Best Alternatives 05/2026
Posted by Future_Party_9656@reddit | RedditAlternatives | View on Reddit | 69 comments
Heya,
Appreciate I'm very late to the party but the mega thread didn't have answers and filtering by top post shows things from 2024 so are out of date.
As of May 2026, what alternative are people using and recommend?
I only use Reddit for scrolling topics when traveling and Discord/ whatsapp for messaging, so right now Reddit is my only real social media/ news source.
magiotdonkey@reddit
Lemmy or Piefed, both good
Technical_Rich_3080@reddit
Lemmy seems dead.
Pamasich@reddit
Make sure you have the "Active" sort enabled, not "Top". Lemmy's top sort is notoriously bad. On lemmy.world, it's a difference of 35 upvotes and 5 comments for hot compared to 747 upvotes and 190 comments for active.
Also, next to the sort option there's a choice between "Local" and "All", make sure "All" is selected.
Toothless_NEO@reddit
Seems to have decent feed activity to me. Especially if you browse by All. It's definitely smaller than Reddit. No one is denying that, I would hardly call it dead though.
HotTakes4HotCakes@reddit
It effectively is, as is Piefed. It's got a small population but it isn't growing, and the choices they keep making aren't helping.
Lemmy a window of opportunity but wasn't ready for it and lost its chance. It grew, got stagnant, and now it's basically just the same community of regulars that will come here to plug it and upvote others that plug it like clockwork, but you go there and find it stagnant as hell.
ecominimalism@reddit
Doesn’t to me? I use it for hours each day.
Toothless_NEO@reddit
Might want to hold off on piefed. The developer is currently going on a rampage against people and also has been adding a lot of features to it, which in a sense bring a lot of the same problems that Reddit has to piefed.
It's kind of ironic because people claimed that the Lemmy developers' political opinions would affect the software adversely. And it really seems like the opposite is happening when it comes to piefed.
Toothless_NEO@reddit
Might want to hold off on piefed. The developer is currently going on a rampage against people and also has been adding a lot of features to it, which in a sense bring a lot of the same problems that Reddit has to piefed, as well as create new problems, like hard coded user blacklists.
It's kind of ironic because people claimed that the Lemmy developers' political opinions would affect the software adversely. And it really seems like the opposite is happening when it comes to piefed.
Toothless_NEO@reddit
Might want to hold off on piefed. The developer is currently going on a rampage against people and also has been adding a lot of features to it, which in a sense bring a lot of the same problems that Reddit has to piefed, as well as create new problems, like hard coded user blacklists.
It's kind of ironic because people claimed that the Lemmy developers' political opinions would affect the software adversely. And it really seems like the opposite is happening when it comes to piefed.
BlazeAlt@reddit
There are no hardcoded user blacklists, Rimu just banned some people for Piefed.social, and only that instance?
Objective_Elk7834@reddit
What's going on with this site: https://seedit.eth.limo
Nothing loads, but I like how it captures reddit's style before it went to shit.
Pojoba01@reddit
Hey! You are definitely not late, the landscape shifting right now in May 2026 is wild, and the old 2024 threads are totally irrelevant because half those platforms are ghost towns or ad-havens now.
Since you mentioned you primarily use Reddit for scrolling topics and news while traveling, you might want to check out SweeLOL. It’s an alternative that actually cuts out a lot of the current platform fatigue.
Here is why it fits exactly what you're looking for based on your habits:
chill,funny, orinspirational. It gives you that curated topic-scrolling fix immediately.It completely bypasses the clout-chasing side of modern social media and just focuses on clean, topic-based discovery. Definitely worth a look.
Nuaua@reddit
tildes.net is very good, it's small but has enough activity to visit daily and there's mostly quality content on it. It's limite in scope but worth visiting.
russell1256@reddit
Relay for Reddit
DualityEnigma@reddit
Some good alts here! We are also really new (launched at the end of april)
Focused privacy (layered encryption)on community and social connections.
https://tribes.app/t/welcome-to-tribes
I’m older so we are bringing in an older crowd so far. But check us out if you like community building!
shadowxthevamp@reddit
I like the name. I like the theme. I like the emoji reactions.
Question 1. Is there an Android app? Question 2. Do notifications work? Question 3. Is it open source?
