Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Lemmy (Lemmy.world)

Mastodon is an open-source social networking server that implements the ActivityPub protocol to create a federated microblogging network. It provides chronological timelines, media-rich posts, moderation controls, and APIs for third-party integrations.

Key Features

• Federation via ActivityPub: interoperable with other servers and fediverse software using open protocols.
• Chronological, real-time timelines with streaming updates for follows and local/global timelines.
• Rich media support: images, video, audio, polls, custom emojis, animated avatars, and accessibility captions.
• Moderation and safety tools: local instance rules, content warnings, muting, blocking, reporting, and configurable filters.
• Developer-friendly APIs: REST and streaming APIs with OAuth2 support for third-party apps and integrations.
• Distributed account model: independent servers (instances) with local administration and moderation policies.
• Scalable deployment options: containers, docker-compose and orchestration-friendly configurations with background job processing and caching.

Use Cases

• Community networks: small to large communities that want moderated, self-governed social spaces without centralized corporate control.
• Organizations and institutions: public bodies, nonprofits, and groups that need federated presence and policy-driven moderation.
• Creators and publishers: sharing media-rich microblogs, threads, and announcements with audience control and content warnings.

Limitations and Considerations

• Media storage and bandwidth can be resource-intensive; large instances need significant disk, CDN, or object-storage planning.
• Federation introduces moderation complexity: instance-level policies do not automatically control content hosted on remote servers.
• Operational overhead: running a production instance requires managing multiple components (web processes, streaming, background workers, DB, cache).

Mastodon provides a privacy-minded, standards-based alternative to centralized social platforms, emphasizing local governance and interoperability across the fediverse. It is suitable for projects that prioritize open protocols, community moderation, and control over data and timelines.

Lemmy is a link aggregation and discussion forum platform similar to Reddit-style communities, built to run as independent servers that can federate with each other. It uses ActivityPub to share posts, comments, and communities across instances while keeping local control over moderation and policies.

Key Features

• ActivityPub federation between instances (Fediverse-compatible)
• Community-based posts with voting and threaded comments
• Moderation tooling for admins and community moderators, including public moderation logs
• User mentions and community tagging, plus notifications (including email notifications)
• RSS/Atom feeds for key views such as subscribed content and community feeds
• Themes and a mobile-friendly web interface
• Media support including avatars and integrated image uploads

Use Cases

• Host a public or private Reddit-like community with fine-grained moderation
• Build a federated discussion network that can interact with other Fediverse servers
• Create topic-focused forums for organizations, projects, or interest groups

Lemmy is well-suited for communities that want a modern voting-based forum with federation and strong local autonomy. It provides a familiar user experience while enabling decentralized hosting and cross-instance discussion.

diaspora* is an open-source, federated social network that lets people join independently operated servers (pods) and control audience and data with fine-grained privacy controls called Aspects. It provides a social stream with familiar actions (hashtags, mentions, reshares, likes) and is implemented as a Rails application for pod hosting and federation. (diasporafoundation.org)

Key Features

• Pod-based federation model: users register on independently operated pods and communicate across pods via the diaspora federation protocol and standard discovery methods. Documentation and the project site describe pod-based federation and discovery. (diasporafoundation.org)
• Privacy-by-design Aspects: contacts are grouped into named Aspects so posts can be targeted to specific groups rather than all contacts.
• Familiar social features: support for hashtags, @mentions, reshares and a simple reaction (love/like) workflow.
• Cross-posting integrations: built-in options to cross-post to external services (examples include Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress) when configured by pod admins or users.
• Production-ready codebase and deployment tooling: the project includes Rails app artifacts, JavaScript assets, a Docker development folder and deployment guidance in its repository. (github.com)

Use Cases

• Community-run social networks: organizations or interest groups that want a privacy-respecting social stream can host a pod to serve members.
• Private or distributed social spaces: users who need segmented sharing (family, work, hobbies) can use Aspects to target posts.
• Research, teaching, or demos: institutions can deploy pods for classroom/demo environments to show federated social concepts. Documentation and install guides include instructions for pod setup and database configuration. (centron.de)

