Top pick · highest health
Discourse
Advanced forum / community solution based on Ruby and JS.
Docker
Communication - Social Networks and Forums
Open source alternatives to Reddit
We track 5 open-source Reddit alternatives, of which 4 currently score 70 or above on Repoly's GitHub health scale and 4 ship a Docker image. Discourse leads on health at 99/100 with 2045 commits in the last 90 days; across all 5 projects you are choosing between AGPL-3.0, Apache-2.0, GPL-2.0 and 1 other licences.
updated Oct 2026 5 alternatives best health 99 ★ 95k combined 2,444 commits / 90d 4 with Docker
Top picks to replace Reddit
Showing 5 of 5 tools
All 5 Reddit alternatives, ranked by health
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Answer
Knowledge-based community software. You can use it to quickly build your Q&A community for product technical support, customer support, user communication, and more.
DockerGo -
Lemmy
Link aggregator for the fediverse (alternative to Reddit).
DockerRust -
PieFed
A link aggregator / reddit clone for the fediverse (alternative to Reddit).
DockerPython -
Flarum
Delightfully simple forums. Flarum is the next-generation forum software that makes online discussion fun again.
PHP
Reddit alternatives compared
Discourse edges Answer 99 to 97, and most of the difference is stars: 48k stars against 16k stars.
The most recent release is Lemmy 0.19.21, published 4 days ago. None of the measured options scores under 40. By stack, Go (1), PHP (1) and Python (1) are the most common. Answer and Flarum are permissively licensed; Discourse, Lemmy and PieFed are copyleft.
| Tool | Health | Stars | Licence | Last commit | Docker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discourse Steady at 99 since 11 Sep, no release for 3 months | 99 | 48k | GPL-2.0 | today | Yes |
| Answer Up 4 points since 11 Sep | 97 | 16k | Apache-2.0 | 9 days ago | Yes |
| Lemmy Steady at 97 since 11 Sep | 97 | 15k | AGPL-3.0 | yesterday | Yes |
| PieFed Up 35 points since 27 Sep | 90 | 266 | AGPL-3.0 | today | Yes |
| Flarum Down 2 points since 11 Sep | 57 | 16k | MIT | 21 days ago | No |
Reddit alternatives: common questions
What is the most maintained open source alternative to Reddit?
Discourse scores highest at 99/100, with 2045 commits in the last 90 days, 48k stars on GitHub and its latest release (_gh-attach-assets) published 4 months ago. It is also the most active by raw commit count.
Which Reddit alternatives use a permissive licence?
2 of 5 are permissively licensed (MIT, Apache, BSD or similar): Answer (Apache-2.0), Flarum (MIT). 3 use copyleft licences such as GPL or AGPL, which require you to publish changes if you distribute a modified version.
Which Reddit alternatives run in Docker?
4 of 5 publish a Docker image or Compose file: Discourse, Answer, Lemmy, PieFed. Docker support contributes 10 of the 100 available health points, because it is the clearest signal that self-hosting is a supported path rather than an afterthought.
Is Discourse or Answer the better Reddit alternative?
On measured health Discourse leads, 99 to 97. Discourse has 2,045 commits in 90 days, 48k stars and _gh-attach-assets from 4 months ago; Answer has 47 commits in 90 days, 16k stars and v2.0.3 from 21 days ago. Pick Answer if licensing matters: it is Apache-2.0, while Discourse is GPL-2.0.
Are the Reddit alternatives still maintained?
4 of the 5 measured options score 70 or above. Every measured option had commits in the last 90 days. None scores under 40.
What languages are the Reddit alternatives written in?
Go: Answer. PHP: Flarum. Python: PieFed. The stack matters if you plan to extend or patch the tool yourself.
