# shai vs WriteFreely

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

| | shai | WriteFreely |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 44/100 | 65/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #71 of 120 in AI Assistant | #2 of 24 in Blogging |
| GitHub stars | 629 | 5 276 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +0 | +19 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 6 ✓ | 3 |
| Latest release | v0.2.2 · 9 Oct 2026 ✓ | v0.17.2 · 10 Aug 2026 |
| Setup | Easy ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Rust | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

WriteFreely scores 65/100 against 44/100 for shai, so it is the safer default.

shai ships more often: 6 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for WriteFreely.

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

WriteFreely is growing faster right now (+19 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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