Limitations and Considerations

• Limited interoperability with ActivityPub-based Fediverse: diaspora* uses its own federation protocol and historically does not implement ActivityPub, which restricts direct federation with ActivityPub-only networks (e.g., many Mastodon instances). This is a notable interoperability consideration for deployment and community reach. (en.wikipedia.org)

In summary, diaspora* is a mature, privacy-oriented federated social platform focused on pod-based federation and audience control through Aspects. Its codebase and docs provide production deployment and administration guidance for communities that want decentralized social hosting.

Misskey is an open-source, federated social media (microblogging) platform for running your own community server. It connects to other compatible servers across the fediverse using ActivityPub, enabling cross-server following, posting, and interactions.

Key Features

• ActivityPub-based federation with other fediverse platforms
• Web-based timeline interface for posts and social interactions
• Customizable instance operation for communities (local policies, moderation, and user management)
• Media attachments and rich post interactions typical of microblogging platforms
• API support for integrations and third-party clients

Use Cases

• Hosting a community-run social network that can still interact with the wider fediverse
• Creating an organization or interest-group microblogging hub with local moderation policies
• Experimenting with federated social networking using ActivityPub

Limitations and Considerations

• Federation behavior and feature parity can vary across different ActivityPub implementations
• Running a public instance requires active moderation and operational planning

Misskey is a strong option for communities that want a modern microblogging experience while remaining interoperable with other federated networks. It is well-suited to both small private groups and larger public instances when paired with appropriate moderation practices.

Friendica is a decentralized social networking and communications platform you can run on your own server. It connects to the wider Fediverse, enabling interaction across multiple compatible networks while keeping control over your data and privacy.

Key Features

• Federation with other networks via ActivityPub and diaspora* (and legacy compatibility such as OStatus)
• Fine-grained privacy controls, including access lists per post and private group conversations
• Social features including posts with edits, comments, reactions (like/dislike), and direct messaging
• Events and profiles with public and private aspects
• Photo sharing with audience restrictions
• Content ingestion via RSS/Atom feeds and support for additional integrations through plugins
• Optional content expiration and personal data export

Use Cases

• Hosting a personal or community social network that federates with the broader Fediverse
• Privacy-focused group communication for clubs, NGOs, or teams using access-controlled spaces
• Aggregating blogs and feeds into a social stream while publishing to a federated network

Friendica is a practical choice for users who want a familiar social networking experience while remaining interoperable with other federated platforms. Its plugin and theme ecosystem makes it adaptable for personal sites, families, and small communities.

Hyphanet (also known as Freenet) is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication and publishing. It provides a distributed, encrypted, decentralized datastore that applications and sites can run on top of without relying on centralized servers.

Key Features

• Encrypted, decentralized datastore for storing and retrieving content in a censorship-resistant way
• Plugin ecosystem enabling applications such as forums, microblogging, blogging, and media sharing
• Supports different network modes, including global participation (Opennet) and more private friend-to-friend connectivity
• Designed to improve privacy by minimizing reliance on centralized infrastructure and authorities
• Can be extended with tools intended to bridge disconnected networks via offline transfer workflows (e.g., sneakernet-style sharing)

Use Cases

• Publishing websites and content that is difficult to censor or take down
• Private communities and communication apps (forums, microblogging) built on decentralized storage
• Resilient information sharing in constrained or disrupted network environments

Limitations and Considerations

• Peer-to-peer systems can have higher latency and less predictable performance than centralized services
• Private friend-to-friend usage requires establishing trusted connections, which can reduce ease of onboarding

Hyphanet is suited to users who need privacy-preserving publishing and communication backed by decentralized storage. Its plugin-based approach enables a range of community and media applications while keeping infrastructure decentralized.

ENiGMA½ BBS is modern bulletin board system software with a retro terminal experience. It provides a full multi-user BBS server with extensive customization, multiple access protocols, and built-in support for classic BBS features like message areas, file bases, and doors.

