Bear Blog is a fast, ad-free, tracker-free blogging platform. Free to start, with premium features like custom domains and analytics from $5/month.
Category
CMS
Pricing
Freemium, from Free (Premium from $5/month)
Verified
Not yet
Last updated
July 18, 2026
Founded
2020
Free PlanWeb AppOpen SourceFreemiumTemplates
Overview
Bear Blog is a stripped-down blogging platform built around the idea that most blogging tools are needlessly bloated. Created by Herman Martinus in 2020, it serves pages with no JavaScript, ads, or trackers by default, resulting in pages that often load in a fraction of a second.
The platform is free to start: every account gets a subdomain on bearblog.dev, a set of built-in themes, and support for writing posts in Markdown.
Key Features
Beyond its speed and minimalism, Bear Blog includes RSS/Atom feeds out of the box, a handful of free themes, and a simple publishing workflow with no plugins or page builders to configure.
Paid Premium accounts add custom domain support, image uploads, subscriber email lists, and analytics — features that are opt-in rather than bundled by default, keeping the free tier genuinely lightweight.
Pricing
Bear Blog's core platform is free indefinitely. Premium access — which adds custom domains, image hosting, analytics, and email subscribers — costs around $5/month, $49/year, or a one-time lifetime fee of $189.
Key Features
No trackers or ads — Pages ship with no analytics scripts, ad code, or third-party trackers by default.
Extremely lightweight pages — Typical pages are only a few kilobytes, loading near-instantly on any connection.
Markdown writing — Posts are written and edited in Markdown through a simple text-first editor.
Built-in themes — A curated set of free themes is available out of the box with no setup required.
RSS and Atom feeds — Every blog automatically generates standard RSS/Atom feeds for subscribers.
Custom domains (Premium) — Paid accounts can map a blog to a custom domain instead of the bearblog.dev subdomain.
Analytics and subscriber lists (Premium) — Premium unlocks basic privacy-respecting analytics and email subscriber list management.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Free tier is fully usable with no time limit
Very fast, lightweight pages with no bloat
No tracking or ads on free or paid tiers
Simple Markdown-based writing workflow
Open-source codebase available on GitHub
Cons
Design customization is limited compared to full CMS platforms
Custom domains and analytics require the paid Premium tier
Not suited for complex, multi-author publications
Pricing
Free $0 N/A
Premium $5/month or $49/year monthly or annual
Lifetime $189 one-time one-time
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bear Blog free?
Yes. The core platform, including a bearblog.dev subdomain and built-in themes, is free indefinitely. A paid Premium tier (~$5/month) adds custom domains, analytics, image uploads, and subscriber lists.
Is Bear Blog open source?
Yes, its source code is publicly available on GitHub.
Who created Bear Blog?
Bear Blog was created by developer Herman Martinus, who started it in 2020 as a weekend project and continues to maintain it.
Can I use a custom domain on Bear Blog?
Custom domain support is part of the paid Premium plan; free accounts use a bearblog.dev subdomain.