Why You Should Own Your Content (Not Rent It)

Look, I get it. WordPress.com is easy. Medium has that clean interface. Substack handles everything for you. It's tempting to just sign up and start writing. But here's the thing nobody talks about: you're building your house on someone else's land. And that land? It comes with rules you didn't write, costs you didn't plan for, and an exit door that might be harder to find than you think.

The Real Cost of "Free" Platforms

When Medium says it's free, what they really mean is: free until we change our minds. Free until we decide your content belongs behind a paywall. Free until we pivot our business model. Again.

I've watched this happen. Writers who spent years building audiences woke up one day to find their traffic cut in half because of algorithm changes. Or their articles locked behind paywalls they didn't choose. Or worse – their accounts suspended with no real explanation.

WordPress.com isn't much better. Sure, the basic tier is free. But want a custom domain? That'll cost you. Want to remove their branding? More money. Want plugins? Even more. Before you know it, you're paying $25 a month for features you could have for free elsewhere.

And Substack? They take 10% of everything you make. Forever. That might not sound like much when you're starting out, but imagine having 10,000 subscribers paying $5 a month. That's $5,000 going to Substack. Every. Single. Month. For what, exactly?

What Platform Dependence Actually Means

Here's what happens when you depend on a platform: They change their terms of service – you agree or you leave. They increase prices – you pay or you leave. They shut down a feature you rely on – you adapt or you leave. They get acquired by a company you don't trust – you... well, you get it.

You're not really in control. You're a tenant, not an owner. And tenants can be evicted.

So What's the Alternative? Static Sites. Real Ownership.

This is where something like Publii makes sense. It's not sexy. It won't go viral on Twitter. But it gives you something those platforms can't: actual ownership.

Publii is a static site generator – but unlike command-line tools like Hugo or Jekyll, it's a desktop application with a clean graphical interface. What does that mean in practical terms? Your website is just files. HTML, CSS, images. No database constantly running in the background. No server processing requests. Just... files.

Think of it like the difference between renting an apartment and owning a small, portable house. Your Publii site? You can pick it up and move it anywhere. Host it on Netlify today, GitHub Pages tomorrow, your own server next month. Doesn't matter. The files are yours.

And here's something clever: Publii has plugins and themes, but they work differently than WordPress. Instead of running on your server (creating security risks), they operate locally on your computer during the build process. By the time your site hits the server, it's just clean, static HTML. All the functionality has already been baked in. No server-side code means no server-side vulnerabilities.

Want to dive deeper into the differences? Check out this comprehensive comparison between static and dynamic websites.

The Speed Thing (And Why It Actually Matters)

Static sites are fast. Really fast. WordPress sites typically load in 2-4 seconds. That's if they're well-optimized. A poorly configured WordPress site? We're talking 6-10 seconds. Maybe more.

Publii sites? Under two seconds. Often way under.

Why does this matter? Because people are impatient. Google is impatient. That slow-loading blog post? Most people will leave before it finishes loading. And Google will rank you lower for it.

But speed isn't just about numbers. It's about respect. When your site loads instantly, you're respecting your readers' time. You're not making them wait while your database queries run and your plugins load and your tracking scripts phone home.

Discover more about Publii's SEO and performance optimization features.

The Privacy Angle (And Why GDPR Isn't Going Away)

Speaking of tracking scripts... Every major platform tracks your readers. They have to. That's how they make money. They build profiles, serve ads, collect data, sell insights.

With Publii, there's none of that by default. No tracking. No cookies that need consent banners. No data collection. No third-party scripts running in the background. This isn't just nice for privacy-conscious readers. It's legally significant.

GDPR in Europe. CCPA in California. Privacy laws are spreading. And they're getting stricter. Running a site on major platforms with all their default tracking? You're probably violating several of them without even knowing it.

A static Publii site with no tracking? You're compliant by default. Right out of the box.

Of course, full GDPR compliance also depends on the content you embed – if you add a YouTube video or Google Maps, those bring their own tracking. But Publii gives you the tools to handle this properly. With built-in privacy features like consent management, lazy loading for embeds, and privacy-friendly alternatives for common services, you can maintain compliance while still having the functionality you need.

You can add analytics later if you want. Privacy-respecting ones like Plausible or Fathom. But you're starting from a clean slate, not trying to untangle a mess of third-party scripts.

The Security Question Nobody Asks

Here's a truth about websites: the more complex they are, the more vulnerabilities they have.

WordPress powers about 40% of the web. That makes it a massive target. Every plugin is a potential security hole. Every theme update is a risk. Every database query is an opportunity for SQL injection. The WordPress security team does good work. But they're always playing defense. New vulnerabilities are found constantly.

Static sites? There's almost nothing to hack. No database to inject SQL into. No admin panel to brute force. No server-side code to exploit. Just static files sitting on a server.

Can someone hack your hosting account? Sure, if you use a terrible password. But they can't exploit your website itself because there's no website to exploit – just HTML files.

Let Me Be Honest About Downsides

Publii isn't perfect. Nothing is.

You need to think about hosting. Most platforms handle this for you. With Publii, you're choosing where to host. Though honestly, this takes about 10 minutes to set up on Netlify or Vercel, and then you never think about it again.

Comments aren't built directly into the core app, but you can easily add them through plugins like Commento, Cusdis, Hyvor Talk, or others from the marketplace. Or just skip them entirely and direct people to social media.

And if you want complex functionality – user accounts, e-commerce, interactive features – you'll need to integrate external services. A pure static site can't do database-driven features.