FearlessInflation92@reddit
Oddsrabbit
shadowxthevamp@reddit
That's proprietary.
Future_Party_9656@reddit (OP)
As a social media? I'll have a Google and take a look thanks
FearlessInflation92@reddit
It basically Reddit except friendlier. The community isn’t the biggest but I enjoy interacting with people there. I think it launched in March, but I seen it grow everyday. It seems like the website adds things weekly. Oh and NSFW is cool too 🤣 a lot of the new places don’t have that option and Reddit NSFW has been horrible since they removed sound for NSFW gifs on the app
Future_Party_9656@reddit (OP)
Oh okay, to say it's only launched in March explains why it does look quite a bit smaller. I'll do a bit more digging but it does look interesting. Nsfw point is an interesting one. I wonder how good the app is for anonymity. No one likes to get caught looking at horny on main lol
HotTakes4HotCakes@reddit
Doesn't matter when it launched, this is literally all of them. None of the alternatives have picked up any real steam, and in your search you're going to hit that wall again and again. Many of them are stagnant with a small group of regulars, and the ones that are growing are doing so very, very slowly.
It's just something you have to accept. Social media online didn't become 3 or 4 sites because of tech bros or buyouts. It became that because people gravitate to where other people are, and seldom leave for smaller communities. The internet calcified, to the point where trying to get smaller alternatives going is almost impossible.
It will take a lot of time and steady, authentic growth before any of these alternatives can be considered "the best".
RedditAlternatives-ModTeam@reddit
Astroturfing
FearlessInflation92@reddit
Well someone on c/feedback (their version of subreddits) brought this app and the owner added the ability to switch accounts within the hour. Like an easy switch accounts button. I followed some of the NSFW creators there and it’s cool having a “following” tab for NSFW.
Funny enough, those NSFW creators are the same ones who have had problems with Reddit is what I seen in the comments. So it’s not just regular users being annoyed with the new direction of my favorite website. Man, I miss the old Reddit 😔. Knew it was gonna be like this when they were in discussions to be listed on the stock market
Future_Party_9656@reddit (OP)
Sadly this is the fate of all large platforms that get mainstream attention. Upkeep gets expansive, funding needed and agendas get pushed for the funding they give.
My main caution for smaller platforms is always security, since they can't afford the same preventative measures that the big guys get... And the big guys still get hacked haha
FearlessInflation92@reddit
True that, dude. Growing up is learning that eventually every company gets worse. I mean it even happened in gaming. As a big sports guys. NBA 2k and Madden were amazing every year in the mid 2000s to mid 2010s. 2K was knowing for pushing the boundaries. Now 2k and Madden are just updated rosters. You gotta pay $450 to max out each character on the new 2k.
A few years ago I maxed out my player. Paid the $260 it cost to max him out. Took me a month of grinding, hours doing boring shit. My guy was finally ready to play against others online. He was great, 2 weeks later they said my build was too OP and nerfed a lot of people’s players. No refunds. Not only do you have to pay another $250 at that time for a new player but you gotta grind all over again playing against boring CPU and doing repetitive things to unlock “badges”.
Future_Party_9656@reddit (OP)
I've gotten to the point where I play WoW because I've just always played it (and I still love M+), the odd indie game (got "Librarian: Tidy up the arcane library" today and I'm embarrassingly excited to stack books on shelves, and old games from when I was a kid like Ratchet and Clank.
Emulators are imo one of the best things to ever happen to gaming. Digital presentation is a must as these games shouldn't just be buried and forgotten simply because they dont make money anymore...
FearlessInflation92@reddit
I go back and play the old pokemon games on emulators because why are the new ones so easy. The old ones aren’t hard but these new ones have no challenge. Old games also used to be ready at launch with minimal bugs. Now that isn’t a thing anymore
hydroflame7@reddit
Thank you! Let me know if you have any questions! I'm pretty much living and breathing oddsrabbit at this point, and have been building it out with guidance from the community haha.
As for security and anonymity, sign-up is just email, and we respect your privacy, with minimal tracking - no Google Analytics etc. We also just released 2FA last night because user and content security is important to our users and us.
Most hacks happen through social engineering of some sort and luckily for us, there isn't much surface area for that lol.
Anyway, thank you again for taking a look, even if it ends up not being your cup of tea, I really appreciate it! Our info pages are pretty outdated since I've been focused on everything else, will update those today.