Key Features

• Telnet, SSH, and WebSocket access (secure and non-secure)
• Multi-node operation for concurrent callers
• Highly customizable menus, themes, and JavaScript-based mods
• SQLite-backed storage for users, message areas, and related data
• Message network support including FTN-style (FidoNet) import/export
• File bases with indexing and full-text search, plus upload processing for common scene metadata
• Terminal-focused capabilities such as ANSI/MCI UI elements, CP437/UTF-8 output, SAUCE support, and font/baud emulation
• Authentication features including PBKDF2 password hashing and optional one-time-password 2FA
• Door server support for legacy door games and integrations

Use Cases

• Running a retro-style public BBS with modern security and multi-node support
• Hosting community message areas and integrating with FTN-style networks
• Operating file areas and door games for classic BBS-style content distribution

ENiGMA½ BBS is well-suited for sysops who want a nostalgic terminal-first community platform while retaining modern extensibility, logging, and security-focused fundamentals.

Nextcloud Social is an app that integrates federated social networking into Nextcloud using the ActivityPub protocol. It lets Nextcloud users post, follow accounts on federated platforms, and keep their posts and profile data on their own Nextcloud server.

Key Features

• Implements ActivityPub to federate with fediverse services (supports following and delivering posts across instances)
• Uses existing Nextcloud user profiles and stores posts on the Nextcloud backend
• Web UI built with modern JavaScript and Vue components for feed, posting and profile interactions
• Server-side integration in PHP so interactions are handled through the Nextcloud app framework
• Emoji handling and database character support considerations (4-byte emoji support may require DB configuration)
• Includes administration utilities and occ commands to manage or reset social data
• Designed to interoperate with Mastodon/Pleroma and other ActivityPub-compatible services

Use Cases

• Provide an internal company or community social stream while allowing federation with the wider fediverse
• Enable Nextcloud users to follow and interact with accounts on Mastodon, Pleroma and other ActivityPub servers
• Consolidate social posts, profiles and media on a private Nextcloud instance for privacy and data control

Limitations and Considerations

• The app has been released in beta and may lack some advanced fediverse features and moderation tooling compared to mature standalone platforms
• Emoji support may require enabling 4-byte character support in your database; consult Nextcloud database requirements
• Functionality and compatibility depend on Nextcloud server version; verify supported Nextcloud releases before deployment

Nextcloud Social is a privacy-oriented way to add federated social features to Nextcloud, letting organizations and individuals host their own social data while remaining part of the fediverse. It is suitable for teams and communities that want integrated social functionality with Nextcloud's user and storage model.

Storyden is a modern community platform that combines discussion forums, wiki-style pages, and curated collections to host and preserve community knowledge. It focuses on readable, discoverable content and a contemporary forum experience.

Key Features

• Multi-purpose community platform combining forums, wiki pages, curated lists and directories
• Modern tech stack with TypeScript and Go components for frontend and backend development
• Extensible architecture allowing plugins, custom content types and curated collections
• Content-first design emphasizing readability, tagging and auto-organization tools
• Secure and deployable via provided container images for simple local and server deployments
• Structured release process and developer-focused tooling for contributions and local development

Use Cases

• Host a discussion forum and knowledgebase for an open-source project or community
• Curate and share resource collections, link directories or topic-based lists alongside discussions
• Run a lightweight community hub that combines blog/news, wiki documentation and forum threads

Limitations and Considerations

• Versioning uses a non-semantic scheme and the project may introduce breaking changes between releases; review release notes for breaking changes before upgrading

Storyden is well-suited for communities that want a combined forum/wiki/curation platform with a modern UI and developer-focused stack. It is designed to be extensible and maintainable for long-term community use.

tootik is a federated, text-first social network that presents a minimal, text-based interface over the Gemini protocol while speaking ActivityPub for federation. It is implemented in Go, stores all instance data in a single SQLite database file, and ships as a single static executable for simple deployment.

