# Lemmy vs marchat

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | Lemmy | marchat |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 75/100 ✓ | 49/100 |
| Rank in category | #3 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #51 of 110 in Chat |
| GitHub stars | 14 651 ✓ | 139 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +44 | — |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 12 ✓ |
| Latest release | 0.19.21 · 26 Oct 2026 ✓ | v1.3.8 · 1 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Rust | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

Lemmy scores 75/100 against 49/100 for marchat, so it is the safer default.

marchat ships more often: 12 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Lemmy.

Lemmy is growing faster right now (+44 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [Lemmy](https://selfhost.directory/project/lemmy) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/lemmy.md)
- [marchat](https://selfhost.directory/project/marchat) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/marchat.md)

---
Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/lemmy-vs-marchat