head to head · open source
core vs writefreely
core has 8,837 GitHub stars, 2,064 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped yesterday. writefreely has 5,283 stars, 408 forks, 108 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. core leads on adoption by 67% (8,837 vs 5,283 stars). core is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0; writefreely is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. core has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, writefreely 8%. core was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| core | writefreely | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.8K | ★ 5.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 408 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick core if
- You weight community size — 8.8K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick writefreely if
- You want the writefreely feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and writefreely fits your workflow better
About core
ownCloud Core ownCloud Core is the server side component of ownCloud Classic, providing file storage, synchronization, and sharing trusted by over 200 million users worldwide. It includes WebDAV, CalDAV, and CardDAV servers, a plugin architecture for apps, user and group management, encryption support, external storage backends, and a comprehensive REST API. The server runs on PHP with support for MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and SQLite databases. Part of ownCloud Classic This is the main repository for ownCloud Classic. It is the foundation that apps like Activity, Calendar, Contacts, and many others extend. The…
About writefreely
WriteFreely is a clean, minimalist publishing platform made for writers. Start a blog, share knowledge within your organization, or build a community around the shared act of writing. Try the writing experience Find an instance Features Made for writing Built on a plain, auto saving editor, WriteFreely gives you a distraction free writing environment. Once published, your words are front and center, and easy to read. A connected community Start writing together, publicly or privately. Connect with other communities, whether running WriteFreely, Plume, or other ActivityPub powered software. And bring members on…
read the full writefreely overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is core or writefreely more popular?
core has 8,837 GitHub stars and writefreely has 5,283. core has the larger community by that measure.
Are core and writefreely free?
Both are open source. core is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and writefreely under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between core and writefreely?
core is written in PHP and writefreely in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, core or writefreely?
Choose core if you want the larger community (8,837 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose writefreely if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.