Sublinks vs Tesseract
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Sublinks | Tesseract |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Java | Svelte |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 80 | ★ 3 |
| First released | 2023 | 2023 |
| Replaces |
What are Sublinks and Tesseract?
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
Tesseract
Tesseract is an alternative front-end for Lemmy that emphasizes inline media playback and a richer browsing experience. It connects to any existing Lemmy instance via the public API.
- Media-rich Lemmy front-end
- Inline video and image playback
- Works with any instance
- Modern Svelte interface
Sublinks vs Tesseract: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Tesseract's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Sublinks is actively maintained. Sublinks is written in Java, while Tesseract is built with Svelte. Tesseract is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Sublinks. Sublinks has the considerably larger community, at 80 GitHub stars versus 3.
Why pick each one
Choose Sublinks if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Java
Choose Tesseract if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Svelte
Frequently asked questions
Is Sublinks or Tesseract better?
Neither is universally better. Sublinks has the larger community, while Tesseract is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Sublinks and Tesseract free and open-source?
Yes. Sublinks is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Tesseract under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Sublinks and Tesseract with Docker?
Sublinks: yes. Tesseract: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Sublinks or Tesseract?
Tesseract has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Sublinks. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.