Stillword — Free Open Source Alternative to 750words.com
The Habit of Journaling
I recently read that private journaling is one of the most important habits you can cultivate. It clears your head, helps you process emotions, and often sparks creative ideas.
I first learned about this through morning pages in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. The practice is simple: write three pages every day, without editing or censoring yourself. It’s a daily brain dump — a way to get unstuck, lighten your mood, and make space for clearer thinking.
Discovering 750 Words
When I wanted to make journaling a daily habit, I found 750words.com. It’s a neat well-designed site built to help you write every day. You get a private, password-protected space to write, with streak tracking, stats, and badges to keep you motivated.
But after the 30-day free trial, it asked for a subscription:
- Standard Membership: $5/month
- Fancy Membership: $10/month with extra features
For many people, that’s fair. But I couldn’t help thinking: with today’s AI, couldn’t I just build this myself?
Why I Built Stillword
With AI and serverless cloud platforms, creating simple SaaS-style apps has become surprisingly easy. Instead of paying a subscription, I decided to spend a weekend building my own free alternative.
I called it Stillword — a minimal daily writing app focused on consistency, not polish. It runs entirely on serverless AWS, which means I don’t pay for servers sitting idle. I only pay for actual usage, which is far cheaper (almost nothing) than a monthly subscription.
And the best part? It only took me about two hours to design the UI, set up the backend, connect AWS services, test everything end-to-end, and deploy it live.
What Stillword Offers
- Distraction-free editor with optional 750-word goal tracking
- Streak tracking & calendar to visualize your writing history
- Themes & Zen mode for a calming experience
- Guest mode (no account needed) or cloud sync for entries across devices
- Export options so your writing is always yours
It’s not about publishing or sharing — it’s about writing for yourself, every day.
AI makes it possible
Stillword isn’t just about journaling. It’s also proof that with a bit of Software background + AI, you can build your own tools instead of paying for subscriptions.
For simple, focused apps, serverless + AI = DIY SaaS. You don’t need 2 weeks of work. Sometimes, a few hours is enough to ship something useful, personal, and free.
Closing Thoughts
I built Stillword because I wanted a private, minimal space to write every day without worrying about subscriptions. But I also built it to prove a point: we live in a time where building your own solutions is easier than ever.
If journaling is a habit you want to cultivate, give Stillword a try. And if you’ve ever thought, “I wish there was an app for this” — maybe it’s time to build it yourself.