Lemmy-Easy-Deploy vs Lobsters

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted forums & community options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureLemmy-Easy-DeployLobsters
CategoryForums & CommunityForums & Community
LicenseMITBSD-3-Clause
LanguageShellRuby
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdockerbare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 146★ 4,814
First released20232012
ReplacesRedditReddit, Hacker News

Why pick each one

Choose Lemmy-Easy-Deploy if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Shell
Lemmy-Easy-Deploy details

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
Lobsters details

Frequently asked questions

Is Lemmy-Easy-Deploy or Lobsters better?

Neither is universally better. Lobsters has the larger community, while Lemmy-Easy-Deploy is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Lemmy-Easy-Deploy and Lobsters free and open-source?

Yes. Lemmy-Easy-Deploy is licensed under MIT and Lobsters under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Lemmy-Easy-Deploy and Lobsters with Docker?

Lemmy-Easy-Deploy: yes. Lobsters: check the project docs for container support.

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