Lemmy: federated link aggregator

Lemmy is a link aggregator and discussion forum that runs in the browser: you open an instance, sign up and join communities, with nothing to download. The current release is 0.19.20, developed by the LemmyNet project. If you have used Reddit, the layout will feel close: communities instead of subreddits, posts with links or text, upvotes, downvotes and threaded comments.

Questions and answers

How is Lemmy different from Reddit?

Reddit is one company running one site. Lemmy is open-source software that many independent instances run, and those instances federate. A community such as a technology or gaming forum lives on one instance, but members from any other instance can subscribe, post and comment there. Each instance sets its own rules and moderation, and admins can decide which other instances they connect to. There are no ads built into Lemmy itself, and the feed is sorted by votes and time rather than by a profile of your interests.

Which instance should I choose?

The Open button leads to the official list at join-lemmy.org/instances. Compare a few things:

• language and topic focus of the instance;
• its rules and how it moderates;
• whether registration is open or needs an application;
• which instances it blocks or is blocked by — this affects what you can see.

Your account is created on one instance only. It lets you take part in communities hosted elsewhere, but it is not an account on every instance, and you cannot log in to another instance with it.

Do I need to install anything?

No installation is needed on a computer: a browser is enough. On Android, the Jerboa app (its own page is on this site) is the client made by the Lemmy developers; the official apps page lists more.

Is it free and open source?

Yes. Lemmy is free software under the GNU AGPLv3 licence, with source code on GitHub. Using an instance is free; instances are generally funded by donations.

Is it safe?

Your posts, votes and account data live on your instance, whose admins can see them. Direct messages are not end-to-end encrypted. Use a unique password and check the instance's privacy notes before joining.

Alternatives

Lemmy is the most established project among the federated Reddit alternatives, yet there are others. PieFed, which has its own page here, runs its own servers and federates with Lemmy, so the same communities are reachable from both. For Android, Jerboa connects to any Lemmy instance, and the web interface works on phones as well.

Pros and cons

• Pro: familiar forum layout, no single owner, no ads.
• Pro: communities remain reachable from many instances.
• Con: the same topic may exist as several communities on different instances.
• Con: blocks between instances can hide content without an obvious reason.