So you want to write on the internet – where should you go?

I’ve had a handful of friends and family interested in having a place to put writing on the internet lately. This is my collection of websites, services, and methods for making a writing-first website that I can confidently recommend to the people that I care about.

Who this list is for:

• People who feel their current platform’s politics (e.g. Substack) don’t reflect their worldview, and want to support a separate platform
• People who are tired of publishing sites being shut down, becoming unaffordable, and/or trying to scale past a simple writing site
• People who “just want to write” and be able to point their friends and colleagues to that writing
• People who want to be a bit of a hipster in their platform choices and support independent developers, small companies, or non-profits

Who this list is not for:

• People who want an overview of the current “startup publishing ecosystem”
• People looking to make websites that are not primarily text-based

This list is sorted roughly in order of complexity to use. Not every one of those values will be present in the options below, but I’ll try my best to call that out as we go along.

Before we get started

There is a lot of complexity in software engineering today, but making a website is meaningfully easier than it ever has been. You can still create an HTML file from scratch and put it somewhere on the internet – congrats, you have a website! If you consider yourself a programmer, there are frameworks like Astro that are refreshingly simple for those coming from a giant web framework background and let you create websites that are nothing more than a set of fancy Markdown files. Static site generators like Jekyll and Hugo have been around for forever, and have a wealth of themes and resources available for you to learn. Updating a site like this can be as easy as adding a new file, writing your post, and hitting a button or running one command.

If mentioning code makes your eyes glaze over, I have one more plea to leave you with: I see websites as a kind of craft, and making them for friends and family feels meaningfully different to me than making a Big Scaleable Web Application for a job with a salary. I would love to see a world where we’re exchanging time and skills more with the people we care about – if you have a friend who knits and they need a website, why don’t you trade them a simple polished website for a nice knit hat? There are some things that don’t need to be mediated through a big service, and personal websites are probably the simplest and most approachable things to create and host on the internet.

All that being said, sometimes you want a website and you want it now. Here are the options for you:

The options

Bear Blog

Best for: simple blogs, free theming, easy to use

This is a simple blogging platform with a primary goal of longevity. Herman (who runs the service) seems like a delight from the things of his I’ve written – you can read more in The Bear Manifesto. If you want an idea of what to expect, the docs should give a nice overview without you needing to make an account. It has a variety of themes to choose from, and allows customization for the most important aspects of your site (plus, you can get your hands dirty and write some CSS if you want too). You can pay $6/mo or $49/year to connect a custom domain and access many other features.

This might not be for you if:

• Markdown formatting scares you (I promise it’s accessible to learn though)

Mataroa

Best for: minimalist blogs, flexible and accessible data export options

Much of the benefits of Bear Blog apply here – Mataroa is a minimal platform with a creator (Theodore) who cares a lot, and is especially strong on allowing you to export data if you need. There are extensive materials available on the platform’s methodology. You can pay $9/year (yes, not a month) for access to a custom domain and post by email. If you’re looking for a site that walks the line between minimalist and brutalist, this is a great option. It’s also worth noting that this is the cheapest cost for a custom domain on this list.

This might not be for you if:

• Markdown formatting scares you
• You want to customize your blog theme, or you aren’t a fan of (lovingly) brutalist design

Pika

Best for: nice writing editor, nice themes, easy customization, cute mascot

Pika is a blogging service that’s as polished as you want a blogging platform to be – it’s got a great post editor, nice themes, and is made by a small software company who cares about what they make a lot. You can write 50 posts for free, and they have data exporting if you decide Pika is not for you. They are very up front with pricing, and you can unlock every essential “polished” blog feature (unlimited posts, custom domains, newsletter subscribers, removing branding) for either $6/mo or $60/year. In my mind, this is the goldilocks option for a non-programmer of approachable, free to start, and run by good people – as long as you’re okay with the 50 post limit for free accounts.

This might not be for you if:

• You want to write unlimited posts for free
• You hate small, mountain-dwelling mammals

Tiny Logger

Best for: developing a writing practice, minimal and polished reading and writing experiences

I know about Tiny Logger through watching Max (the creator) use it at the Recurse Center. It’s a clean, polished, and free blogging app, and seems most geared toward the writing process as opposed to the published output (although the output is nice too). Some notable features are daily writing tracking, a “no judgement” mode for first drafts, setting a word goal for a piece, and tracking a piece as it goes from Idea → Draft → Published. I’m not sure how much the site costs to run, but there’s a full JSON data export available in case it becomes too expensive to run and has to become paid in the future.

This might not be for you if:

• You’re not a fan of using Google to sign in
• You want granular styling/theming support
• You want a custom domain

write.as

Best for: nice writing editor, minimal experience, fediverse support, self-hosting a platform for friends

Write.as is great for a specific type of person who wants a minimal writing experience and posts that are native to the Fediverse. It’s made by a small product studio who seems thoughtful and well-meaning, and is available to self-host for those that are technically inclined. Free registrations are closed as of January 2025, so you’d be signing up at their $9/mo Pro tier (which is likely a little steep compared to the other available options).

This might not be for you if:

• You want a free option
• You want theming options
• You don’t care about the Fediverse

Buttondown

Best for: newsletters, polished interfaces, paid subscriptions, API access

Buttondown is probably the pre-eminent option for those who want a newsletter service that is big enough to be polished and small enough to avoid the big platform trap of being loved for a year or two and then hated once it is enshittified. It’s free for your first 100 subscribers, and seems fairly priced past that point ($9/mo for 1k subscribers, $79/mo for 10k subscribers). They don’t take fees from paid subscribers, and explicitly call out their goal to be a small, independent business with longevity at the forefront (plus, they have a great track record with supporting open source). I haven’t personally used Buttondown, but it’s been around for long enough and (anecdotally) universally loved enough that I feel comfortable recommending it.

This might not be for you if:

• A newsletter is a nice feature to have, but not your primary goal
• You want lots of site customization options

Ghost

Best for: small publishing orgs, people looking for something battle tested, you want to make money from writing in some way

Ghost is the crown jewel of polished publishing platforms. They’re a non-profit, and power publications doing great work like 404 Media and Hell Gate. Websites through them start at $15/mo (on an annual plan), which is a little steep for those looking for a simple blog but can be a steal for websites with aspirations of becoming a “real publication”. Ghost is open source and can be run yourself, but you’ll need significant technical knowledge and it may end up being more expensive to run, especially if this is the only service you’re looking to run yourself.

This might not be for you if:

• You’re looking for a minimal writing solution
• You want a service that’s inexpensive/free

That’s it!

If you end up taking my recommendations on any of these services (or if any of my information is out of date), shoot me an email and let me know!