But here's the thing: most people don't need that stuff. Most people just need to publish articles. Maybe show some images. Link to their social media. That's it. And for that use case, Publii is actually better than the alternatives.

The "But WordPress Has Plugins!" Argument

Yes. WordPress has 60,000+ plugins.

You know what else comes with 60,000+ plugins? 60,000 potential security vulnerabilities. 60,000 different ways for your site to break when something updates. 60,000 pieces of code that might conflict with each other.

I've spent hours debugging WordPress sites where two plugins just... didn't like each other. Nothing in the documentation said they'd conflict. But they did. And the site went down.

Or worse – plugins that aren't actively maintained become incompatible with new WordPress versions over time, leaving your site vulnerable or broken. Just look at Wordfence's weekly security reports: "40,000 WordPress Sites Affected by Arbitrary File Read Vulnerability", "88 Vulnerabilities in This Week's Report", "200,000 Sites Affected by File Deletion Vulnerability". This isn't occasional. It's constant.

With Publii, there's just less stuff that can go wrong. Fewer moving parts. Fewer things to update. That's not a limitation — that's the point.

What About Moving Your Content?

This is where platform dependence really hurts.

Try exporting your content from Medium. You get a messy ZIP file with HTML fragments. Your images? They're still hosted on Medium's servers. Your formatting? Probably broken. Your URLs? All changed.

Moving from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress? Easier, but you're still tied to WordPress. And you lose features you might have been paying for.

Moving from Substack? Your subscriber list comes with you (if they let you export it), but you're starting over with distribution.

With Publii, everything is just files. Your entire website is HTML files on your computer – that's what Publii generates as output. You can copy them anywhere. Back them up to Dropbox. Push them to GitHub. Host them in twelve different places at once if you want.

And here's something that really sets Publii apart: even in the unlikely event that the project ever stopped being maintained (which seems improbable given its growing popularity and active community), you'd still be fine. The app would continue working on your computer, generating your sites exactly as it does today. No server-side dependencies. No subscription that expires.

Plus, those HTML files? You can edit them directly in any code editor if you ever need to. Your content isn't locked in a proprietary format or trapped in someone's database.

Everything is yours. The files. The URLs. The images. All of it. Not licensed to you. Not stored on their servers. Yours.

The Cost Breakdown (Because Math Matters)

Let's be realistic about costs:

• Medium: Free to write, but they take a cut of earnings and control monetization.
• WordPress.com Personal: $48/year (when billed annually) or $9/month ($108/year) for basic features.
• Substack: 10% of all revenue, forever.
• Ghost Pro: $15/month for starter package.
• Publii + Netlify: $0. Actually $0. Not "free tier that'll expire." Just free.

You can upgrade to paid hosting later if you need it. But most blogs will never outgrow free tier hosting on Netlify, Vercel, or Cloudflare Pages. So you're comparing $0 to $96-300+ per year. And with the free option, you own everything.

Here's why Publii hosting costs nothing: static sites don't need expensive infrastructure. No PHP processing. No MySQL databases. No server-side computing. Just files served straight from a CDN.

When Publii Makes Sense (And When It Doesn't)

Like any tool, Publii isn't for everyone. It's designed with a specific use case in mind – and it excels at that. But it's important to understand whether your needs align with what Publii does best.

Publii makes sense if you're writing articles, running a portfolio, or just want a fast business site without the drama. It's for people who care about owning their platform, not renting it. People who value speed, privacy, and security. People who don't want ongoing costs eating into their budget every month.

But if you need user accounts, real-time team editing, or built-in e-commerce? You'll need something else. If you're building a community platform with forums or complex interactive features, Publii isn't the right tool.

Most creators fall into the first category. They just want to write and publish without drama.

It Comes Down to One Question: Independent, or Dependent?

Platforms want you dependent. That's their business model. Get you in, get you comfortable, get you invested. Then slowly turn the screws. Increase prices. Change features. Add restrictions.

It's not evil. It's just business. But you don't have to play that game.

With Publii, you're choosing independence. You're choosing to own your platform. You're choosing to control your costs. You're choosing to decide what tracking and analytics you use, if any. You're choosing to build on land you own. And when the next platform melts down – and there will be a next one, there always is – you'll be watching from a distance, grateful you made the choice to be independent.

Getting Started (Without the Overwhelm)

If this resonates with you, here's how to start:

1. Download Publii. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. The interface is simpler than you'd think.
2. Write a post. Choose from WYSIWYG, Markdown, or Block Editor — whatever fits your workflow.
3. Choose hosting. Netlify is probably easiest. Connect it once, forget about it.
4. Hit publish. Your site is live.

That's it. No database to configure. No security hardening. Just write and publish.

The Long Game

Platforms come and go. Remember Google+? Vine? Posterous? All gone. Taking thousands of creators' content with them.

The creators who owned their platforms? They migrated and kept going.

This isn't about being paranoid. It's about being realistic. Companies change. Priorities shift. What's free today might not be tomorrow. Building on Publii means you're not making a bet on a company.

You're making a bet on yourself. Your content stays yours. Your audience stays yours. Your control stays yours. That's not just better for business. It's better for peace of mind. And honestly? With everything going on in the tech world heading into 2026, a little peace of mind is worth a lot.

So yeah. Platforms are convenient. But convenience has a price. Sometimes that price is money. Sometimes it's control. Sometimes it's both.

Publii is a bit less convenient upfront. But over time? It's liberating. You publish what you want, when you want, how you want. No algorithm to appease. No terms of service to worry about. No surprise price increases.

Just you, your content, and your readers. The way it should be.

* All pricing and features mentioned in this article were accurate as of October 11, 2025.