btw review
A focused home for blogs, notes, and profiles, with custom domains through Pro.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
btw is an open-source personal website builder for individual writers, bloggers, and people creating a personal online presence. It combines blog publishing, notes, and profile pages in a deliberately focused package. The hosted service requires no installation, and the Hobby plan lets users publish on a btw.so subdomain. People looking for a simple place to write and share personal content may find that scope sufficient; those seeking a broader site-building toolkit should weigh its narrow feature set carefully.
The plan split is straightforward. Hobby is free forever and includes unlimited notes plus publishing on a btw.so subdomain. Pro costs $99 per year, billed annually, and adds custom-domain support and priority feature requests. That makes the free tier suitable for publishing without a separate domain, while the paid tier is relevant to writers who want to use their own. There is an important practical qualification: the pricing page says the custom-domain offering is not yet open to the public and asks users to email the founders for setup. Prospective buyers should account for that before choosing Pro around a custom domain.
Self-hosting is another notable fit consideration: btw can be run from its open-source repository, alongside the hosted web service. This gives technically capable users an alternative to the hosted option, while the hosted service avoids installation. The product's emphasis remains on blogs, notes, and profiles rather than a wide range of site-building functions. Choose btw for a minimal publishing home or personal profile; consider another builder if your project depends on broader customization or capabilities beyond that focus.
btw pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Publish blogs, notes, and personal profile pages
- Hobby includes unlimited notes and a btw.so subdomain
- Open-source project can be self-hosted
- Where it doesn't
- Custom domains require the $99/year Pro plan
- Pro custom-domain setup is not yet open to the public
- Its published focus is limited to blogs, notes, and profiles
btw fact sheet, pricing and score →
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