Discover WriteFreely, the free open-source federated blogging platform for the Fediverse: features, self-hosting, pricing, pros, cons, and FAQs.
WriteFreely is a free and open-source blogging platform built specifically for the Fediverse, the decentralized network of social and publishing platforms connected by the ActivityPub protocol. It lets anyone run their own minimalist, self-hosted blog that can still be followed and shared by users on Mastodon and other Fediverse services.
The project traces back to Write.as, a privacy-focused hosted blogging service that developer Matt Baer launched in 2015. Baer later extracted the underlying engine and open-sourced it as WriteFreely in late 2018, giving anyone the ability to self-host the same software that powers Write.as.
WriteFreely is written in Go, runs efficiently on minimal hardware including a Raspberry Pi, and is maintained by Baer's small company, Musing Studio, which also operates the hosted Write.as and WriteFreely.host services for people who prefer not to self-host.
ActivityPub federation is WriteFreely's defining feature: posts published on a WriteFreely blog can be followed, liked, boosted, and commented on by users of Mastodon, Pleroma, and other ActivityPub-compatible platforms, extending a small blog's reach into the wider Fediverse.
The writing experience is deliberately minimalist, with a fast, auto-saving, distraction-free editor that supports Markdown and live preview, and no built-in notifications, algorithmic feed, or engagement metrics to distract writers or readers.
Multi-user support lets one WriteFreely instance host many separate blogs with custom domains and themes, making it suitable for communities, small publications, and organizations that want to run a shared but self-hosted blogging platform.
WriteFreely itself is free, open-source software that can be downloaded from GitHub and self-hosted on any server or virtual private server the operator controls, with no license fees.
Because self-hosting requires server administration knowledge, Musing Studio, the company behind WriteFreely, also offers managed hosted alternatives: Write.as for individual blogs and WriteFreely.host for community and multi-author blogs.
Hosted plans through Write.as are reported to start at around 6 US dollars per month, with higher tiers adding features like custom themes, newsletters, photo hosting, and support for multiple blogs or collaborators.
WriteFreely is a free, open-source, minimalist blogging platform that federates over ActivityPub, letting self-hosted blogs be followed from Mastodon and other Fediverse services.
Yes, the WriteFreely software itself is free and open-source. Costs only arise if you use a paid hosted alternative like Write.as or pay for your own server.
WriteFreely was created by developer Matt Baer, who first built the hosted service Write.as in 2015 and later open-sourced its underlying engine as WriteFreely in late 2018.
It means people on Mastodon, Pleroma, and other ActivityPub-enabled platforms can follow, share, and interact with a WriteFreely blog's posts directly from their own platform.
Yes, WriteFreely supports multi-user instances so one installation can host many separate blogs with their own domains and themes.
WriteFreely is written in Go and designed to run efficiently on minimal hardware, including devices as small as a Raspberry Pi.
Yes, Musing Studio offers Write.as for individual blogs and WriteFreely.host for community blogs, with hosted plans reported to start around 6 US dollars per month.
WriteFreely is intentionally minimalist and federation-first, with a much smaller feature set than WordPress but native ActivityPub support that WordPress lacks without additional plugins.