Writebook
37signals’ free publishing tool - write and share books, manuals, and docs from your own domain.
One-click deploy, from $5/mo on a Miget plan.
#what is Writebook?
Writebook is 37signals’ free publishing tool: write and share books, manuals, and documentation with a clean, fast reader on your own domain. It is the same Rails stack that runs Basecamp and HEY, distributed as a single Docker image and given away at no cost.
It runs behind Thruster, 37signals’ HTTP/2 proxy, so this template just sets HTTP_PORT to 5000 and DISABLE_SSL=true (Miget terminates TLS) - no wrapper, no sidecar. The content lives in SQLite and uploaded images sit alongside it, so the whole thing is one self-contained container on one volume.
Because the software itself is free, there is no per-book or per-seat bill to escape - the only cost is the small plan it runs on. Publishing platforms that host the same thing take a cut or charge per editor; Writebook serves it from infrastructure you own.
Upstream project: Writebook (37signals)
#what you get
- Books, manuals, and docs with a clean, fast reader
- The Basecamp/HEY Rails stack, given away free
- Single container: SQLite + image uploads on one volume
- Thruster front-end; HTTP_PORT=5000, no proxy wrapper
- Your content on your own domain, no platform cut
- MIT-licensed source
#topology
| Service | Role | Public |
|---|---|---|
| writebook | publisher + reader (:5000) | yes |
| storage volume | SQLite + uploaded images | no |
#miget sizing
// this stack needs
512 MiB RAM · 5 GB disk · 1 service
A Rails app plus Thruster idles comfortably in 512 MiB; the Hobby plan covers it. Size the volume to your images. Keep replicas at 1 (single SQLite file).
Hobby - recommended fit
$5/mo
1 vCPU · 512 MiB · 10 GiB disk
Headroom for your own apps: 1 GiB at $7/mo
Professional - production
$22/mo
1 vCPU · 2 GiB · 10 GiB disk
Dedicated resources, production SLOs - plan details
One Miget plan is a fixed pool of compute - the whole stack (managed databases included) deploys inside it, and anything left over runs your other apps. No per-service or per-seat math.
#vs. the managed service
What the hosted equivalents charge, against the flat Miget plan this stack fits on. Prices as of June 2026, sources linked.
| Service | Plan | Monthly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Writebook on Miget ★ | 512 MiB plan | $5 | this whole stack, flat - no usage meters, and room left for your own apps |
| Notion | Plus (sites) | ~$100 | $10/seat/mo at 10 seats to publish as a site |
| GitBook | Premium | ~$40 | $8/editor/mo at 5 editors - hosted docs |
Writebook is free software; the only cost is the small plan it runs on. The comparisons are what hosted publishing charges for the same job.
#vs. other PaaS
Estimated monthly cost of running this exact stack (512 MiB RAM, 5 GB disk, 1 container) elsewhere, from published June 2026 rates.
| Platform | Est. monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Miget ★ | $5 flat | compose stacks first-class: one deploy, dedicated vCPU, managed Postgres/Valkey, volumes and TLS all included in the plan |
| Heroku | ~$25 | no volumes; nothing between 1 GB ($50) and 2.5 GB ($250) dynos - 2 GB containers cost far more than shown |
| DO App Platform | ~$11 | no persistent volumes - stateful containers need managed DBs/Spaces (base $5 Spaces included here) |
| Render | ~$8 | per-service instances (0.5 GB $7, 2 GB $25) - every container is its own paid service |
| Railway | ~$6 | usage-based ($10/GB RAM-mo); vCPU billed separately at $20/vCPU-mo on top |
| Fly.io | ~$4 | cheapest sticker price - but burstable shared CPUs (1/16 core; dedicated vCPUs cost ~2-3×), no compose deploys (one app per container, manual wiring), managed DBs billed extra |
Full breakdown of what Writebook costs managed versus self-hosted, with production sizing: Writebook pricing.
Estimates assume RAM fully allocated at published on-demand rates - and sticker price isn't the whole comparison: the cheaper rows buy burstable shared CPUs, per-service wiring instead of a compose deploy, and managed databases billed separately. Heroku and DO App Platform have no persistent volumes at all - stateful stacks like this one need workarounds there.
#deploy it
On Miget
- Create a Compose Stack in app.miget.com pointing at the templates repository
- Set the stack path to
writebook -
Set the required variable:
SECRET_KEY_BASE, Rails secret (openssl rand -hex 64)
- Deploy. Miget layers
compose.miget.yaml(RAM, privacy, volumes, managed services) automatically
Locally first?
Every template is portable, vanilla Docker Compose - the Miget overrides are ignored locally:
git clone https://github.com/deployable-sh/stacks
cd miget-compose-templates/writebook
docker compose up -dSame files, same behavior. The template README covers connection strings and scaling notes.
#faq
Is Writebook really free?
Yes. 37signals released Writebook at no cost and put the source under the MIT license. There is no purchase, no license server, and no per-book fee - you only pay for the small Miget plan it runs on.
How does it get onto port 5000 without a wrapper?
Writebook serves through Thruster, which reads HTTP_PORT. This template sets HTTP_PORT=5000 so it listens on Miget’s public port, and DISABLE_SSL=true so Rails does not force HTTPS redirects behind Miget’s TLS termination.
What should I compare it to?
GitBook charges per editor for hosted docs and Leanpub takes a royalty on sales; Notion-as-a-site is per seat. Writebook does the same job - polished, readable publishing - as free software on your own domain.
#more cms & publishing
Ship Writebook today
One compose stack, 512 MiB of RAM, from $5/month flat, and it runs on your laptop with the same files.