SHSelfHostIndex

Lobsters vs Spectrum

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?
LO Lobsters Computing-focused link aggregation and discussion site VS SP Spectrum Open-source platform for building online communities
FeatureLobstersSpectrum
CategoryForums & CommunityForums & Community
LicenseBSD-3-ClauseBSD-3-Clause
LanguageRubyJavaScript
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM512 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 4,814★ 10,837
First released20122017
ReplacesReddit, Hacker NewsDiscord, Discourse

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
Lobsters details

Choose Spectrum if…

  • Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 10.8k GitHub stars
  • Written in JavaScript
Spectrum details

Frequently asked questions

Is Lobsters or Spectrum better?

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

Are Lobsters and Spectrum free and open-source?

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

Can I run Lobsters and Spectrum with Docker?

Lobsters: check the project docs for container support. Spectrum: yes.

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