# polar vs WriteFreely

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

| | polar | WriteFreely |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 71/100 ✓ | 65/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 13 in Billing | #2 of 24 in Blogging |
| GitHub stars | 10 436 ✓ | 5 276 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +157 ✓ | +19 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 3 ✓ |
| Latest release | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 ✓ | v0.17.2 · 10 Aug 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Python | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

polar scores 71/100 against 65/100 for WriteFreely, so it is the safer default.

WriteFreely ships more often: 3 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.

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

polar is growing faster right now (+157 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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