Best Self Hosted Alternatives to DEV Community (DEV.to)

Ghost is an open-source publishing platform for professional creators and organizations to build websites, publish posts, and grow an audience. It combines a modern editor and theme system with built-in memberships, subscriptions, and email newsletters.

Key Features

• Content editor and publishing workflow for posts and pages
• Theme-based website building with custom templates
• Membership management with free and paid tiers
• Paid subscriptions and revenue features for publishers
• Built-in email newsletters for publishing to subscribers
• Admin interface and APIs for integrating external apps and workflows

Use Cases

• Run an independent blog, magazine, or newsroom with subscriptions
• Publish company content marketing with newsletters and lead capture
• Create a membership-driven creator site with paid tiers

Ghost is well-suited for modern publishing where content, audience, and monetization are managed in one place. It can be extended via themes and APIs to fit many publishing workflows.

Halo is an open-source website builder and content management system for creating blogs, knowledge bases, and business websites. It focuses on an efficient editing experience, structured configuration, and a plugin/theme ecosystem for long-term maintainability and growth.

Key Features

• Rich text and Markdown editing with embeddable content elements
• Theme templates and plugin-based architecture with one-click enable/disable
• RESTful API for integrations and secondary development
• Site logs and basic status monitoring capabilities
• Built-in backup and restore for site data
• Data migration tooling from other platforms
• Multiple storage strategies, including local storage and S3-compatible object storage
• Authentication options designed for flexible access control
• Optional AI capabilities via plugins (assisted writing and knowledge-base Q&A)

Use Cases

• Personal or team blogs with a fast publishing workflow
• Knowledge base sites with search and interactive Q&A extensions
• Company websites that need modular content and easy customization

Halo is a solid choice for users who want a modern, extensible CMS with a strong ecosystem of themes and plugins, plus integration-friendly APIs. Its modular design supports everything from simple blogs to more complex content-driven sites.

WriteFreely is a minimalist publishing platform built for writers, emphasizing a distraction-free writing and reading experience. It supports Markdown-based posts and can be run efficiently on small servers thanks to its Go-based architecture.

Key Features

• Clean, distraction-free editor with autosaving
• Markdown-based publishing with a minimalist reading experience
• ActivityPub federation so people on compatible networks can follow and share posts
• Multi-blog support from a single account (useful for pen names or separate publications)
• Drafts, post pinning to create static pages, and hashtag-based organization
• OAuth 2.0 support for integrating with existing identity providers
• Internationalization support, including right-to-left and non-Latin scripts
• Runs as a static binary with built-in SQLite support and optional MySQL support

Use Cases

• Personal blogging with a clean, privacy-minded writing experience
• Organization/internal publishing for sharing updates and knowledge
• Community publishing sites that interconnect with the broader fediverse

WriteFreely is well-suited to creators who want simple publishing, optional federation, and a lightweight stack that is easy to operate and scale from small deployments upward.

BroadcastChannel is an Astro-based site that renders posts from a public Telegram Channel as a microblog-style website. It is designed for fast delivery and indexability, exposing standard feeds and sitemaps for syndication and search engines.

Key Features

• Uses a Telegram Channel as the publishing backend (no separate CMS required)
• SEO-oriented output, including a sitemap endpoint
• RSS and JSON Feed endpoints for syndication
• Minimal client-side JavaScript (server-rendered output)
• Environment-based configuration for channel, locale/timezone, navigation links, and basic SEO controls
• Optional comments toggle and header/footer HTML injection

Use Cases

• Publish a lightweight personal microblog powered by Telegram posts
• Provide an RSS/JSON feed for a channel’s updates on a standalone site
• Create a simple “channel to website” presence for communities or curated link/news channels

Limitations and Considerations

• Requires a public Telegram Channel and settings that allow public access to channel content
• Content availability depends on Telegram’s public rendering and any platform restrictions on certain channels

BroadcastChannel is a good fit when you want a static-like microblog experience while keeping Telegram as the primary publishing workflow. It combines a modern web framework with feed and SEO features to make Telegram content easier to browse and subscribe to outside the app.