Key Features

• Gemini-based text UI designed for low-bandwidth and accessibility-focused clients
• Implements a pragmatic subset of ActivityPub for federation with common Fediverse servers
• Three post privacy levels: public, followers-only, and mentions-only
• Support for sharing, quote posts, multi-choice polls, bookmarks and full-text search
• Communities modeled after Lemmy-style groups with follow-to-join and mention-to-thread behavior
• Account portability, follower synchronization, and account migration tools
• TLS client-certificate authentication with support for multiple client certificates and invite-only signup
• Single-file SQLite storage for easy backups and low operational overhead; binary can be built static
• Upload support for posts and avatars via the Titan upload mechanism
• Automatic deletion of old posts and compact, easily inspectable schema for educational/hacking use

Use Cases

• Run a small, privacy-minded Fediverse instance optimized for old devices or low-bandwidth connections
• Provide an accessible, text-first social layer for communities that prefer minimal interfaces and strong anonymity options
• Study or prototype ActivityPub implementations and federation workflows using a compact, readable Go codebase

Limitations and Considerations

• User interface requires a Gemini client; there is no native browser-based web UI or official mobile app
• Intentionally implements a limited subset of ActivityPub and reduces rich media to text/links, so advanced media workflows are not supported
• Single-file SQLite storage is convenient for small instances but may not scale well to very large, high-throughput deployments

tootik is a focused, lightweight alternative for federated social networking where simplicity, accessibility and privacy are primary goals. It is suitable for hobby instances, educational use and communities that prefer a non-graphical, low-bandwidth interface.

Mitra is a self-hosted, federated microblogging platform built on ActivityPub for publishing and following posts across the Fediverse. It aims to be lightweight while still offering modern social features and compatibility with common Mastodon-style clients.

Key Features

• ActivityPub federation with interoperability across many Fediverse services
• Mastodon-compatible REST API (with some additional Mitra-specific endpoints)
• Rich posting features including quote posts, reactions, polls, custom emojis, and Markdown-style formatting
• High default character limit (5000)
• Account migration support, including detaching identity from a specific server
• Optional content subscriptions for private posts with monthly payments (supports Monero)
• Federation support over Tor and/or I2P
• Small memory footprint target and low system requirements for single-user/small instances

Use Cases

• Running a personal or community microblogging instance that federates with the wider Fediverse
• Hosting a lightweight alternative with Mastodon-client compatibility for web, mobile, and CLI apps
• Offering subscriber-only posts with privacy-focused payments

Limitations and Considerations

• Client-facing APIs beyond the Mastodon-like endpoints may change, and some APIs are explicitly noted as unstable
• IPFS integration is experimental and not actively maintained

Mitra is well-suited for operators who want a compact ActivityPub server with strong interoperability, modern posting features, and optional monetization. Its focus on lightweight operation and federation-friendly capabilities makes it a flexible choice for small to mid-sized deployments.

Yarn.social is a decentralized social networking platform built around the Twtxt format (with optional extensions). It provides a self-hosted “pod” server (yarnd) with a web UI and API, designed to be privacy-first with no ads or tracking.

Key Features

• Twtxt-based microblogging (“twts”) with optional extensions (e.g., subjects and hashes for threads)
• Decentralized, pull-based model where users follow feeds across pods
• Web interface plus a built-in HTTP API for clients and integrations
• Command-line client (yarnc) for posting and interacting with a pod
• Supports single-user or multi-user pods with configurable registrations and profiles
• Media uploads supported when ffmpeg is available

Use Cases

• Run a small private social space for a team, family, or community
• Participate in the wider Twtxt/Yarn ecosystem while keeping data on your own pod
• Build alternative clients or tooling using the pod API

Limitations and Considerations

• Some features (e.g., media handling) require extra system dependencies such as ffmpeg
• Federation/discovery depends on external feeds and the pull-based follow model rather than push federation

Yarn.social fits users who want a lightweight, transparent social platform centered on plain-text feeds and user-controlled hosting. It works well both as a full pod server with accounts and as part of a broader Twtxt-compatible ecosystem.

