Lobsters vs Mbin
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?
Lobsters
Computing-focused link aggregation and discussion site
VS
Mbin
Community-driven fork of the kbin aggregator
| Feature | Lobsters | Mbin |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Social Networks |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,814 | ★ 426 |
| First released | 2012 | 2023 |
| 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 Lobsters or Mbin better?
Lobsters is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Mbin if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Lobsters and Mbin free and open-source?
Yes. Lobsters is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Mbin under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lobsters and Mbin with Docker?
Lobsters: check the project docs for container support. Mbin: yes.