Open-source Hashnode alternatives

Forem is open-source software for building communities for peers, customers, fanbases, families, friends or any group that wants a shared space. It is the codebase behind dev.to, a community of software developers who write articles, discuss and build professional profiles. The project is written in Ruby on Rails and released under the AGPL-3.0 license.

The repository includes installation documentation, developer documentation and instructions for deploying with Kamal. Contributors are welcome to open pull requests on any issue, provided they include appropriate tests, with the maintainers currently focused on backend regression tests while frontend changes may need more user review. The project states that AI-assisted pull requests are welcome if they meet quality standards, and it points AI agents to an AGENTS.md file. A vulnerability disclosure process and acknowledgements are also documented.

Vrite is an open-source, collaborative space to create, manage, and deploy product documentation, technical blogs, and knowledge bases. It aims to provide a high-quality, integrated experience for both writers and developers. This repository is described as a work-in-progress branch for Andesine, the version 2 rewrite, and the README points to the main branch for the latest stable Vrite. The input lists its license only as other.

Features listed include a built-in dashboard to manage content production and delivery using Kanban or list views, a modern WYSIWYG editor with Markdown support, an integrated code editor with formatting, and real-time collaboration. AI-powered semantic search helps organize and find content, and a versatile API serves content to websites and applications, which is why topics call it a headless CMS.

A hosted Vrite Cloud is available alongside the self-hostable code. It suits technical writers, developer relations teams, and documentation groups who want a content workflow that bridges writing and publishing.

ThriveX is a blog management system created by the developer known as Liuyuyang. It uses a decoupled architecture, with a Next.js front end and a Spring Boot back end, and its description presents it as fully open source and never charged for. The project grew out of the author's move away from WordPress and Typecho.

Version 4.0 focused on a better admin experience, a smoother first-time installation flow, comment interaction, file management, category navigation, performance, security and deployment configuration. The stack includes React, Zustand, ECharts, MySQL, Nginx and Node.js, and a Docker-based deployment is supported. The interface and documentation are mostly in Chinese.

ThriveX is licensed under GPL-3.0 and you host it on your own server. A recent post on the author's site says new feature development is paused while bugs are still fixed, which is worth weighing for long-term use.

btw is an open-source personal website builder, presented as an alternative to Medium for people who want to publish a blog in a few minutes. You can sign up and start writing without installing anything, or run the open-source version on your own infrastructure.

Self-hosting uses Docker and Docker Compose and needs a working PostgreSQL instance. Only an admin email and slug are mandatory; the database is configured on first start. Optional settings add SMTP so one-time login codes can be emailed, a six-digit OTP gate for the writer, and S3-compatible storage so image uploads work in the editor.

Repository topics tag it as a blog platform, website builder and notes app with a no-code approach, and the README links a couple of demo blogs published with it. The code is JavaScript and is released under the GPL-3.0 licence.

Letterpad is a blog publishing engine for creatives that simplifies managing and publishing content for a blog or website. It ships with a full admin dashboard and a customizable public website, so you can start writing quickly. It is built with TypeScript, React, GraphQL, Next.js and Tailwind CSS, and it suits writers, photographers and designers who want a self-managed publishing platform.

Features include domain mapping for custom domains, inline editing directly on the website, grid and list layouts, a customizable brand color and three themes. It stores data in MySQL or SQLite3 and integrates with Cloudinary and Unsplash for media. Multi-user installations are supported by default. A Creatives page builder helps make photostories, portfolios and photoblogs, and there is Grammarly integration, built-in SEO features and a server-rendered blog for performance.

The README documents installation, development and production setup, including Docker, plus configuration options for URL and port. A demo is available, and the project is MIT licensed.

Gridea is a desktop application for writing and managing static blogs. Built with Electron and Vue, it runs on Windows, macOS and Linux and is meant for people who want a simple writing client rather than operating a database-backed blogging platform.

The client offers a Markdown editor, cover and inline image support, tags and groupings for articles, and customizable menus including external links. Sites can be published to GitHub Pages or Coding Pages, and Gitalk or DisqusJS can be configured for comments. Built-in or third-party themes can be applied and customized, the interface is available in several languages, and the source folder can be synced across devices through services such as OneDrive, iCloud or Dropbox.

Gridea is released under the MIT license and is downloaded from the project site. Because it produces a static site that you publish to your own hosting, there is no server component to maintain; the README acknowledges that the project is still young.