Lobsters vs Utterances
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
Utterances
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| Feature | Lobsters | Utterances |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Forums & Community | Forums & Community |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,814 | ★ 9,696 |
| First released | 2012 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Reddit, Hacker News | Disqus |
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 Utterances if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 9.7k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Lobsters or Utterances better?
Utterances is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Lobsters if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Lobsters and Utterances free and open-source?
Yes. Lobsters is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Utterances under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lobsters and Utterances with Docker?
Lobsters: check the project docs for container support. Utterances: check the project docs for container support.