A self-hosted markdown blog with zero-JavaScript public pages. Pay once, publish forever.
Developers rent API docs, monitoring, secrets and webhook plumbing by the month for side projects that earn nothing yet. Self-hosted pay-once utilities cost less than one month of the SaaS they replace.
The tool this job usually means renting is Ghost, at $9/mo — roughly $108 a year, every year. Inkpress does the job for a one-time $79 — running on infrastructure you control.
Pure HTML/CSS, no client framework, no hydration, no bundle — instant load and perfect Lighthouse scores by default.
For developers, zero-JS public pages pays off while you're shipping, not managing vendor accounts — and it's covered by the same one-time $79, not metered per month.
Paper (light serif classic), Carbon (dark dev-blog mono) and Editorial (magazine, large covers) — switch site-wide instantly in Settings.
For developers, 3 built-in themes pays off while you're shipping, not managing vendor accounts — and it's covered by the same one-time $79, not metered per month.
Code blocks highlighted with Shiki at save time and cached — beautiful dev-blog code with no client-side library.
For developers, server-side syntax highlighting pays off while you're shipping, not managing vendor accounts — and it's covered by the same one-time $79, not metered per month.
One-time $79 for the packaged Windows installer plus lifetime updates.
Desktop app with no server at all, or ADMIN_PASSWORD=... BASE_URL=... docker compose up -d on a $5 VPS.
Markdown in the split-pane editor, drag in images (auto-resized), hit publish — or schedule it and walk away.
Inkpress is $79, once. Ghost at $9/mo — roughly $108 a year, every year. Pays for itself in about 8.8 months against Ghost Starter — then it's strictly cheaper for the life of the blog, $324+ saved over 3 years.
Pays for itself in about 8.8 months against Ghost Starter — then it's strictly cheaper for the life of the blog, $324+ saved over 3 years. Inkpress costs $79 once; Ghost charges $9/mo — about $108 a year. For developers, that fixed cost is the whole point: the tool is a one-time line item, not a monthly one.
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/inkpress-mvp, always. $79 buys the packaged Windows installer, 1-click setup and lifetime updates.
Because a blog is documents, not an app. No client framework means instant loads, perfect crawlability and nothing to break. The test suite literally asserts there's no script tag on public pages.