Snac is a minimal ActivityPub server implementation written in portable C. It provides basic federated social networking features with very small runtime dependencies and a simple, JavaScript-free web interface.

Key Features

• Implements core ActivityPub/ActivityStreams operations for publishing, following, replying, liking/boosting and private messages.
• Multiuser support with local account management and man-page style documentation for administration.
• Very small dependency footprint: written in C and depends only on libcurl and OpenSSL at build/runtime.
• Optional compatibility layer for the Mastodon API (can be compiled out with a build flag).
• No external database required; server stores data on disk and uses compact internal formats.
• Minimal, accessible web UI (no JavaScript, no cookies) and examples for Docker + nginx deployment.
• Designed for interoperability with other Fediverse software and lightweight hosts (Raspberry Pi and small VPSes).

Use Cases

• Host a small, low-resource federated social instance for a personal community or project team.
• Run a privacy-focused or resource-constrained Fediverse node where minimal dependencies and no DB are desirable.
• Provide an ActivityPub-compatible backend for Mastodon-compatible clients in small deployments.

Limitations and Considerations

• Mastodon API support is indicated as work in progress and may not implement every endpoint or behavior expected by all Mastodon clients.
• No built-in TLS termination: the daemon is intended to run behind a TLS-capable web server or reverse proxy (examples use nginx).
• The "no database" design simplifies operation but can limit scalability and some advanced features compared with full-featured, database-backed Fediverse servers.
• The web UI is intentionally minimal; some advanced client workflows (rich media management, complex moderation UIs) are limited or absent.

Snac is a pragmatic, low-footprint ActivityPub server focused on simplicity, portability and interoperability. It is well-suited for hobbyists, small communities and constrained environments where minimal runtime requirements and straightforward administration are priorities.

Iceshrimp.NET is a decentralized and federated social networking service that implements the ActivityPub standard. It continues the legacy of the Iceshrimp project with a new codebase focused on performance, stability, and maintainability.

Key Features

• ActivityPub federation for decentralized social networking
• Resource-efficient backend built on .NET
• Web frontend built with Blazor WebAssembly
• Configurable, HTML-only public preview for unauthenticated visitors
• Mastodon-compatible API intended to work with a broad range of Mastodon clients
• Migration path for existing Iceshrimp-JS instances

Use Cases

• Run a community-focused fediverse instance for an organization or interest group
• Host a personal or small-community social server while remaining compatible with common Mastodon clients
• Experiment with ActivityPub federation and client interoperability in a .NET-based stack

Limitations and Considerations

• Client compatibility depends on the Mastodon-compatible API surface and may vary by client features
• As an actively developed new codebase, features and behavior may change between releases

Iceshrimp.NET is a solid option for operators who want an ActivityPub server with a modern .NET backend and a Blazor-based web UI, prioritizing performance and long-term maintainability.

PieFed is an open source, federated forum and link aggregator designed for community discussion across the Fediverse. It uses ActivityPub to let posts and conversations flow between independent servers while keeping each community in control of its own rules and moderation.

Key Features

• ActivityPub federation for cross-instance discovery, sharing, and discussion
• Forum-style communities with posts, comments, and moderation tooling
• Admin and moderator features for handling reports, blocks, and instance-level controls
• Media support including image and video uploads
• Asynchronous background processing for tasks such as notifications and maintenance jobs
• Developer-friendly, customizable Python codebase with container-based deployment options

Use Cases

• Hosting a federated community forum that can interact with the wider Fediverse
• Running a link-aggregation hub for news and topic-based discussion with local moderation
• Creating an interest-based community network that remains interoperable across instances

Limitations and Considerations

• Federation behavior and feature compatibility can vary depending on the remote ActivityPub software n PieFed is a solid option for communities that want a forum-like experience with Fediverse interoperability. It balances familiar link-and-comment discussion flows with instance autonomy and moderation control.