Publify is a Ruby on Rails–based multi‑user blogging and web publishing platform (originally known as Typo). It provides a classic blog engine, theming and plugin APIs for extending site behavior and presentation. (github.com)

Key Features

• Multi‑user blogging engine with posts, pages and short messages (micro‑posts). (github.com)
• Plugin API and widgets system for extensibility and custom widgets. (publify.github.io)
• Custom themes and included theme examples (repository contains a bootstrap theme). (github.com)
• Text filters supporting Markdown/Textile/SmartyPants and @mention/#hashtag linking. (publify.github.io)
• Advanced SEO capabilities and multilingual translations for many languages. (publify.github.io)

Use Cases

• Small teams or individuals who want a traditional multi‑user blog or magazine site with theme and plugin support. (github.com)
• Developers who need a Rails‑native publishing engine to customize or extend via plugins and themes. (github.com)
• Organizations that prefer an open‑source, self‑hosted publishing stack with classic blog features and SEO options. (publify.github.io)

Limitations and Considerations

• The public demo is ephemeral and is reset regularly (demo resets hourly), so data there is temporary and not suitable for long‑term testing. (publify.github.io)

Publify is a mature, Rails‑native publishing tool focused on traditional blogging workflows, theming and plugin extensibility. Its codebase and docs are hosted in the project repository and it is distributed under an open‑source license. (github.com)

HTMLy is an open-source, databaseless blogging platform and flat-file CMS written in PHP. It stores content as files instead of using a database, focusing on simplicity, low resource usage, and fast performance at scale.

Key Features

• Flat-file content storage (no database required)
• Web-based admin dashboard for publishing and managing posts
• Content discovery by date, type, category, tag, and author
• Built-in full-text search, archives, categories, tags, and sitemap
• Scheduled posts, custom fields, and menu management
• One-click update and built-in backup support (requires PHP ZIP)
• Two-factor authentication (2FA)

Use Cases

• Personal or technical blogs on shared hosting or low-resource servers
• Small to medium websites that prefer file-based content management
• Simple publishing workflows where portability and low ops overhead matter

Limitations and Considerations

• Requires writable content and cache directories, which may need careful server permission setup
• Feature expansion is primarily core-based rather than plugin-heavy, which may limit extensibility compared to larger CMS ecosystems

HTMLy is a practical choice for users who want a lightweight PHP blog/CMS without managing a database. It combines a flat-file approach with a built-in admin UI and core blogging features to stay fast and operationally simple.

Known is an open-source social publishing platform that lets individuals or groups publish posts, notes, photos, and other media to a site you own. It emphasizes IndieWeb compatibility and multi-user collaboration, with a simple, responsive interface.

Key Features

• Bookmarklet: Easily post to your site, save links, and respond to comments from any page on the web
• #Tags: Use hashtags to categorize content
• Responsive Layout: View, edit, and post to your site from any device
• Decentralized Indieweb: Sites can respond to each other, bookmark each other's content, and leave comments
• Email Notifications: Get updates whenever someone responds to a post
• Feeds: Access updates via RSS, XML, JSON, or KML
• Multi-Author: Invite an unlimited number of collaborators
• HTML & Rich Text Editor: Write in HTML or use a WYSIWYG editor
• Custom URL: Bring your own domain to own your site
• Static Pages: Create static pages like about or contact
• Privacy: Private spaces and access controls
• Custom JavaScript & CSS: Extend the site with custom scripts and styles

Use Cases

• Personal or multi-user sites for publishing posts, photos, and media with open syndication across Indieweb networks
• Education: classroom spaces and course projects with LTI integration and data ownership
• Community sites and collaborative spaces where multiple authors publish and discuss content

Limitations and Considerations

• This section intentionally omitted as there are no major Known-specific limitations highlighted here; refer to official documentation for deployment considerations when self-hosting.

