<p>Aqueous zinc-metal batteries have many advantages, including high safety, low cost, and environmental friendliness. Nevertheless, the poor cycling stability hinders their practical application. Mitigating the irreversible Zn²⁺ loss at the interface between the electrode and electrolyte, as well as inside the electrode, is an effective strategy to achieve high cycling stability. Herein, a novel lean-zinc anode is proposed, which is carried out by annealing LaZn bimetallic organic framework to form metal oxides and derived carbon. The anode has a low voltage hysteresis and low nucleation overpotential, further achieves high plating/stripping reversibility. The good electrochemical properties are attributed to the highly stable anode, which contains a large layer spacing La₂O₃ with a low lattice mismatch degree to Zn⁰. This anode facilitates rapid ion transport and uniform Zn⁰ deposition at the interface, which helps to alleviate the irreversible Zn²⁺ loss. On this basis, the assembled batteries can maintain excellent stability for over 3000 cycles. This illustrates the promising application of rare-earth-based bimetallic-derived anodes in aqueous zinc-metal batteries.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>