kbin vs Lobsters
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
kbin
Federated content aggregator and microblog
VS
Lobsters
Computing-focused link aggregation and discussion site
| Feature | kbin | Lobsters |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Forums & Community |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | PHP | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 600 | ★ 4,814 |
| First released | 2020 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Reddit, Hacker News |
Why pick each one
Choose Lobsters if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Active community (4.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in Ruby
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is kbin or Lobsters better?
Lobsters is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider kbin if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are kbin and Lobsters free and open-source?
Yes. kbin is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Lobsters under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run kbin and Lobsters with Docker?
kbin: yes. Lobsters: check the project docs for container support.