Conclusion

Known provides a self-hosted, open-source publishing platform that supports multi-user collaboration, Indieweb interoperability, and ownership of content, suitable for personal sites, classrooms, and communities.

Haven is a privacy-first, self-hosted private blog application designed for sharing with a limited audience. It is implemented as a Ruby on Rails web application and provides a web interface for writing, user management, and reading feeds. (github.com)

Key Features

• Markdown editor with live preview and built-in image upload handling
• Private RSS feeds with unique secure links per user
• Built-in RSS reader (personal feed) to follow other Havens without ads or algorithms
• Multi-user roles (subscribers and publishers) so multiple people can publish without sharing credentials
• Low-bandwidth optimizations: image downscaling and compact page output; minimal client-side JavaScript

(havenweb.org)

Use Cases

• Private family or friends blog where the owner controls accounts and access
• Small community or group site with multiple authorized publishers (e.g., clubs, classrooms)
• Personal micro-journal with private RSS access and an aggregated personal feed

(havenweb.org)

Limitations and Considerations

• Not designed for public, SEO-driven blogs or large public audiences (no public signup option by design)
• Demo environment is limited: demo accounts and some administrative/customization features are restricted and demo accounts may be purged periodically

(havenweb.org)

Haven can be deployed via Docker and Docker Compose and commonly uses a PostgreSQL database in production; the project provides a Dockerfile and a docker-compose setup demonstrating a Rails service plus Postgres. Managed hosting and deployment scripts (AWS/Heroku notes) are also mentioned in the project resources. (git.siteop.biz)

Chyrp Lite is a minimal, responsive blogging engine written in PHP designed for simple self-hosted blogs and small publishing sites. It provides a lightweight core with an extensible system of "Feathers" (content types) and modules to add functionality without heavy complexity.

Key Features

• Lightweight PHP core with a responsive, accessible HTML5 frontend and Twig templating for easy theme development
• Support for multiple content Feathers: text, photo, quote, link, video, audio, and multi-file uploader
• Bundled modules for tagging, categories, comments, likes, caching, sitemap generation, post views, and webmention handling
• Supports plain text, Markdown, or raw markup entry formats and syntax highlighting for code snippets
• Database-agnostic using PDO with support for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite
• Simple administration console and rights model for user and visitor management
• Docker-compatible deployment with example docker-compose configuration for quick setup

Use Cases

• Run a minimal personal blog or tumbleblog with fast, low-overhead hosting requirements
• Publish a small multimedia site using Feathers for images, audio, and video without a heavy CMS
• Build a highly customizable simple publishing platform by extending functionality with modules and custom Twig themes

Limitations and Considerations

• Not intended for very high-traffic or enterprise-scale sites out of the box; heavy scaling requires external caching, reverse proxies, or infrastructure changes
• Smaller module/ecosystem compared to major CMS platforms; advanced plugins and integrations may be limited
• No built-in federation or ActivityPub support; webmention support is available but federated social features are absent
• Requires PHP 8.1+ and common extensions (mbstring, PDO, cURL), and administrators should secure installer/upgrade scripts after use

Chyrp Lite is suitable for users who want a small, standards-focused blogging engine that is easy to inspect and customize. Its modular design and Twig-based themes make it straightforward to adapt for simple personal or small-site publishing needs.

Mbin is a decentralized content aggregator, voting, discussion and microblogging platform that participates in the Fediverse via ActivityPub. It is a community-driven fork of kbin providing a web UI for submitting links, posts, comments and votes, and interoperates with other ActivityPub services.

