Do you have or plan to create free blogs like Wordpress.com?
I have hosted wordpress sites and a free blog.
But every time I want to work on the free blog, the new wordpress editor gives me a headache, everything that was so simple before is so complicated and that’s why I don’t bother with it anymore.
But if there was the same system for creating free blogs with Classicpress, it would be great.
I’ve tried a lot of other free blogs, but every time the article editing is complicated, so I think a free Classicpress blog could attract a lot of people, to make article creation simple again.
Yes, it probably would. But it wouldn’t be free to host it.
WordPress offer a basic site for free in the hope the user will upgrade to a paid plan, once they realize its limitations.
For example, to be able to install your own plugins or themes, requires at least the Creator plan which is showing as 60.00 AUD per month for me.
I doubt the ClassicPress team have the time or resources to operate such a service, with the associated upgrades.
People would get a much better outcome by simply paying 3-4 dollars per month for hosting and installing their own website. Most hosts can do automatic installs through Softaculous or Installatron, so it’s ready to go in minutes.
I offer an enhanced version of the free GeneratePress theme at my website which is perfect for a blog. I can also provide hosting for 35.00 USD per year if needed. They would get support from me in the first instance too, should they get stuck.
Not that I’m trying to promote my hosting, but it’s there if someone is interested.
5 Likes
Wordpress.com also makes money by placing ads on free blogs.
This would also make Classicpress even better known to the general public.
Well, yes, it would probably require funding they may not have, but it could also generate some in the end.
I have a site on Wordpress.com on a subject I’m passionate about but which wouldn’t earn me much, I’d rather keep it on a free and open platform than have to buy hosting for it.
I already manage 5 other sites on three different hostings.
About this: I had a similar idea in the past and still have.
The issue is WP.com is hosted on a heavily curated multisite network. This requires money and knowledge and a team.
Also, CP initiative (the foundation behind CP project that is there to manage all financial/legal aspects) can’t host such a commercial platform, for legal and also ideological reasons.
When CP was born, founded by Scott, one of the goals was to NOT to have such structure because what Automattic did with WP open source software in a way subjected WP software community to the whims of a single man owning a company influencing decisions that only community should be able to direct.
This idea can be realized on a technical level, yes, however since Automattic is an already established competitor in the industry, CP is not walking on its own since it heavily relies on (and advertises) WP ecosystem and it’s not yet mature for the risk taking in terms of money involved, for now no private company is going to give you a “free blog” in the hopes you upgrade.
And remember, when it’s “free” - you are the product.
But as many people told you above there are PLENTY of people here managing small web hosting businesses that can give you a competitive hosting service for your site AND will personally support you with your CP site technical needs. This in turn supports CP ecosystem empowering them to develop CP plugins and solutions they can decide to offer for free, it grows the healthy economy around CP.
9 Likes
Look, if you want a free blog without ads, without any kind of forcing you to upgrade to paid plans (that doesn’t even exist) and that has a powerful newsletter system and a really well done followers and comments system, there is nothing else than substack.com.
I only use it for newsletters because it takes away the hassle of privacy obligations and consent registration (at least here in the EU). For content, however, I use a self-hosted blog with Classicpress.
This way, I don’t use Jetpack (which I abandoned years ago) and my blog is clean and without connections to WP.com, because then I also installed the gravatar privacy plugin.
1 Like
I like this idea.
I used to have a multiuser network, more than a decade ago, hosted on a WordPress MU installation. Everything went smooth.
These days, there is too much spam out there, and it would be really hard to keep the website(s) clean and protected.
But I like the idea.
I agree the issue with allowing ‘anyone’ to access sites with administrative rights on your system is where the concern lies for me. I believe a have a good setup, with hardware and software firewalls, jails and multiple backups - but I also don’t really want people in who are only looking for the weak spot so they can cause havoc.
1 Like
@EliteStarServices True.
But I do see a potential market opportunity here, even niches, such as education. I am old-school, though, and I know there are countless alternatives out there.