AlexChapmanG4p@reddit
It would be cool if it was open source, a lot of people value things more that are open source instead of proprietary and that’s understandable given the current landscape.
Akira_OG@reddit
Gotta recommend this too, is like reddit if they got rid of ragebait/clickbait/politics and power crazy mods.
hydroflame7@reddit
Thank youuu akira
FearlessInflation92@reddit
I wonder if that’s because the bots haven’t arrived yet lol.
Akira_OG@reddit
It's easy to ban them if they come, they are pretty obvious now.
hydroflame7@reddit
Thank you 🙏
Amateator@reddit
I enjoy the Threadiverse, it’s very much Reddit circa 2009. Which is good and bad, it’s medium sized and still focused largely on tech, news, and memes but it’s without the bots and astroturfing.
https://quokk.au, https://lemmy.dbzer0.com, and https://anarchist.nexus are all really friendly and open places.
HotTakes4HotCakes@reddit
What scale are you using where any fediverse platform has a "medium" population?
Amateator@reddit
Tens of thousands of active users?
RedditAlternatives-ModTeam@reddit
FYI that person is an astroturfer. Their main goal commenting, or participating in any way in this community. Is to dissuade others from actually using Alternatives and leaving Reddit. And they hate the fediverse most of all because it is the most promising and the most active Reddit alternative.
Astroturfing of this nature is antithetical to the purpose of this community and isn't going to be tolerated, from them or anyone else.
RemyWay@reddit
Every post on this topic garners a bunch of fediverse hate in the comments. Personally, I feel like that's because all the people who tried the fediverse and LIKED it are not still on reddit, obviously. Only the people who tried it and DIDN'T like are still here, so you get a biased sample of people's opinions.
That includes me, despite this comment I'm making right now. I left reddit, and only know this keeps happening because occasionally people mention it over there. In fact this is the like the first reddit comment I've even made in a year. At least give it a try and see for yourself.
Toothless_NEO@reddit
There's also a good amount of astroturfers in the sub. There aren't as many as there once were but they are still here. They're people who seek to prevent or dissuade others from choosing Reddit Alternatives in the first place and one of the ways they do it is by whining that no alternative is ready and that people should just stay on Reddit. Often that last part about staying on Reddit is said very quietly or just simply implied.
It was a very popular position back during the API protest days.
HotTakes4HotCakes@reddit
That doesn't track because there's always a cadre of people that sprint here anytime this topic comes up to make sure piefed gets to the top.
HotTakes4HotCakes@reddit
I've tried many of them and spent 3 years now on the fediverse Reddit-alternatives.
You want my honest opinion?
None of them.
Every one of them is held back by something, and its nearly all because their admins are trying to reinvent the wheel. Or they are interested in either making a "Free speech" space (i.e. safe for hate) or policing content more than the average Reddit mod, and neither is truly appealing.
The fediverse alternatives had promise but they've been taking a really dumb direction, and ultimately whatever form they end up in will not be reddit.
Then there's the ones that are just straight up AI slop that will disappear in a few months, or actual cyrptobro scams.
At this point I've kind of resolved myself to the fact a truly impressive alternative may never come to exist. And I'm getting to be more OK with that than I was 3 years ago. When old.reddit stops working, maybe that's just a sign to move on.
DualityEnigma@reddit
Ooh controversy! I’ll dive in haha
This isn’t just an admin problem. This is a bot problem. Most people on reddit (myself included) have addictions to dopamine (their phones).
To serve our demand for scrolling stim has lead to massive bot-driven content farms. e.g. most NSFW subs are almost all bot driven.
New communities, whether you join rhyme, oddsrabbit, lemmy or tribes.app. The only thing that will meaningfully create something new is real user participation. Real community.
Culture is a big point too. Most of my friends aren’t even on social media any more because of how toxic it can get.
Reddit wins on the dopamine drop every time. Habit also wins.
So we’ll keep trying. I was surprised how many “new social media” is popping. Clearly we are all hungry for something different
HotTakes4HotCakes@reddit
Yeah nobody likes it when you tell them that they're super special Reddit alternative is shit, because they've all been shit thus far. It's not even the population issues it's just they're badly designed and being run by the worst type of people.