Key Features

• Full ActivityPub support for federation with Mastodon, Lemmy, Pleroma, PeerTube and similar services
• Posting, link aggregation, threaded discussion, and up/down voting model for community moderation
• Web UI built with PHP and Symfony using Twig templates and JavaScript enhancements
• Docker and Docker Compose deployment options and documentation for bare-metal installations
• Multi-language support and community-driven translations via integrated localization workflow
• Code security practices with composer dependency management and regular audits

Use Cases

• Running a federated community forum or link aggregator that interoperates across the Fediverse
• Hosting a microblogging site with voting and threaded discussions similar to Reddit/Lemmy
• Integrating community-moderated content streams and magazines for niche interest groups

Limitations and Considerations

• Requires familiarity with PHP/Symfony and typical web hosting stacks for installation and maintenance
• Federation behavior can vary depending on ActivityPub implementations of other servers; interoperability nuances may require tuning
• Smaller project and ecosystem compared to some larger Fediverse implementations; administrative resources and third-party tooling are more limited

Mbin is suited for operators who want a community-focused, federated aggregator and discussion platform with active development and a focus on interoperability and usability.

Mataroa is a minimalist blogging platform designed for writers who want a distraction-free space. It is a Django-based web app that uses Markdown for post content, supports per-user subdomains, and provides export and subscription features aimed at text-first publishing.

Key Features

• Markdown-native editor and rendering with Python-Markdown and support for code highlighting, tables, and footnotes
• Per-user subdomain model for blogs and optional custom domain support (premium)
• Export capabilities to static site formats (Hugo, Zola) and EPUB book export
• RSS feeds and email newsletter/subscription delivery; backend analytics (no third-party trackers)
• Image hosting and basic image CRUD for posts
• API endpoints with API key based authentication for integrations and imports/exports
• Docker Compose development setup and PostgreSQL-backed persistence; Caddy provided for webserver configuration
• Focus on privacy: no ads, no client-side tracking, and minimal front-end JavaScript

Use Cases

• Personal or micro-blogs for writers who prefer a minimal, text-focused publishing environment
• Small publications or journals that need simple subscriptions, exports, and basic analytics without tracking
• Migrating content to a portable platform with easy export to static site generators or EPUB for backups

Limitations and Considerations

• Intentionally minimal feature set: no themes, no custom CSS, and limited extensibility by design
• No federation support (ActivityPub) or rich JS editors; some integrations (e.g., ActivityPub, rich math rendering) are unimplemented or intentionally avoided
• Certain features (custom domain, post-by-email) are paid/premium on the hosted offering

Mataroa is suited for users who want a privacy-focused, low-complexity blogging platform that emphasizes writing and data portability. It prioritizes minimalism over customization and tradeoffs simplicity for ease of writing and exportability.

fx is a compact, self-hostable microblogging and blogging server written in Rust. It focuses on quick publishing and editing of Markdown posts with a small runtime footprint and simple administration.

Key Features

• Lightweight Rust server designed to run with minimal memory and disk usage
• Write posts in Markdown with built-in syntax highlighting
• Inline math support using LaTeX-style syntax
• Upload files and images for embedding in posts
• Built-in search for finding posts
• Follow RSS feeds via a blogroll/follow list
• Simple backup API that exports site data as plain-text archives
• Docker and Docker Compose friendly; stores data in a local SQLite database
• API endpoints for basic site management and automated backups

Use Cases

• Personal public notebook for quick notes, recipes, code snippets, or micro-blogs
• Teacher or support knowledge base for reusable answers and shareable links
• Lightweight publishing platform for POSSE-style syndication to external social platforms

Limitations and Considerations

• No built-in federation (ActivityPub) or distributed social networking support, so it does not natively interoperate with Mastodon/Bluesky networks
• Designed primarily as a single-site, single-account blogging service with a SQLite backend; not intended for high-scale multi-user installations

fx is aimed at users who want a minimal, fast place to publish and retrieve short-form content without the complexity of larger platforms. Its small footprint and simple backup/export options make it suitable for personal sites and small deployments.

Serendipity is a PHP-based weblog engine that provides a lightweight, extensible platform for running blogs and small CMS-style sites. It offers a plugin-driven architecture and theme system to extend functionality and customize presentation while supporting multiple database backends.

