Reddit Alternative Analysis

reddit-alts.md

Reddit Alternative Analysis

Here is a narrowed down list of Reddit alternatives. Below this section you can view the full list and the process of elimination.

Edit: It has been brought to my attention that Raddle is open source so it is no longer removed.

	Plebbit	Lemmy	kbin	Aether	gm.xyz	Raddle
Link	Plebbit	Lemmy	kbin	Aether	gm.xyz	Raddle
Threads	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢
Collapsible Comments	🔴 (not yet but it's planned)	🟢	🔴	🟢	🔴	🟢
Voting	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢
Sorting	🔴 (not yet but it's planned)	🟢	🟡 (has sorting but it's borked)	🔴	🟢	🔴
Browser App	🟢	🟢	🟢	🔴	🟢	🟢
Mobile App	🟡 (electron app, not native)	🟢	🟡 (not yet but work has started)	🔴	🔴	🔴
Desktop App	🟡 (electron app, not native)	🟢	🔴	🟢	🔴	🔴
Speed	🟢	🟡 (hosted is slow but independent may be better)	🟡 (hosted is slow but independent may be better)	🟢	🟢	🟢
Ads	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Open Source	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢
Decentralized	🟢	🟡	🟡	🟢	🔴	🔴
Web3	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🟢	🔴
Admin Tools	🔴 (not yet but it's planned)	?	🔴	🔴	?	🟢
Data Replication	🟢	🟡 (manual)	🟡 (manual)	🟡 (manual)	🔴	🟡 (manual)
API	🟢	🟢	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴

Plebbit

• Not ready yet, it's buggy but it seems to be improving quickly from when I checked just a few days ago.
• Not sure how legitimate this concern is but they could be sent legal action to take down the site due to copying the Reddit UI.
• I haven't tried the mobile app to see how that experience is.

Lemmy

• It's federated so has the same concerns as kbin.
• Unsure about the status of mod tools.

kbin

• It's federated not decentralized, so data is relayed to mirrors but they aren't connected. If we create a community on instance A, it will get mirrored on instance B. If a comment is made on instance A it will show on instance B. If a comment is made on instance B, I'm not sure if it will show on instance A (this needs to be comfirmed).
• Accounts across instances are independent so you will need to make a new account for each instance. My biggest concern is if someone on instance B can copy your username on instance A and impersonate you (this needs to be confirmed).

Aether

• Awesome p2p app but downside is it's only available as a desktop app, no browser implementation (understandably so for how it works). Development also seems to have stalled but the app still functions perfectly well. There is a fork under active development but it's yet to be seen how successful that will be (they're still in the process of updating libraries).

gm.xyz

• There's plans to decentralize the platform but at the moment it's 100% centralized. Not sure how everyone feels about using it without knowing what the decentralized experience will be like.

Raddle

• Should be possible to add sorting mechanisms.

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Raw Comparison

	Plebbit	Lemmy	kbin	Aether	gm.xyz	Lenster	Farcaster	Mastodon	Discourse	Flarum	Raddle
Link	Plebbit	Lemmy	kbin	Aether	gm.xyz	Lenster	Farcaster	Mastodon	Discourse	Flarum	Raddle
Threads	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🟡 (no nesting)	🟡 (no nesting)	🟢
Collapsible Comments	🔴 (not yet but it's planned)	🟢	🔴	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🟢
Voting	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢
Sorting	🔴 (not yet but it's planned)	🟢	🟡 (has sorting but it's borked)	🔴	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Browser App	🟢	🟢	🟢	🔴	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢
Mobile App	🟡 (electron app, not native)	🟢	🟡 (not yet but work has started)	🔴	🔴	🔴	🟡 (depends on frontend)	🟢	🟡 (only for hosted forum)	🔴	🔴
Desktop App	🟡 (electron app, not native)	🟢	🔴	🟢	🔴	🔴	🟡 (depends on frontend)	🟢	🟡 (mac only)	🔴	🔴
Speed	🟢	🟡 (hosted is slow but independent may be better)	🟡 (hosted is slow but independent may be better)	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢
Ads	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Open Source	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢
Decentralized	🟢	🟡	🟡	🟢	🔴	🟢	🟢	🟡	🔴	🔴	🔴
Web3	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🟢	🟢	🟢	🔴	🔴	🔴	🔴
Admin Tools	🔴 (not yet but it's planned)	?	🔴	🔴	?	🔴	🔴	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢
Data Replication	🟢	🟡 (manual)	🟡 (manual)	🟡 (manual)	🔴	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟡 (manual)	🟡 (manual)	🟡 (manual)
API	🟢	🟢	🟢	🔴	🔴	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🟢	🔴

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Elimination

Eliminating Feed-based Platforms

Since a preference has been voiced for a Reddit-like threaded platform, we can eliminate Lenster, Farcaster, and Mastodon.

Eliminating Forum-based Platforms

Given our use of a daily thread, the variation in topics within a thread, and how useful replies are, we can eliminate forum-based platforms since they can't decide if it wants to be a feed or thread so it's a mess to follow replies.

Interesting! Thank you for your work. I'm going to dig into the technicals of each of these.