# koel vs WriteFreely

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

| | koel | WriteFreely |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 75/100 ✓ | 65/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 59 in Music Streaming | #2 of 24 in Blogging |
| GitHub stars | 17 322 ✓ | 5 276 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +59 ✓ | +19 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 22 ✓ | 3 |
| Latest release | v9.15.0 · 28 Sept 2026 ✓ | v0.17.2 · 10 Aug 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | PHP | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

koel scores 75/100 against 65/100 for WriteFreely, so it is the safer default.

koel ships more often: 22 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for WriteFreely.

koel is growing faster right now (+59 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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