There was one a few years ago that has since shut down. I think it was called Ruqqus or something? Using the website I think it was the best out of all the alternatives I’ve tried, the site was well made and enjoyable, good features and tools (open source, but not federated)

Only problem was the userbase was nothing but far-right users, so racist and bigots.

I think Lemmy is good, once the apps become more polished and refined then it might become my favourite.

Here’s my opinion on a few I’ve tried:

• Kbin: I liked the UI but I thought calling communities “magazines” was weird. Also, there were features that I felt unnecessary like “boost” or “microblog”. Self-hosting documentation was much worse compared to Lemmy.

• Squabbles: It took me a while to figure out the UI and honestly did not like it. The icon looks very funny as if it’s mocking what the average user is supposed to look like. It also isn’t decentralized.

• Tildes: I liked the UI and the name. Not much to say other than that it’s also not decentralized.

• Discuit: The best UI out of the bunch. It’s very easy to navigate. I wish it also had a naming community prefix like “!” or “m/” or “s/” or “~”. Generally, it feels very Reddit-like but it’s also not decentralized.

• Lemmy: Very rough start but this and Kbin were really the only real options for me because they’re both decentralized. It’s gotten a lot better over the past month in terms of performance and UI. There’s a lot of apps being developed for it too. Most of Lemmy’s annoying quirks are its bugs but those are being fixed after every new release.

I’m all in on Lemmy. Haven’t tried many others.