Plume vs WriteFreely
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
WriteFreely
Minimalist federated blogging platform
| Feature | Plume | WriteFreely |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 22 · At risk | 90 · Excellent |
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,223 | ★ 5,257 |
| First released | 2018 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Medium, WordPress.com | Medium, Tumblr |
What are Plume and WriteFreely?
Plume
Plume is a free, open-source, federated blogging platform written in Rust. Multiple authors can publish on shared blogs, and posts federate across the fediverse via ActivityPub.
- Federated blogging
- Multiple authors per blog
- ActivityPub support
- Markdown editor
WriteFreely
WriteFreely is a free, open-source, federated blogging platform written in Go. It focuses on distraction-free writing and publishes posts that can federate with the fediverse.
- Distraction-free writing
- ActivityPub federation
- Multiple blogs per user
- Markdown support
Plume vs WriteFreely: key differences
Plume is written in Rust, while WriteFreely is built with Go. WriteFreely has the considerably larger community, at 5,257 GitHub stars versus 2,223.
Why pick each one
Choose Plume if…
- Lightweight Rust backend
- Collaborative blogs
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Small ecosystem
Choose WriteFreely if…
- Clean minimalist design
- Lightweight to host
Watch out for
- Few social features
- Sparse theming options
Frequently asked questions
Is Plume or WriteFreely better?
WriteFreely is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Plume if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Plume and WriteFreely free and open-source?
Yes. Plume is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and WriteFreely under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Plume and WriteFreely with Docker?
Plume: yes. WriteFreely: yes.