RedditAlternatives-ModTeam@reddit
People don't like these kinds of comments because this is a place to suggest Reddit alternatives. Not a place to gush about how irreplaceable Reddit is.
That tactic has been heavily used by astroturfers as far back as the original Reddit migration with the API changes. And it will not be tolerated going forward.
The perfect Reddit alternative doesn't and will not exist. There is only the best one, and that best one can be made better with time or accepted for its flaws. Dissuading people from using Alternatives which aren't 'perfect' is the strategy of astroturfers who wish to keep people on Reddit.
DualityEnigma@reddit
I don’t mind people telling me it’s shit. So far the only thing I’ve seen not get shit on are clearly venture backed solutions with media budgets.
The posts are all: It’s shit, but not WHY It’s shit.
And posts for alts this sub likes are empty. It’s awesome, trust me bro. It’s cool though. Feeding the trolls helps the right people find us. :)
busymom0@reddit
Can you go deeper about this? What factors do you think made reddit work which should be there in an alternative to survive?
NikEy@reddit
Mirage.talk is pretty active at this point. Honesty so much that I don't really spend that much time on Reddit anymore. 2000+ registered users and about 300 to 400 posts per day.
It's invite only but if you send me a DM I can give you a referral link.
RedditAlternatives-ModTeam@reddit
Posts asking for or sharing invites to alternatives such as Tildes will be removed.
CompetitivePackage72@reddit
Use telegram
Future_Party_9656@reddit (OP)
For messaging specifically? I use WhatsApp for family/ work mainly and Discord because all my friends are on there... I do have concerns with privacy on discord tho
CompetitivePackage72@reddit
Many other things are there in telegram
Future_Party_9656@reddit (OP)
Oh okay I thought it was purely a secure messaging app. I'll do some research and see whatelse it offers. Thanks
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
[removed]
RedditAlternatives-ModTeam@reddit
Telegram should not be used for news, file sharing, or really anything that should be publicly available for people. That is a very bad design do not do this if you want people to have access to information.
RedditAlternatives-ModTeam@reddit
Hello, your post was removed because you did not advertise a Reddit alternative.
ChadpathianMadurist@reddit
get out
PunnyMcPunface88@reddit
The Fediverse alternatives have a thousand issues but they're still the best you'll get. Everything else has the bootstrapping problem: no users because no content, no content because no users.
Technical_Rich_3080@reddit
What's the problem with Reddit?
How are the other stuff any better?
RobotToaster44@reddit
Lemmy and piefed are the only real options. The others have no community.
Piefed is new and how quickly it bootstrapped using lemmy communities shows how powerful federation can be. Any other new platforms will basically have to be federated to stand a chance.
BillGhost85@reddit
I think https://comuniq.xyz is a great option. Does anyone else here know about it?
No-Big9849@reddit
For some reason, when I asked this question all I got was a bunch of hate
Delicious_Ease2595@reddit
As big as Reddit there isn't. Lemmy/piefed comes second and a true alternative with some active instances.
FrankCastle2020@reddit
You might find openspace.social interesting. It offers a social networking experience without algorithmic feeds and ads, focusing instead on chronological posts without data mining.
Die4Ever@reddit
https://piefed.zip/
quarrel-admin@reddit
Mine is quarrel.ing
No users yet but im doing a major update this week. That i think will change how people interacting with posts and talk to each other.
Frankdammit@reddit
Https://rhyme.com seems the most promising
Alive_Werewolf_40@reddit
Most active are fediverse platforms like Lemmy and Piefed. Digg killed itself again and is now an AI news site. Tildes ruined themselves in infancy by closing registration
Any other startup you see posted here have the chicken-egg problem and will struggle to find a user base.
Huge problem with the fediverse sites is Activitypub doesn't handle deletion or migration well and federation breaks all the time. Lemm.ee going down was a huge blow to Lemmy.
All those posts, accounts, and comments are now gone. You can still interact with them from instances that had the content cached, but any new interaction will only be seen on that home instance. Any new instance joining will never see that content.
If that happened to something like Lemmy.world it would kill that section of the fediverse. It's one of the many issues with Activitypub and is why Fediverse platforms won't reach mainstream.
I'd like to see the Lemmy devs create customs protocols for content adoption and account migration, but we're still waiting for 1.0 and it's been over a year.
Ultimately you're best on Reddit for now.