Here’s more spamming ideas: SEO. Say someone creates 100 subdomains on your multisite network and pushes AI-generated articles. Thousands of them.
I am managing 3 WordPress Multisite networks, but they are all niche (real estate) and users are limited in what they can do.
@Ciprian
I do have a situation set up with the idea that I could allow people to “host” a site (with limitations as you mentioned). There is certainly some niche ground between allowing specific access to a site and what would be expected in a true hosting situation. At least I am someplace in the middle, not in a position to offer ‘full access’ hosting, but can get people online and then as their needs expand, help set them up with more permanent hosting.
Sounds good.
I used to be a hosting reseller using Hostgator (before it got acquired and driven into the ground, performance-wise), and I had a full licensed WHMCS, and I was offering cPanel hosting for my clients. I had 40 of them 
I’ve been looking for ideas, for something similar to Tumblr or Substack. Maybe using a character limit per post, or allowing basic HTML only. I am also thinking of expiring posts or pages after a period (e.g. 3 months), this way forcing users to keep their websites updated, otherwise they lose access.
I am with you on kicking ideas around, and that with so many options out there, trying to work the angle of offering ‘cheaper hosting’ or something is going to be rough in a profitability sense.
I am in more of a hobby mode (though I have been in that mode for 15+ years and have always offered professional service when I took on a project), so I aim more at private bloggers and freelancers that might be looking to get online, or want to migrate existing content from various cloud services to something they have more ownership and control over, rather than hosting in the traditional sense.
Me too, I’m done with hosting.
I’m really looking at kickstarting something powered by ClassicPress MU, something for non-tech-savvy users.
1 Like
I’m going to throw more ideas:
One hard-coded theme, something simple, modern, light/dark modes. This would be the main selling point. Something like Medium, or Substack, or Notion. Something blog-like.
No access to plugins, only a small set of useful plugins available.
One user available, same as Tumblr or Substack.
Limits for file upload size.
Expiring content sounds overkill, so I’ll remove it.
Upgrades/upsells could be a monetization strategy, maybe allowing a curated set of themes and plugins. Everything via Stripe. No ads.
3 Likes
I think ClassicPress is in a place where those active in the community will shape the future direction and priority of features. Being able to support both new or non-technical users and developers is an important part of that equation.
I also believe that in many cases people are passing over the option of self hosting. I agree if you are not ‘tech-savvy’ or just don’t feel like messing with all that, having the options being discussed make sense. It is also an opportunity for ClassicPress community members to help each other.
However, I think if you are fairly comfortable with computers and installing software, you could probably host your own site, and this method can be very cost effective. There is a little more to it (most of it can be done for free), but if you already have a fast internet connection and a computer to use, you should be able to get a domain name for under $20 a year and will end up with what is essentially a dedicated server for your website.
All nice, but in the end, getting back to the essence of the matter: I don’t think it’s a commitment of CP developers to create free blogging platforms. Wp[dot]com is the result of a commercial project by Auttomatic, which has nothing to do with wordpress[dot]org, except in the sense that it has often happened that many features made available for self-hosting were anticipated on wp[ dot]com (I remember some of them at the time).
I have always thought that the management of wp[dot]org is quite influenced by the legitimate business objectives of its major sponsor and supporter.
CP must approach differently: CP was born to break away from the logic of WP and the direction taken in recent years. It is a community of developers that must focus on offering the best and most secure CMS, leaving initiatives such as the creation of more or less free blogging platforms to third parties not directly connected to CP.
1 Like
that does not mean that if an entrepreneur wants to use CP to build a wp.com like network without it being associated with CP they can’t.
As I said above I had this idea beginning last year and evaluated while studying its feasibility that given the resources it was technically feasible but at the same time I noticed that CP needs to grow its ecosystem to make this endeavor worth the risk for such an entrepreneur.
Obviously such a platform in that case would not be associated with CP or CP endorsed, it would just be a business using the software.
