Top pick · highest health
Ech0
Lightweight federated publishing platform focused on personal idea sharing (documentation in Chinese).
★ 2.1k 134 commits / 90d ⟳ 4 days ago AGPL-3.0 Docker
Category
Open source blogging platforms
A blog is a discussion or informational website consisting of discrete, diary-style text entries (posts). 15 self-hosted blogging platforms tools are listed here, ordered purely by a repository health score that Repoly recomputes nightly. Ech0 leads at 93/100 with 134 commits in the last 90 days and 2.1k stars, followed by fx (90) and Ghost (89). 7 of the 15 score 70 or above, 3 publish a Docker image, and the median health is 50. MIT is the most common licence, carried by 4 of them. Between them they stand in for Twitter, Squarespace, WordPress.com and Podbean. The score weighs commits in the last 90 days, release recency, stars, archive status and Docker support; a low number means low measurable activity, not low quality, so a finished, stable tool can legitimately sit lower down.
updated Oct 2026 15 tools ★ 68k stars 3 with Docker median 50
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Ranked by health
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fx
Micro-blog tool offering built-in syntax highlighting, mobile publishing and more (alternative to Twitter, Bluesky).
★ 335 44 commits / 90d ⟳ 5 days ago MIT Docker
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WriteFreely
Writing software for starting a minimalist, federated blog — or an entire community.
★ 5.3k 64 commits / 90d ⟳ 4 days ago AGPL-3.0
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FlatPress
A lightweight, easy-to-set-up flat-file blogging engine.
★ 218 97 commits / 90d ⟳ 2 days ago GPL-2.0
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Chyrp Lite
Extra-awesome, extra-lightweight blog engine.
★ 498 21 commits / 90d ⟳ 3 days ago BSD-3-Clause
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Serendipity
Serendipity (s9y) is a highly extensible and customizable PHP blog engine using Smarty templating.
★ 229 5 commits / 90d ⟳ 2 months ago BSD-3-Clause
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HTMLy
Databaseless PHP blogging platform. A flat-file CMS that allows you to create a fast, secure, and powerful website or blog in seconds.
★ 1.4k 0 commits / 90d ⟳ 9 months ago GPL-2.0
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Haven
Private blogging system with markdown editing and built in RSS reader.
★ 812 7 commits / 90d ⟳ 26 days ago MIT
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Antville
Free, open source project aimed at the development of a high performance, feature rich weblog hosting software.
★ 90 0 commits / 90d ⟳ today Apache-2.0
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Castopod
Podcast management hosting platform that includes the latest podcast 2.0 standards, an automated Fediverse feed, analytics, an embeddable player, and more.
★ 0 0 commits / 90d ⟳ unknown AGPL-3.0 Docker
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| # | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ech0 Docker | 2.1k | 134 | AGPL-3.0 | 4 days ago | |
| 2 | fx Docker | 335 | 44 | MIT | 5 days ago | |
| 3 | Ghost | 56k | 2266 | MIT | today | |
| 4 | WriteFreely | 5.3k | 64 | AGPL-3.0 | 4 days ago | |
| 5 | FlatPress | 218 | 97 | GPL-2.0 | 2 days ago | |
| 6 | Mataroa | 375 | 75 | MIT | today | |
| 7 | Chyrp Lite | 498 | 21 | BSD-3-Clause | 3 days ago | |
| 8 | Serendipity | 229 | 5 | BSD-3-Clause | 2 months ago | |
| 9 | PluXml | 233 | 1 | GPL-3.0 | 1 month ago | |
| 10 | Known | 1.1k | 0 | Apache-2.0 | 2 months ago | |
| 11 | HTMLy | 1.4k | 0 | GPL-2.0 | 9 months ago | |
| 12 | Haven | 812 | 7 | MIT | 26 days ago | |
| 13 | Antville | 90 | 0 | Apache-2.0 | today | |
| 14 | Castopod Docker | 0 | 0 | AGPL-3.0 | unknown | |
| 15 | Dotclear | 0 | 0 | GPL-2.0 | unknown |
How the blogging platform tools compare
Ech0 edges fx 93 to 90, and most of the difference is stars: 2.1k stars against 335 stars. Ghost has the largest following at 56k stars, yet ranks #3 of 15, held back mostly by Docker support (no Docker image).
The most recent release is Ghost v6.73.0, published 3 days ago. Haven publishes no tagged releases, which costs up to 25 of the 100 points. HTMLy, Haven and Antville score under 40, so check recent activity before adopting them. By stack, PHP (8), Go (1) and Javascript (1) are the most common. fx, Ghost, Mataroa and 5 more are permissively licensed; Ech0, WriteFreely, FlatPress and 4 more are copyleft. Castopod and Dotclear are not hosted on a forge Repoly can read, so they have no measured score yet.
Blogging Platforms: common questions
What is the best open source blogging platform tool?
By Repoly's GitHub health score, Ech0 at 93/100 (134 commits in 90 days, v5.8.3 from 5 days ago). fx is next at 90; Ech0's lead comes mostly from stars. The score measures maintenance, not features, so shortlist the top few and try them.
Which blogging platform tools are the most actively developed?
Ghost (2,266 commits in 90 days), Ech0 (134 commits in 90 days) and FlatPress (97 commits in 90 days). Commit activity is 35 of the 100 health points, the largest single term.
Which blogging platform tools can I run in Docker?
3 of 15 publish a Docker image or Compose file, led by Ech0, fx and Castopod.
Which blogging platform tools have a permissive licence?
8 of 15: fx (MIT), Ghost (MIT), Mataroa (MIT), Chyrp Lite (BSD-3-Clause), Serendipity (BSD-3-Clause) and 3 more. 7 are copyleft.
Which paid products can open source blogging platform tools replace?
Twitter (fx ranks highest here), Squarespace (Ghost ranks highest here), WordPress.com (Ghost ranks highest here) and Podbean (Castopod ranks highest here).
