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Discourse vs Lemmy: catalog facts
Discourse	Lemmy
Freemium Self-hosting is free; hosted plans are paid and start with a free trial.	Free Free and open source under the AGPL. Hosting is separate.
Android, iOS, Web, Self-hosted	Web, Self-hosted
Can be self-hosted from the public source code Covers forums, voting on ideas and team chat in one place	Communities federate, so a single server going down does not end the network Lightweight Rust server that runs on modest hardware
Self-hosting needs a server and ongoing maintenance Hosted plans are paid after the trial	Content volume is far below the centralised platforms it resembles Moderation quality varies sharply between instances
Downloadable app, Self-hosted, Hosted service	Self-hosted, Web application
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License: AGPL-3.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Needs internet	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.