About
The early web was built on a simple idea: you could build a site and publish anything. You owned your domain, controlled your content, and kept your audience.
But they weren't straightforward to set up. Platforms like Medium and Substack made publishing easier and social networks removed technical barriers. This created a new problem: you don't own what you build. Your content lives at their URL. Your audience relationship goes through their system. Your revenue gets a platform tax.
Worse, platforms have built-in incentives to squeeze more value over time. Platforms start out good for users because they need to grow. Once they have lock-in, they shift value from users to themselves.
That's why platforms keep changing their algorithms and fees keep increasing. Financial incentives push platforms to give you less while charging you more.
Why Sparktype?
Sparktype gives you the benefits of owning your site while removing technical barriers. You get an easy publishing workflow, but the output is standard HTML on your own domain. No vendor lock-in. No platform that can degrade your experience to extract more money.
Your writing exists at stable URLs on your domain. People find it through search, links, RSS readers, or direct visits. Your site isn't competing for algorithmic attention. The incentive is to write things worth finding and worth keeping, not things optimised for engagement.
This is sometimes called the 'slow web' approach. It's not about publishing slowly (though you can). It's about removing the pressure to chase metrics and trends. Your site is a library. Your writing accumulates value instead of getting buried.
If you want to go viral or build a following quickly, social platforms and algorithmic feeds are probably better tools. If you want a permanent home for work that matters to you, that's what we're building.
Who Sparktype is for
Writers who want a home for their work
You might publish on Medium or LinkedIn for reach, but you need a canonical place that's yours.
People documenting their expertise
Teaching what you know, building in public, sharing your process.
Anyone tired of platform uncertainty
You've seen platforms change their algorithms, raise their fees, or shut down features you depended on. You want something more stable.
Bloggers who find other options too complex
You want control over your site but don't want to manage security updates, databases, and plugins.
Writers who think in archives, not feeds
You want your work from three years ago to be as accessible and valuable as what you published yesterday.
Anyone who values depth over reach
You'd rather have 100 people who really care about your work than 10,000 people scrolling past it in a feed.
What makes Sparktype different
- No platform fees – We don't take a percentage of anything. Your hosting is free or very cheap.
- Real portability – Download your entire site anytime. Move to any host in minutes. We don't control your content or URLs.
- Static generation – Your site is plain HTML files. Fast, secure, cheap to host. No databases to maintain or servers to manage.
- Simple enough for non-technical users – If you can use Medium or Google Docs, you can use Sparktype.
Business model
Sparktype is free and open source. We don't have pressure to prioritise growth and revenue extraction over user experience. This is a small, sustainable project focused on doing one thing well.
Get started
Sparktype is live and ready to use. Set up your site, publish some posts, see how it feels. You're not locked in, so there's no risk in trying it.