openpencilvsWriteFreely
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| openpencil | WriteFreely | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 73/100 | 65/100 |
| Rank in category | #2 of 7 in Design | #2 of 24 in Blogging |
| GitHub stars | 9 422 | 5 276 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +821 | +19 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 14 | 3 |
| Latest release | v0.16.0 · 14 Oct 2026 | v0.17.2 · 10 Aug 2026 |
| Setup | Easy | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Typescript | Go |
Which one should you pick?
openpencil scores 73/100 against 65/100 for WriteFreely, so it is the safer default.
openpencil ships more often: 14 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for WriteFreely.
If you want the quickest setup, openpencil is easier to run; WriteFreely needs more configuration.
openpencil is growing faster right now (+821 stars in 30 days).
openpencil details →WriteFreely details →
Swap a project
Keep openpencil, compare it with
Keep WriteFreely, compare it with