Aether: reddit Alternative (Desktop App)
Official website getaether.net
Our take
A genuinely unusual design: an ephemeral, peer-to-peer public forum where content is not stored forever on central servers, which is a real departure from Reddit’s model. Two cautions matter: it is desktop-only, and development has been intermittent and quiet, so it reads more as an interesting experiment than a thriving community. Worth exploring if its impermanent, serverless approach appeals; do not expect an active replacement for your subreddits.
GitHub at a glance
aethereans/aether-app
Stars
1,251
-1 this week
Last commit
2.8y ago
slowing
License
AGPL-3.0
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Listed in
Aether alternatives
Aether license, in plain English
AGPL-3.0 Strong copyleft · network
Free to use, even commercially. Changes must be published under the same license, and running a modified version as a network service counts as distributing it.
Permits
- Commercial use
- Modification
- Distribution
- Patent use
- Private use
Requires
- Disclose source
- Network use is distribution
- Same license
- State changes
- License and copyright notice
Does not provide
- Liability cover
- Warranty
Why it matters: The network clause is the point. Anyone who runs a modified version as a hosted service has to publish those changes, so the code handling your data stays inspectable. This is why privacy-first projects reach for AGPL.
Plain-language summary of the project's license, not legal advice. Read the full text for the exact terms.