Lobsters vs Schnack
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?
Lobsters
Computing-focused link aggregation and discussion site
VS
Schnack
Lightweight self-hosted commenting system
| Feature | Lobsters | Schnack |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,814 | ★ 1,812 |
| First released | 2012 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Reddit, Hacker News | Disqus, Facebook Comments |
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
Choose Schnack if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Lobsters or Schnack better?
Neither is universally better. Lobsters has the larger community, while Schnack is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Lobsters and Schnack free and open-source?
Yes. Lobsters is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Schnack under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lobsters and Schnack with Docker?
Lobsters: check the project docs for container support. Schnack: check the project docs for container support.