Noosfero is an open source web platform for creating community portals and social networking sites. It combines content publishing features with social components such as user profiles and communities, making it suitable for organizations and networks that want to publish and collaborate in one place.

Key Features

• User profiles with social interactions and activity-oriented community participation
• Communities/groups with shared pages and collaborative publishing
• Content management features for pages, blogs, and portal-style navigation
• Extensible architecture with plugins to add or customize functionality
• Moderation and administration tools for managing users, communities, and content

Use Cases

• Community portals for NGOs, cooperatives, and civic networks
• Organization websites that also need member profiles and group spaces
• Collaborative publishing networks combining blogs, pages, and community areas

Limitations and Considerations

• Primarily designed as an integrated social/CMS platform, which may feel heavy for simple websites
• Feature set and theming may require customization work to match modern UX expectations

Noosfero is a solid choice when you need a single platform that blends a CMS with social networking and community features. It is especially well-suited to portal-style sites that organize people, groups, and published content together.

Socialhome is a federated, self-hosted social networking platform that enables users to create profiles, publish content, and federate with other instances. It supports decentralized social networking with cross-instance interactions and is designed to run on self-hosted infrastructure. It uses a modern stack with a Django backend and a Vue-based frontend, and supports common database and cache layers for scalable deployments. The project is open source under AGPLv3 and includes community-facing documentation and development guidance. (libreselfhosted.com)

Key Features

• Federated and decentralized profiles across instances using ActivityPub and Diaspora protocols.
• Content authored in Markdown with optional HTML/JS/CSS for trusted users.
• Vue-based frontend paired with a Django backend for a modern, responsive UI.
• Self-hosted deployment with Docker, backed by PostgreSQL and Redis for data storage and caching.
• Open-source under AGPLv3 with ongoing community development and documentation.
• API routes integration and a Vue-based frontend testing workflow. (libreselfhosted.com)

Use Cases

• Run a federated community or organization that connects with other social-networking instances across the federation.
• Host your own personal or professional profile hub that interoperates with the wider federated network through ActivityPub. (libreselfhosted.com)

Limitations and Considerations

• The project is actively evolving; the frontend UI may lack some features and user experience polish. (socialhome.readthedocs.io)
• Migration and issue tracking have historically spanned multiple hosting platforms (GitLab to Codeberg), which can affect access to historical issues and discussions. (socialhome.readthedocs.io)

CONCLUSION: Socialhome provides a federated, self-hosted social network capability with a Django backend and Vue frontend, designed for decentralized profiles and cross-network federation via ActivityPub and Diaspora. It offers a Google-like demo path and an actively developed open-source project with community support. (socialhome.network)

GoToSocial is an ActivityPub social network server written in Go, designed as a lightweight and safety-focused way to run a microblogging community in the Fediverse. It emphasizes chronological timelines, privacy controls, and a backend-first approach that works with many Mastodon-compatible clients.

Key Features

• ActivityPub federation with other Fediverse servers
• Mastodon API compatibility (with some extensions)
• Granular post visibility (public, unlisted, followers-only, direct)
• Reply controls via interaction policies
• Optional local-only posting (client-dependent)
• Optional RSS feed for public profiles
• Markdown-based rich text formatting for posts
• Themes and custom CSS for profiles
• Federation controls including domain allow/block lists and modes
• Safety features like strict privacy enforcement, strict blocking logic, and TOTP-based 2FA

Use Cases

• Host a small-to-medium community microblogging server that federates with the Fediverse
• Run a lightweight personal instance on low-resource hardware (SBCs or small VPS)
• Integrate logins with an existing identity provider using OpenID Connect

Limitations and Considerations

• Beta software: missing features and known bugs are expected
• Federation interoperability may vary across different ActivityPub implementations
• Local-only posting depends on client support

GoToSocial is well-suited for administrators who want a resource-efficient Fediverse server with strong moderation and privacy primitives. Its backend-first design makes it especially attractive when paired with existing Mastodon-compatible mobile and web clients.