Thousands of Niche Open Web Apps

Manton Reece published this thought the other day…

All bloggers eventually want to build their own blog software. All feed reader developers want their own sync platform. All blog hosts want a feed reader.

In 2026, I predict approximately thousands of niche open web apps, each with a small number of users who wouldn’t want to use anything else.

I know it wasn’t, but the post almost feels like a shot across the bow of me and others who’ve become less involved in the Micro.blog community in favor of building our own projects. I understand where the thought may be coming from, but I think Manton is overestimating those numbers just a tad. Here’s why.

The average person who wants to blog is going to seek out stable platforms where they don’t have to do much more than write and publish. I think this is where Manton misses the mark.

In addition to Micro.blog, we’ve seen a small number other multi-user blogging platforms like Bear, Pika and Scribbles come on the scene over the last few years. Each has their fanbase, and those fans are mostly people looking for something that’s easy to use and don’t necessarily care about “all the features and maintenance.” The platform they’ve chosen resonates with them, so they use it.

I do see that with the age of “vibe” or “agent assisted” development, we are about to see a influx of people with above average technical skills begin creating their own CMS or feed reading platforms, just like I chose to do.

But my take is these above-average technically-minded individuals are more likely going to be eating their own dog food. If there are others who use their platforms, they too will possess above-average technical skills, forking projects to run as sole-proprietors on their own server.

So thousands of niche open web apps? Maybe not.

In his reply to the first comment @ffmike left on the post, Manton writes…

Thanks! The thing I left out is that building your own blog software is almost always a mistake. 🙂 It’s fun at first, until you realize you need all the features and don’t actually want to manage servers.

This is exactly the opposite reason why I started building my own blogging platform – I only want a very limited number features, without others which I’ll never end up using and that bog the system or cause down time.

I joined Micro.blog shortly before it went into a period of growth. What lured me away from a self-hosted WordPress site was the simplicity of it. The platform was pretty much write and publish, with a side of social interaction. I liked it a lot and wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a place to blog without all the overhead.

Shortly after I joined, Manton began adding features I didn’t see myself ever using. Bookmarking? Got that covered. Notes? Got that covered elsewhere too. A feed reader? Yep, I’ve been using NetNewsWire for years for this. Video publishing? Not really my bag.

I didn’t need any of those features. I just wanted a place where I can publish blog posts. This is what led me to envision Clodd CMS. It’s got just the features I want, and absolutely none I’m not going to use.

As for managing a server, that’s something I’ve been comfortable with for a long time. Updating Ubuntu every now and then is no big deal to me.

So I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t consider what I’ve done to be a mistake at all.

I think it’ll be great to see what others come up with for blogging platforms. Some will grow into something bigger. Some will die out quickly. But I think the bigger majority will quietly endure and serve their creator’s needs for years to come.