Dear reader,
To start this blog, I needed to find a suitable blogging platform. It was obvious from the start that it had to be open source and respect readers’ privacy, so trackers or ads were out of the question. I also wanted something simple, where I could focus solely on writing, instead of spending a lot of time making the blog look just right. Affordability was also important, and in the age of subscriptions, I didn’t want to add yet another one to the mix. A solid free tier with an option for a low-cost subscription was what I was looking for.
The other options I considered
Listed
Listed was the first option I encountered when reading someone else’s blog post there. Before this, I hadn’t seriously considered starting a blog, even though I enjoy writing. But when I noticed how easy it was to start, I became intrigued and started exploring options.
The benefit of using Listed is its integration with Standard Notes, a private note-taking app, which makes publishing the easiest of all the options I considered. I also liked the UI. However, the tight integration ended up being the biggest reason I didn’t go with Listed.
I’m not a Standard Notes user, as I prefer Notesnook, so creating a new note-taking account just for the blog didn’t interest me. Especially when Standard Notes’ free plan has no rich text editing. Using Listed without paying $90 for the premium plan of Standard Notes would essentially mean that I would have to choose either writing all of my posts in plain text or in markdown. I didn’t want to do either. These days when I’m writing my articles, I do all the writing in Notesnook in rich text and then paste the text to a markdown editor, which does all the formatting for me. While I know how to use markdown, using it during the writing phase would clutter the text.
After Proton bought Standard Notes in 2024, the development speed also suffered. While the pace has increased in recent months, there was a moment in the development when nothing was happening for many months. Because of this, I was uncertain how Listed would develop in the future.
I also noticed that Listed has multiple blogs listed on its homepage that are publishing SEO content. This reduces the quality of the entire platform, especially if people want to find interesting blogs to follow. One reason for creating this blog was to bring something meaningful to this space, and these more grassroots blogging platforms should especially support that kind of culture, instead of offering a platform for companies to promote themselves.
Listed also felt slightly sluggish to use when I was navigating the site, and it loads a tracker from Plausible. While a single tracker isn’t that big of a deal, I didn’t want any of that on my blog. For me, it was important that anyone could visit my blog without getting tracked.
Bear
I discovered Bear next, which immediately seemed like a potential option. It’s also the preferred blogging platform of Techlore and The Privacy Dad, which increased my confidence. With Bear, there is no tracking or ads, and the site is minimal and loads fast. I liked it a lot.
My biggest concern was the pricing of the premium subscription, at $5 per month. While Bear has a usable free plan, I also had to consider the reality of needing to pay this kind of money on a monthly basis if I ever needed the premium features.
Bear has also integrated a toast button on every blog post, allowing readers to give a thumbs up for a post they like. They also have a discovery feed, where you can see how well your post is doing in relation to other people’s posts. While this is a great way to promote your blog, I didn’t like the idea much because it reminded me of social media platforms, where people can get obsessive over the number of likes their posts are getting. I have never liked that aspect of social media, and I knew this might distract me from the writing itself.
Besides these concerns, I was ready to go with Bear until I found one more option.
Discovering Mataroa
When I discovered Mataroa, I knew I had found something special. It was the platform I had been looking for all along.
As with Bear, there are no trackers or ads, and the site feels quick and responsive. I also love how minimalist everything is. Without distracting elements, reading becomes a joy. Compared to Bear, where people can customize the look of their blogs, Mataroa doesn’t have any of that, and the focus is truly on the writing itself. There is a simple theme, and the font is the only thing you have some limited control over. But I prefer it this way. Creating the blog and publishing articles has been effortless.
The premium subscription is only $9 per year, which is a lot cheaper than Bear’s $60 or Listed’s $90. While I’m not currently using the premium plan, it is nice to know that if I ever needed the paid plan or just wanted to support the developer, the price would be affordable.
Mataroa also supports private payments via Monero, which was another plus for me. They even donate 5 percent of their revenue to carbon removal, which is a great bonus for the paying users.
Theodore, the Mataroa’s creator, has also outlined the site’s philosophy, which strongly resonated with me. It adds personality to the platform that I felt was missing from Listed and Bear. I have highlighted a part of it below, but I encourage you to read it all if you’re interested.
Blogging is beautiful. It’s about sharing opinions on the web about anything, with one’s own idea of aesthetics, however weird it is—or rather, especially because of how weird it is.
But, lately, blogging is in a bad place. It’s bedridden with trashy ads, and barbaric tracking, and ugly complexity.
Mataroa is not like that. We built it to be about writing and writing only. We do one thing and that is text. Here, one will find no social networks or obtrusive subscribe-popups.
Here, one will notice a focus on writing regardless of how much something will be read. Not being read can be demotivating, especially when one is starting to write. But it shouldn’t be. We recommend that one does not look into analytics. It’s mostly fuel for ego.
Finally, I appreciate Mataroa’s strict policy against SEO content. There is also a transparency page, where they have a lot of interesting information listed, such as the number of users and posts. They even disclose the costs that go into maintaining the site, and the monthly revenue they receive from paying users. This level of transparency is something that neither Listed nor Bear can match, and while it may not have a direct impact on me and my blog, I respect the gesture, and think it tells a lot about Theodore and his values.
Will Mataroa be my blog’s last home? That’s difficult to say at this point. It is possible that I may want to switch to another blogging platform in the future that offers more customization options. Mataroa has also made it easy to leave with export options and domain redirect. But so far I have really enjoyed my time with Mataroa, and don’t see myself leaving anytime soon. 🌔