OneTimeChangelog, public roadmap and feature-request voting — self-hosted, one-time price.
Canny charges $79/month — $948 a year — to show your users what you shipped and let them vote on what's next. Shipnotes is the same loop on your own $5 VPS: a Markdown changelog, a Planned / In Progress / Shipped roadmap, anonymous feature voting, email subscribers and an embeddable "What's new" bell, with all of it in one SQLite file you own.
Shipnotes in 60 seconds
Everything in the box
Self-hosted changelog + roadmap + feature voting with email subscribers and an embeddable widget.
Public changelog
Write posts in Markdown, tag them New / Improved / Fixed, publish with one click. Valid RSS 2.0 feed included.
Public roadmap board
Planned / In Progress / Shipped columns, sorted by votes, so users can see where things stand.
Feature requests + voting
Visitors submit ideas and upvote — one vote per visitor, no account or signup wall — with comment threads.
Moderation that scales
Approve, decline with a public reason, or merge duplicates — votes carry over and are deduped.
Email subscribers
Bring your own SMTP; publishing a post emails every subscriber with one-click unsubscribe.
Embeddable "What's new" widget
One script tag adds a bell with an unread badge and a dropdown of your latest posts to any site.
Fast admin dashboard
Dark, keyboard-friendly — posts, requests, subscribers and settings in one place.
One SQLite file
Trivial backups, no external services, zero telemetry.
Shipnotes vs Canny
Canny charges $79/mo. Here's what actually differs.
| Shipnotes | Canny | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $129 once | $79/month ($948/yr) |
| Cost over 3 years | $129 | ~$2,844 |
| Changelog + roadmap + voting | Yes | Yes |
| Anonymous voting (no signup wall) | Yes | No |
| "What's new" widget | Included | Higher tiers |
| Email notifications | Yes, via your own SMTP | Yes, their sender |
| Your data | One SQLite file on your box | Their cloud |
| Source code | MIT, yours | Closed |
Canny costs $79 every month. Shipnotes pays for itself in about 7 weeks — then your changelog is free for the life of your product.
Pick how you pay
Subscriptions if you want them — but the whole point is the lifetime tier.
Up and running in three steps
Buy once on Whop
One-time $129 for the packaged version with updates and setup support.
Deploy it
docker compose up -d on a $5 VPS for a public changelog at updates.yourapp.com — or run desktop mode to try it first.
Ship, post, let users vote
Write a Markdown post, tag it, publish — subscribers get emailed, the widget badge lights up, and feature requests collect votes while you sleep.
Fair questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/changelog-roadmap-mvp. $129 buys the packaged version, 1-click setup and updates.
Do voters need accounts?
No — and that's deliberate. Canny puts votes behind a signup wall; Shipnotes uses a per-visitor token (one vote each, repeat votes rejected server-side). Lower friction means you hear from far more of your users.
What doesn't it have vs Canny?
Honestly: no Jira/Slack/Intercom integrations, no user segmentation or revenue-weighted prioritization, no SSO-identified voters. Shipnotes is the core loop — changelog, roadmap, voting, email — done well. If your PM team lives in Canny's integrations, Canny earns its price.
Does the widget slow my site down?
No — it's one small deferred script tag that renders a bell with an unread badge. You can attach it to your own button with data-target and theme it with data-accent.
Do I need a server?
For a public changelog, yes — a $5 VPS with the included Docker setup. Desktop mode runs the identical app locally for evaluation and drafting.
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More about Shipnotes
Every page we publish about this app — comparisons, personas, platforms and the problems it solves.
App profile
Stop renting. Own Shipnotes.
Self-hosted changelog + roadmap + feature voting with email subscribers and an embeddable widget.
Get Shipnotes — $129 forever