However WP.com model is not worth pursuing IMHO, because it doesn’t offer real freedom. It has locked in plans with just the features they can put in to keep things stable, the very bare minimum. Even purchasing an higher plan doesn’t guarantee you the freedom because if something does not work they do not offer support if you installed something out of the ecosystem. And this means the site is not truly yours nor that you are free from having to manage technical aspects as they promise.
The free plan is an fake Eldorado, because you are forced to place ads on your site and you do not earn a dime from them. (and even on the plans where you can earn from advertising the big slice - very big - goes to them, and you get the breadcrumbs).
So, any sane entrepreneur who wants to pursue having a managed hosting company geared towards CP websites must be very realistic and know they can’t offer free plans.
The thing is feasible in the form of a server that upon click of a button (on a site where customers pay for a plan) installs a new CP site, and connects it to a central dashboard where the company can manage updates/upgrades/technical issues. and when a problem arises the company managing it should have a support system able to respond and fix the issues in a timely manner. This kind of network does not require multisite, it needs a server that is scalable (as soon as it is full another cluster is added) and also it requires a team of people expert in all things CP. It costs money to build, BUT it could be a good business once CP has an ecosystem of its own (like a dedicated shop solution, a pagebuilder, some other plugins, more themes…) to offer to users. In that case that business model would thrive because people are fed up of blocks/FSE.
I think it’s not the time yet however.
1 Like
Well, it is more than obvious and legitimate that an entrepreneur can use CP to do business: CP is Open Source and therefore anyone can use it for their own purposes.
However, it is good to keep in mind that creating a blogging platform is actually a large investment in time and money.
There can be two business models:
a) That of WP[dot]com. But it is a model that if it becomes more rigid in the long run could suffer, given the exponential growth of platforms such as Medium and Substack which do not insert advertising and allow the user to earn from their content, creating an army of followers and paid subscribers. Medium, however, has a paid tier, but honestly only worth considering if your blog on Medium is very successful. For now, Substack does not offer anything for a fee, except for the use of a custom domain.
b) Use the business model of Medium and Substack. That is, you create a free platform, with a series of pre-set plugins updated by the platform administrator that allow the user to write without too many distractions and create his business.
In this case, the revenue comes from subscription fees.
But to do something like that you need to have responsive servers. And my dear friend, it is difficult to set up a similar infrastructure (which should be able to support hundreds if not thousands of blog platforms), without turning to professionals in the sector, who however charge well.
They are costs. When Matt Muellenweg forked Wordpress from Cafeblog and founded WP[dot]com it was 2005, damn. Almost prehistory. At the time there was only blogspot which is a whole program (I used that too!). And the investments were not those of today.
My contribution to this thread was not about an official CP alternative to WP [dot] com, but a third party.
Even though it might not be the right business model (especially in 2024, with all the tools out there), but for a niche product it would be great.
Let’s take for example education - let’s say I target schools, colleges, universities, students, and teachers only (they need to prove their affiliation with an education institution). The websites would allow them to create custom pages and a blog structure where they can showcase school-related stuff. They can post images, photos, galleries, schedules, timetables, trips and so on.
As an agency (or individual), I could create a free plan and a paid plan which will give more freedom and offer a suite of, again, school-related plugins.
Depending on the age group - primary schools vs secondary schools vs higher ed - this could get a bit of traction. I do have a more fleshed-out idea in my head
It would also help the CP community by showcasing what can be done with it.
3 Likes
Providing a solid product with exceptional support is the main role of the community. Showcasing ClassicPress is also beneficial. The market for hosting products is certainly in a state where trying to break in and compete in a generic sense is probably not going to be profitable (at least not directly). I think there is agreement that the ClassicPress community is not the right entity to offer a WPdot clone. However, each community member is free to pursue any venture they wish, and if using CP for those ventures, that is how ClassicPress grows, one site or project at a time.
2 Likes