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DonkeyCMS VS WriteFreely

Compare DonkeyCMS VS WriteFreely and see what are their differences

DonkeyCMS

A self-hosted blog for any website that isn't WordPress, existing or new. It keeps your site's own design and is ready for SEO and AI search. Free plan, no time limit.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Freemium €6 / Monthly (Pro tier, 1 website, 5 seats)
Alternatives Is it good?
WriteFreely

Write Freely is free and open source software for starting a minimalist, federated blog — or an entire community.

Rating
5.0 · 1 review
Pricing
Open source
Alternatives Is it good?
Botonomous.ai
A social network where all content is created by AI bots. Humans read, react, and discover — bots post, discuss, and moderate. sponsored

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, WriteFreely seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 37 times since March 2021.

social mentions
0 vs 37
Web Content Management popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
17 vs 171

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

DonkeyCMS
WriteFreely
Website donkeycms.com writefreely.org
Pricing
Freemium €6 / Monthly (Pro tier, 1 website, 5 seats) Official pricing
Open source
Platforms
Self Hosted PHP Web
—
Company Startup from Romania · 1 - 9 employees · 2026 Startup from the United States
Listed in
Web Content Management Blogging Blogging Platform CMS +1
Blogging Blogging Platform CMS Social Networks +1

About DonkeyCMS and WriteFreely

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

DonkeyCMS
WriteFreely

DonkeyCMS is a lightweight, self-hosted blog system for websites that are not built on WordPress. It installs into a subfolder of your site and takes on your own header, footer and design, so the blog looks like part of your website instead of a separate product. It works with a website you...

Read more about DonkeyCMS

No description of WriteFreely yet.

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

DonkeyCMS 8 features
WriteFreely 5 features
  • Fits your existing site
    Installs into a subfolder of a custom-coded website and uses your own header, footer and design
  • SEO and AI ready
    Structured data, sitemap, RSS feed and social share tags on every plan, plus a check that search engines and AI tools can read your blog
  • Editor
    Rich text or Markdown, scheduled publishing, categories, tags and per-post SEO and FAQ fields
  • WordPress import
    Bring posts, images, categories and tags over from a WordPress export file
  • Backups and updates
    Full backups with cloud destinations, and one-click updates from the admin
  • Team and roles
    Team accounts with custom roles and permissions, and review before publishing
  • Privacy-friendly analytics
    Built-in visit statistics without cookies or third-party scripts
  • Requirements
    PHP 8.1 or newer and MySQL, on standard shared hosting
  • Open Source
    WriteFreely is open source, allowing users to inspect, modify, and contribute to the code. This fosters transparency and community-driven improvements.
  • Privacy-Focused
    The platform places a high emphasis on user privacy, with features that avoid tracking and unnecessary data collection, providing a more secure writing environment.
  • Minimalistic Interface
    WriteFreely offers a clean, distraction-free interface, enabling writers to focus on their content without unnecessary frills.
  • Federated
    WriteFreely supports the ActivityPub protocol, which allows integration with other federated platforms like Mastodon, broadening reach and interaction.
  • Self-Hosting Option
    Users have the option to self-host their WriteFreely instance, providing greater control over their data and customization.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Features
    The focus on minimalism means that WriteFreely lacks some of the more advanced features found in other blogging platforms, such as built-in SEO tools or extensive plugin ecosystems.
  • Technical Skills Required for Self-Hosting
    Self-hosting WriteFreely requires a reasonable level of technical knowledge, which could be a barrier for users without sysadmin skills.
  • Customization Constraints
    The simplicity of the platform can be a downside for users seeking advanced customization options for their blogs’ look and feel.
  • Limited User Support
    Being a smaller, community-driven project, WriteFreely may not offer the extensive customer support that larger, commercial platforms provide.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

DonkeyCMS
WriteFreely

No analysis of DonkeyCMS yet.

Overall verdict

  • Overall, WriteFreely is a good option for individuals seeking a lightweight, privacy-focused writing platform. Its open-source nature and community-driven development add to its appeal.

Why this product is good

  • WriteFreely is a well-regarded platform due to its simplicity, open-source nature, and focus on privacy. It allows users to publish text-based content without distractions, making it suitable for writers who prefer a minimalist interface. Additionally, its decentralized approach aligns with the values of users who prioritize data ownership and privacy.

Recommended for

  • Writers who prefer distraction-free environments
  • Users who value open-source software and privacy
  • Individuals or groups looking to host their own blogging platform
  • Fans of minimalist design and functionality

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
DonkeyCMS
WriteFreely
100% 100%
Web Content Management
0% 0%
5% 5%
Blogging
95% 95%
6% 6%
CMS
94% 94%
6% 6%
Blogging Platform
94% 94%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing DonkeyCMS and WriteFreely.

What makes your product unique?

DonkeyCMS's answer

It adds a blog to a website you already built, instead of asking you to rebuild the site around a CMS. DonkeyCMS installs into a subfolder of a custom-coded HTML site and takes on that site's own header, footer and design, so visitors never feel they left your website. There is no theme to convert and no plugin collection to maintain.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

DonkeyCMS's answer

Choose it if you have a custom-coded website and only want a good blog on it. WordPress would mean converting your design into a theme and keeping plugins updated. Static site generators and headless CMSs need a developer for every change. DonkeyCMS sits in between: it installs in minutes on ordinary PHP hosting, anyone on the team can write and publish from a clean admin, and the SEO groundwork (structured data, sitemap, RSS, share tags) is built in on every plan, including the free one.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

DonkeyCMS's answer

Freelance web designers, small agencies and small businesses whose websites are custom-coded rather than built on WordPress, and who want to add a blog without changing how the site is built. Agencies can run it across many client sites and white-label it.

What's the story behind your product?

DonkeyCMS's answer

I'm a designer, not a programmer. The websites I make for my own projects and for clients are custom HTML sites, not WordPress ones, and I wanted the perfect blog system to plug into them. It had to be as strong as WordPress for SEO, but without the weight: very light, fast, and good-looking out of the box. Nothing I found did all of that inside a site that was already built, so I decided to have it made, at first just to use for my own clients. Version 1.0 was released in October 2026.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

DonkeyCMS's answer

PHP and MySQL, so it runs on standard shared hosting. The post editor is built on Tiptap. The admin and the blog use plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript, with no front-end framework, which keeps pages small and fast.

User comments

Share your experience with using DonkeyCMS and WriteFreely. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

DonkeyCMS no reviews yet
WriteFreely 5.0 · 1 review

We have no reviews of DonkeyCMS yet. Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

DonkeyCMS 0 mentions
WriteFreely 37 mentions

Tracking DonkeyCMS since Oct 2026.

View more

Alternatives to DonkeyCMS and WriteFreely

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