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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Web App

Lemmy

A free, open-source forum network of linked communities.

Visit Lemmy4.2

  • Rating

    4.2 / 5

  • Pricing

    Free

  • Difficulty

    Beginner

  • Works on

    Web, iOS, Android

Built with love by Shushant Lakhyani. Building bestproductivityresources.com

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What is Lemmy?

Lemmy is a decentralised discussion platform for online communities. Its site says it is truly free, open source, not controlled by a company and funded by donations. It runs on many interconnected servers, and anyone can host their own using Docker or Ansible. Posts can be voted on, comments are threaded, moderation actions are shown in a public mod log, and there are no ads or user tracking. Apps are available for iOS, Android, desktop and web.

Pros: what Lemmy does well

  • Free with no ads or tracking
  • Public moderation log
  • Choose from many servers or host your own

Cons: where it falls short

  • Smaller than the biggest forum sites
  • Which server you pick affects what you see

Who Lemmy is for

People who want community discussion without ads or a single company in charge.

Who can skip it

People who want a huge, mainstream audience.

Lemmy alternatives

Not sold on Lemmy? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Communication resources

Zulip

Focus: team chat, threads and self-hosted. Shares open source with Lemmy. Freemium (Lemmy: Free). Adds macOS, Windows and Linux. Rated 4.5 (Lemmy: 4.2).

Web AppFree planWeb, macOS
4.5Visit

Mattermost

Focus: team chat, self-hosted and devops. Shares open source with Lemmy. Freemium (Lemmy: Free). Adds Windows, macOS and Linux. Rated 4.4 (Lemmy: 4.2).

Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.4Visit

Element

Focus: matrix, messaging and self-hosted. Shares open source with Lemmy. Freemium (Lemmy: Free). Adds Windows, macOS and Linux. Rated 4.3 (Lemmy: 4.2).

Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.3Visit

Rocket.Chat

Focus: team chat, self-hosted and omnichannel. Shares open source with Lemmy. Freemium (Lemmy: Free). Adds Windows, macOS and Linux. Same 4.2 rating.

Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.2Visit

Postiz

Focus: social media, scheduling and nextjs. Shares open source with Lemmy. An AI tool, not a web app. Freemium (Lemmy: Free). Rated 4.7 (Lemmy: 4.2).

AI ToolFree planWeb
4.7Visit

Screenity

Focus: screen recorder, loom alternative and annotation. Shares open source with Lemmy. A browser extension, not a web app. Adds Chrome. Rated 4.7 (Lemmy: 4.2).

Browser ExtensionFreeChrome
4.7Visit

Free alternatives to Lemmy

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

Mumble

Focus: voice chat, audio and self-hosted. Shares open source with Lemmy. A desktop app, not a web app. Adds macOS, Windows and Linux. Rated 4.4 (Lemmy: 4.2).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.4Visit

Mastodon

Focus: social network and microblogging. Shares fediverse and open source with Lemmy. Rated 4.3 (Lemmy: 4.2).

Web AppFreeWeb, iOS
4.3Visit

FilePizza

Focus: file transfer, peer to peer and webrtc. Also in Collaboration and Communication, like Lemmy. Rated 4.5 (Lemmy: 4.2).

Web AppFreeWeb
4.5Visit

Annotely

Focus: annotation, screenshots and markup. Also in Communication and Collaboration, like Lemmy. Rated 4.4 (Lemmy: 4.2).

Web AppFreeWeb
4.4Visit

Microsoft Teams (free)

Focus: chat, video meetings and microsoft. Also in Communication and Collaboration, like Lemmy. Adds Windows and macOS. Rated 4.0 (Lemmy: 4.2).

Web AppFreeWeb, Windows
4.0Visit

Docmost

Focus: wiki, documentation and confluence alternative. Shares open source with Lemmy. Rated 4.7 (Lemmy: 4.2).

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.7Visit
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