Today I'm releasing Project Broadsheet v1.0, a free, open-source publication system for independent journalists, newsletter writers, and small magazines.
Why
I started writing The Freethinking Times in 2024 on Ghost. By month three, I was spending more time on CSS customization than writing. By month six, I was paying $30/mo for features I'd already built twice. By the end of the year, I had two choices: keep paying for a platform that couldn't do what I needed, or build my own.
Project Broadsheet is what I built.
What it is
It's an Eleventy starter, but that undersells it. It's:
- A full publishing framework with nine editorial sections, reviews, a library, events, media, and games
- 27 reader tools for readers: text-to-speech, highlights, reading ruler, focus mode, reading list, and more
- Pagefind search, Buttondown newsletter, Umami analytics, and Cusdis comments wired in
- Fully customizable via a single config file and one CSS tokens file
- $0 forever, no platform, no database, no lock-in
What it isn't
It's not a SaaS, not a hosted platform, not a no-code builder. You need to be comfortable editing Markdown files and pushing to Git. Everyone else should check out Ghost or Substack.
What's next
The roadmap covers what's coming. The docs cover what's here. If you want help getting set up, book a call. I offer launch packages starting at $499 and monthly managed hosting from $25.
Thanks to everyone who contributed beta feedback, suggestions, and bug reports. Onward.