Ensh*ttification comes for all SaaS apps that survive long enough. Substack takes 10% of your revenue. Patreon takes 8% plus processing fees. And that's while they're being nice—wait until the VCs demand returns and your platform turns on you.
BlogWriter is the open-source alternative for people who want to be treated like humans, not brands. For people who want to own their social presence instead of renting under a digital fiefdom.
You're not a creator building a brand—you're a human sharing thoughts. But these platforms don't see you as a person. You're a data point to be monetized. A tenant in their digital fiefdom.
Substack and Patreon are your landlords. They can change the terms, raise the rent, or evict you anytime. Remember when Twitter was good? When Medium didn't paywall everything? When your favorite platform didn't feel like a bait-and-switch?
They make leaving painful on purpose. Try exporting your subscribers. Try taking your paying members elsewhere. You're building on someone else's land, and they hold the deeds.
Stop thinking like a marketing department. Start writing like a human. BlogWriter gives you the freedom to be messy, experimental, real—the things brands can't be.
Use it as a simple blog. Just write. Or add paid subscriptions later—only when you want to, only if you want to. No pressure either way. The default is human-first, not monetization-first.
No platform takes a cut. No terms of service you didn't write. No algorithm deciding who sees your work. Self-hosted means you answer to no one.
One click exports all your posts as Markdown files in a zip. Save to Dropbox, a flash drive, wherever. Your writing never lives in just one place. Because it's yours.
RSS 2.0, Atom, and JSON Feed built in. Microformats2 markup (h-card, h-entry, h-feed). rel="me" identity links for verification on Mastodon, Bluesky, GitHub, and email. Your blog speaks the open web's language from day one.
MIT licensed—code is yours forever. No equity holders demanding returns. Even if BlogWriter disappeared tomorrow, you'd still have everything.
A Statamic-inspired split-pane editor. Editing controls on the left, a live preview of your article on the right—updating as you type.
No brand guidelines. No content calendars. No growth hacking. You're not a brand—you're a person with something to say.
Your domain. Your words. Your people. Not "your audience"—the humans who read your work. Move anywhere, anytime. No landlord can evict you.
Simple blog by default. Just write. Add paid subscriptions later—only if you want to. No pressure. No features held hostage.
MIT licensed—can't be shut down by investors. No "pivot" that changes everything. No terms change that breaks your workflow. You own the house.
Tiptap WYSIWYG with live preview, auto-save, and featured images. Not a textarea—a proper writing tool.
Upload photos with captions, alt text, and EXIF data. Automatic thumbnail, medium, and large conversions.
Export your articles as Markdown in a ZIP—compatible with Hugo, Jekyll, and Eleventy. Import them back on any BlogWriter instance. Third-party import tools for Substack, Medium, and WordPress are on the way.
When you're ready to offer paid subscriptions—if you choose to—native support is coming. Bring your own payment processor. Your money goes directly to you.
No rush. No pressure. Write for free. Write for pay. Write for yourself. Your choice.
Get notified when new features ship. No spam—just updates.
© 2026 BlogWriter. MIT Licensed.