Project Broadsheet next to Superdesk
Superdesk is newsroom software used by wire services and large news organisations. Project Broadsheet is for independent publishers. Different shapes, different scales.
The short version
| Project Broadsheet | Superdesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Independent writers and small teams | Large newsrooms and wire services |
| How it runs | Files you keep, hosted on a free service | A large setup of several services running together |
| Starting cost | Nothing | Just the infrastructure — but that's non-trivial |
| Where the writing lives | Plain text files on your computer | A structured news-industry format, in a database |
| Editorial workflow | Light — review, then publish | Full — desks, stages, approvals, assignments |
| Publishing to | The web | Web, print, wire, social, syndication |
| Reader features | Built in | Not the focus |
| Licence | Open-source (MIT) | Open-source (AGPLv3) |
What Superdesk is for
Superdesk is a newsroom. It's designed around the way large organisations produce news: a story moves from reporter to editor to fact-checker to production to published, with a formal step at each point. It handles output to more than one place (a web site, a print PDF, a syndicated wire feed, social channels) from a single source. It has roles, permissions, desk assignments, scheduling, and an events module.
If your operation has more than about twenty writers and editors, Superdesk starts to make sense.
What Project Broadsheet is for
Project Broadsheet is designed for one to a handful of writers, publishing to a single audience. The editorial process is light — write a draft, someone reviews it, it goes live — and the output is a web site with a feed. There's no multi-channel pipeline, no desk system, no formal sign-off chain.
What it takes to run
Superdesk needs a coordinated setup of several services running together — a document database, a search service, a queue, a web back end, and a front end — usually deployed with container tools and a sysadmin who's comfortable with all of it. Sourcefabric offers managed hosting if that's easier.
Project Broadsheet is plain files served by a static host. Cloudflare Pages or Netlify handle everything. There's no always-running server to look after.
How each keeps the writing
Superdesk stores articles as structured documents, with the kind of detail a wire service needs — metadata, associations, publishing channels, and so on. That's why syndicating the same piece to a web site, a printed paper, and a wire feed works.
Project Broadsheet stores articles as plain text files, aimed at a web site. For syndication or print, that format doesn't carry the same structure Superdesk's does.
How work moves through the system
Superdesk has a formal editorial process. A story is "in progress", "submitted", "in review", "approved", "scheduled", "published". Different roles have different permissions — a reporter can't publish without an editor's sign-off.
Project Broadsheet's process is lighter: a writer saves a draft, an editor reviews the change, and once it's approved the change goes live. That works for a small team. It doesn't scale to the formal sign-off chains of a large newsroom.
When Superdesk is the right fit
- You're running an actual newsroom with multiple writers, editors, and a formal review process.
- You need to publish the same story to a web site, print, a wire feed, and social from one source.
- You have the setup and budget for a multi-service deployment.
- You have compliance or audit requirements that need role-based access control.
When Project Broadsheet is the right fit
- You're a single writer, or a small editorial team (fewer than about ten people).
- Your output is a web site, with an optional newsletter.
- You'd rather have plain files and almost nothing to keep running.
- The reader-facing features matter to your audience.
- You'd rather keep running costs close to nothing.
Both are open-source
Neither one locks you to a company. Both can be taken and modified. Superdesk's licence (AGPLv3) has stronger copyleft requirements than Project Broadsheet's (MIT) — that matters mainly if you plan to offer a hosted version of Superdesk to other people as a paid service.
Where to next
- Getting started with Project Broadsheet.
- Superdesk's own site for their documentation.
- All the comparisons for Ghost, Substack, and WordPress.