# Lemmy 74 Hacker News commenters recommended Lemmy and 23 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** People recommend Lemmy as a federated Reddit-like forum with no algorithm, good moderation tools and a calmer, older-internet feel. Critics say activity is thin and some communities are hostile. ## Why people recommend it - Good alternative to Reddit (4 comments): "Lemmy is great btw. I started putting "lemmy" instead of "reddit" in my searches and it often works." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45802638)) "Even Lemmy is a great alternative to Reddit nowadays (I'd say, even better than Reddit)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46684454)) "for a bit of casual doom scrolling it's fully replaced Reddit for me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45845510)) - Federated, so content survives server failures (3 comments): "And it is federated so when the biggest Lemmy instance starts to suck, Lemmy can be the Lemmy replacement, too." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50282363)) "at least if a server goes down everything is still saved on federated servers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47369776)) "Lemmy is a federated reddit-like community that anyone can host themselves" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46955150)) - Old-internet feel, not overrun by corporations (3 comments): "There's some amount of old internet feeling there, you don't get exhausted by the amount of material and it's not overrun by corporations." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49492458)) "It feels a lot like Reddit did in like 2012. Small, but a great community." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47611144)) "I love the brutalist efficiency of Old Reddit, and see the same in Lemmy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49955638)) - Pleasant community with good etiquette (3 comments): "I've been a regular lemmy user for a few years now and it's gotten better." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48765516)) "Lemmy has been far more pleasant as there is still good posting etiquette." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46674237)) "it its punching far above its weight in terms on good content/users" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46685833)) ## What people warn about - Dominated by tankies and extreme politics (2 comments): "Lemmy is no substitute for Reddit. Majority of it is run by tankies and people professing extreme left views." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45849600)) "Lemmy is occupied by tankies and Marxist leninists and that's not my type of lefties." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45858655)) - Too few users, same content (3 comments): "I ended up forgetting to visit Lemmy or Pixelfed because I had 2-3 times when I opened up the app and saw the exact same content" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47347620)) "lemmy's c/technology can probably replace HN in some contexts but the streets of lemmy are empty" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46704488)) "found it really hasn't hit a critical mass yet, but man, it's amazing how a good interface improves the situation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48997535)) - Overzealous mods and petty defederation fights (4 comments): "A majority of people there are just downright awful, and the mods are often power-hungry and overzealous in their actions." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47370300)) "a bunch of rejects from other mod communities showing up to render their version of justice upon federated folks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47372528)) "my experience with Lemmy was a lot of petty fighting about who should be defederated" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48601637)) - Reddit's power-user problems carried over (2 comments): "it works fairly well and doesn't yet seem filled with bots, but its got the same issues as Reddit" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47110909)) "it attracts the activists and "power users" that have ruined reddit in the first place" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49021387)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Bluesky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bluesky.md): 317 recommend - [Facebook](https://hackerapproved.com/p/facebook.md): 289 recommend - [Mastodon](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mastodon.md): 273 recommend - [X (formerly Twitter)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/x.md): 264 recommend - [Instagram](https://hackerapproved.com/p/instagram.md): 212 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Lemmy", https://hackerapproved.com/p/lemmy/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).