Key Features

• Plugin architecture with a backend plugin manager for installing and configuring extensions
• Theme system with support for custom themes and template-driven layouts
• Media library for uploading and embedding images, videos, and other files
• Built-in editor for creating posts plus support for markup plugins (Markdown, Textile)
• Integrated anti-spam measures and comment handling (trackbacks/pingbacks supported)
• Supports MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL and SQLite as storage backends
• Server-side PHP stack designed to run on typical LAMP-style hosting (PHP 8+ recommended)

Use Cases

• Personal or hobbyist blogs that need a simple, extensible publishing platform
• Small business or project sites that require blog/news functionality with custom themes
• Multi-author blogs or lightweight CMS workflows using plugins for pages and content types

Limitations and Considerations

• Primarily designed as a traditional PHP-rendered blog engine, not a headless CMS or modern SPA framework
• Plugin ecosystem and community are smaller than larger projects, so some integrations may be limited or require manual maintenance
• Requires a PHP hosting environment and typical LAMP-style components; advanced hosting stacks may need extra configuration

Serendipity is suited for users who want a dependable, PHP-native blogging engine with extensibility through plugins and themes. It balances simplicity for casual bloggers with enough flexibility for professional and multi-author sites.

FlatPress is a lightweight, file-based blogging engine written in PHP. It provides a simple, standards-compliant blog platform that runs on common web servers without requiring a database, making setup and backups straightforward.

Key Features

• Stores all content in files (no database required), simplifying backups and portability
• Themes powered by the Smarty templating engine for easy customization
• Extensible plugin system with widget support for adding functionality
• Built-in comments support with basic spam protection
• Multilingual support and a mature plugin/theme ecosystem maintained by the community
• Compatible with common web servers (e.g., Apache, NGINX, IIS) and PHP 7.1–8.4
• Small footprint and low operational complexity, suitable for simple hosting environments

Use Cases

• Personal or hobby blogs where simplicity and easy backups are priorities
• Small websites or documentation sites that do not require a database backend
• Teaching or prototyping environments to demonstrate PHP templating and plugin development

Limitations and Considerations

• File-based storage can limit scalability and performance on very high-traffic sites compared to database-backed CMSs
• Advanced CMS features (fine-grained user roles, complex content types, large-site optimization) are limited or require plugins
• Plugin quality and availability may vary; some customizations require PHP/Smarty knowledge

FlatPress is a mature, minimal blogging platform that favors simplicity and portability over enterprise features. It is well suited for low- to moderate-traffic blogs and sites where ease of setup and file-based backups are important.

Antville is an open source weblog hosting system designed to run large numbers of blogs on a single installation. It is implemented in server-side JavaScript on top of the Helma Object Publisher and uses a relational database back end for persistent storage.

Key Features

• Multi-tenant blog hosting capable of scaling to thousands of sites on a single instance
• Server-side JavaScript development model using Helma HopObjects and Helma's templating features
• Relational database support (tested with PostgreSQL and MySQL) for durable storage and URL-mapped object hierarchy
• Embedded webserver (Jetty) support; SMTP-based notification/email integration
• Built-in weblog features: posts, comments, RSS feeds, user accounts, themes and extensible templates
• Designed for high performance and stable production deployment in traditional JVM environments

Use Cases

• Hosting a community of independent blogs or a multi-site blogging platform
• Archiving and serving large weblog collections with RSS and comment support
• Deploying a customizable, template-driven blogging service for organizations or interest groups

Limitations and Considerations

• Requires Helma Object Publisher and a JVM environment; Helma-specific runtime differs from modern Node.js ecosystems
• Integration and tooling may be dated compared to newer blogging platforms; expect manual setup for Helma and relational DBs

Antville is a mature, production-ready weblog host aimed at administrators who need scalable, template-driven multi-blog hosting using server-side JavaScript on the JVM.

