAbout free?
Both are open source. Lemmy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and MaterialAbout under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lemmy and MaterialAbout?
Lemmy is written in Rust and MaterialAbout in Java. 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 MaterialAbout?
Choose Lemmy if you want the larger community (14,599 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose MaterialAbout if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.