head to head · open source
Lemmy vs Smithereen
Lemmy has 14,599 GitHub stars, 966 forks, 129 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Smithereen has 546 stars, 36 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Lemmy leads on adoption by 2,574% (14,599 vs 546 stars). Lemmy is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0; Smithereen is written in Java under Unlicense. Lemmy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Smithereen 7%. Smithereen was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (activitypub, fediverse), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | Smithereen | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 546 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Unlicense |
| Written in | Rust | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 966 | ⑂ 36 |
| 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 Smithereen if
- You want the Smithereen feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Unlicense license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Smithereen 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 Smithereen
Smithereen is a federated, ActivityPub compatible social network server written in Java that gives a self hosted instance friends, walls, and groups, and it is aimed at administrators who want to run their own social space that talks to the wider fediverse rather than renting one from a platform.
read the full Smithereen overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lemmy or Smithereen more popular?
Lemmy has 14,599 GitHub stars and Smithereen has 546. Lemmy has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lemmy and Smithereen free?
Both are open source. Lemmy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Smithereen under Unlicense. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lemmy and Smithereen?
Lemmy is written in Rust and Smithereen 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 Smithereen?
Choose Lemmy if you want the larger community (14,599 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Smithereen if its feature set, stack or Unlicense licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.