# beam vs WriteFreely

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | beam | WriteFreely |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 61/100 | 65/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #29 of 125 in AI | #2 of 24 in Blogging |
| GitHub stars | 1 834 | 5 276 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +47 ✓ | +19 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 364 ✓ | 3 |
| Latest release | gateway-0.1.837 · 26 Oct 2026 ✓ | v0.17.2 · 10 Aug 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Go | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

WriteFreely scores 65/100 against 61/100 for beam, so it is the safer default.

beam ships more often: 364 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for WriteFreely.

If you want the quickest setup, WriteFreely is easier to run; beam needs more configuration.

beam is growing faster right now (+47 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [beam](https://selfhost.directory/project/beam) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/beam.md)
- [WriteFreely](https://selfhost.directory/project/writefreely) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/writefreely.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/beam-vs-writefreely