# Lemmy vs polar

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

| | Lemmy | polar |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 75/100 ✓ | 71/100 |
| Rank in category | #3 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #1 of 13 in Billing |
| GitHub stars | 14 653 ✓ | 10 436 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +44 | +157 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 ✓ | 1 |
| Latest release | 0.19.21 · 26 Oct 2026 ✓ | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Rust | Python |

## Which one should you pick?

Lemmy scores 75/100 against 71/100 for polar, so it is the safer default.

Lemmy ships more often: 3 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.

If you want the quickest setup, Lemmy is easier to run; polar needs more configuration.

polar is growing faster right now (+157 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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