Mbin vs Sublinks
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Mbin
Community-driven fork of the kbin aggregator
VS
Sublinks
Reddit-style federated link aggregator backend
| Feature | Mbin | Sublinks |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 78 · Good | 3 · At risk |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 429 | ★ 80 |
| First released | 2023 | 2023 |
| Replaces |
What are Mbin and Sublinks?
Mbin
Mbin is a free, open-source, federated content aggregator and microblogging platform, forked from kbin and maintained by the community. It supports threads, microblogs, and ActivityPub federation.
- Threads and microblogging
- ActivityPub federation
- Magazine communities
- Community-driven governance
Sublinks
Sublinks is a Lemmy-compatible link aggregator and discussion platform built on the ActivityPub protocol. It aims to federate with the Threadiverse while offering an independent backend implementation.
- Lemmy-compatible federation
- ActivityPub Threadiverse
- Independent Java backend
- Link aggregation and voting
Mbin vs Sublinks: key differences
Mbin is written in PHP, while Sublinks is built with Java. Mbin is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Sublinks. Mbin has the considerably larger community, at 429 GitHub stars versus 80.
Why pick each one
Choose Mbin if…
- Active community fork
- Regular releases
Watch out for
- Heavier deployment
- Smaller ecosystem
Choose Sublinks if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Java
Frequently asked questions
Is Mbin or Sublinks better?
Neither is universally better. Mbin has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Mbin and Sublinks free and open-source?
Yes. Mbin is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Sublinks under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mbin and Sublinks with Docker?
Mbin: yes. Sublinks: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Mbin or Sublinks?
Mbin has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Sublinks. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.