Faridoon is a lightweight web application for saving and publishing memorable chat quotes. It provides a simple web UI for users to submit quotes and for admins to review and publish them publicly.

Key Features

• Publish and browse short text chat quotes with a clean web interface
• User registration and login with admin and non-admin roles
• Approval workflow for guest and non-admin submissions
• Automatic highlighting of usernames and cleanup of line breaks/odd characters
• Configurable via environment variables or a configuration file; recommended Docker Compose deployment
• Runs on PHP with a MySQL-compatible database; low resource requirements
• Project privacy focus: no telemetry, no tracking, no commercial tiers

Use Cases

• Collect and publish funny or notable chat quotes from team chats or community channels
• Curate community-submitted quotes with an approval workflow before public posting
• Maintain a lightweight, searchable archive of text-only quotes for reuse in blogs, social posts, or publications

Limitations and Considerations

• Focused on plain text quotes; not designed for rich media, attachments, or complex content types
• Minimal advanced search, tagging, or analytics functionality compared with full CMS platforms
• Community-driven project with no commercial support; feature set is intentionally modest

Faridoon is suitable for individuals and communities that want a simple, privacy-respecting way to collect and share chat quotes. It emphasizes ease of deployment and low resource usage while keeping the feature set focused on text quote publishing.

Dotclear is an open-source web-publishing and blogging engine written in PHP designed for easy publication and flexible theming. It targets individual bloggers and small to medium multi-user/multiblog sites, offering a user-friendly admin, extensibility via plugins and themes, and support for multiple databases.

Key Features

• Automated installer and browser-based setup wizard for quick deployment
• Multi-blog and multi-user permissions with role management
• Flexible template system and configurable themes, plus plugin architecture
• Media manager with support for common media types and embeds
• Multiple editor syntaxes supported (wiki, Markdown, or WYSIWYG) for content entry
• Built-in anti-spam, comment management and presentation widgets
• Full Unicode and multilingual interface/localization support
• Support for several databases: MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL and SQLite
• Standards-compliant output with RSS/feed syndication and webmention/pingback support
• Focus on accessibility and basic SEO optimizations

Use Cases

• Personal and professional blogs requiring a lightweight, standards-compliant engine
• Multi-author or multi-blog publishing for small organizations, clubs, or communities
• Sites needing a PHP-based, extensible CMS with control over themes, plugins, and data storage

Limitations and Considerations

• Smaller ecosystem and marketplace for themes/plugins compared to larger CMSs, which may limit available extensions
• Plugin or theme compatibility can require maintenance across major core upgrades; check compatibility before major updates
• Requires a compatible PHP environment (modern Dotclear releases target PHP 8.x); hosting must meet listed PHP module requirements

Dotclear is practical for users who want a focused blogging/publishing tool with control over hosting and data. It emphasizes standards, localization, and a lightweight, extensible core suitable for small-to-medium publishing sites.

PieFed is an open source, federated forum and link aggregator designed for community discussion across the Fediverse. It uses ActivityPub to let posts and conversations flow between independent servers while keeping each community in control of its own rules and moderation.

Key Features

• ActivityPub federation for cross-instance discovery, sharing, and discussion
• Forum-style communities with posts, comments, and moderation tooling
• Admin and moderator features for handling reports, blocks, and instance-level controls
• Media support including image and video uploads
• Asynchronous background processing for tasks such as notifications and maintenance jobs
• Developer-friendly, customizable Python codebase with container-based deployment options

Use Cases

• Hosting a federated community forum that can interact with the wider Fediverse
• Running a link-aggregation hub for news and topic-based discussion with local moderation
• Creating an interest-based community network that remains interoperable across instances

Limitations and Considerations

• Federation behavior and feature compatibility can vary depending on the remote ActivityPub software n PieFed is a solid option for communities that want a forum-like experience with Fediverse interoperability. It balances familiar link-and-comment discussion flows with instance autonomy and moderation control.