DigitalTQ
Reddit is a huge social network that has recently changed some of it's rules that has caused many users to look for a Reddit Alternative. Here we take a look at some interesting projects and whether or not there is a true Reddit Alternative!
We'd love to hear from you guys too! Post in the comments below if you know of a Reddit Alternative!
Reddit recently announced it would be charging for it's API, something which has been free since it was first developed. The Reddit API allows other developers to create Apps around the Reddit website, including 3rd-party apps on the iOS store and Google Play Store.
With the new announced pricing schedule, many of these popular 3rd-party apps like Apollo, Reddit is Fun and Sync won't be able to run without incurring huge costs that would need to be put onto the end user (you!). Apollo, one of the most popular 3rd-party Reddit apps, estimated it would cost them $20,000,000 USD a year to run!
Since that announcement, there has been a massive backlash which culminated in a subreddit blackout, where moderators (who are unpaid volunteers) decided to shut their subreddits and make them go private. If you had been on Reddit during the last week, you'd have seen some of the most popular subreddits like /r/funny, /r/soccer and /r/aww become inaccessible.
The blackout's intended purpose was to get Reddit admins and CEO to listen to their concerns about API costs.
However, for many, that simply isn't enough and they want to find a Reddit Alternative. A new site they can go to that functions similar to Reddit and is developer friendly.
Well we've got you! Here are some of the most popular Reddit Alternatives that are currently being talked about.
Reddit Alternatives
Tildes.net
Tildes has been around since 2018 and is currently an invite-only site. It functions similar to Reddit, where users can post links and posts that can be upvoted and downvoted. The community is small and tight-knit, and they'd prefer to keep it that way, hence the invite-only status.
You can get an invite to Tildes by either knowing someone already on the platform or sending an email to the address listed on their about page.
Lemmy
Lemmy is an open-source decentralized alternative to Reddit that allows anyone to run their own Lemmy instance on their own server. Lemmy servers are part of a Fediverse, which allows user accounts to use the multiple different Lemmy servers and only having to sign up once.
On the surface, Lemmy is pretty similar to Reddit. Some of the popular Lemmy servers are: Beehaw, LemmyOne and Lemmy World.
Behind the scenes, it allows server owners to configure their server and support tools however they need.
The fractured nature of decentralized alternatives, however, may be a turn off for regular Reddit users. Try it out and see if you find them to be more fitting.
Squabbles
A fairly new site, Squabbles has made rapid progress with over 10,000 new users joining since the Reddit's API Policy changes. Squabbles aim is to bring the best parts of both Twitter and Reddit, to combine them into a social networking site that people are familiar with.
Anyone can create communities, and you'll notice popular ones like /s/fitness, /s/gaming and /s/funny getting more and more popular as time goes on.
As a fairly new site, it will be interesting if it can sustain the user activity it currently has and whether it can grow organically.
Kbin.social
Another decentralized site is called Kbin. It is similar to Lemmy, in that it can communicate with other self-hosted Kbin instances and those that are apart of the Fediverse. It can even communicate with Lemmy instances.
The main Kbin instance can be found at https://kbin.social. It is fairly active and seems to be one of the more popular alternatives that users are navigating to.
Other Alternatives
If you're looking for more popular sites that are social networks but don't really follow the same Reddit-style link aggregator, you might find some of these sites useful:
- Bluesky - A twitter alternative that is currently invite-only
- Mastodon - A decentralised twitter alternative
Let us know your favorite Reddit Alternatives in the comments below!
Discussion