It is both. And I don't think Lemmy/kbin can ever be truly successful without a large and diverse 3rd party app support. Everyone isn't looking for the same type of interface. It is why an "official" reddit app will never truly be successful. I was always more into subreddits that were text content. Having the interface with giant pictures isn't going to work for me. However, that is what my wife wanted.
As for censorship, that was always an issue with Reddit. But that doesn't change on lemmy/fediverse. You can easily be banned by different instances. For instance, lemmy.ml doesn't tolerate any criticism of the Chinese gov't at all. When you decide to be on that server, you are agreeing to deal with that type of censorship.
Regarding what you said about censorship, censorship on reddit doesnt equate the censorship on a federated network. Sure you can get banned from an instance but lets say theres an instance (will be more likely) that allows total free speech?
With reddit, youll be banned no matter which subreddit you go. The fediverse cant ban you. Thats the biggest difference