Meridian

Spec sheet

What it does

Meridian is a self-hosted blog engine combining publishing, memberships and newsletters.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Product

Meridian is a self-hosted blog engine with memberships and newsletters built in.Read 8 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Deployment

The product can be deployed with Docker or on Railway, Fly.io, or Render, and requires PostgreSQL 16 with Redis optional for caching.Read 8 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Free plan

YesRead 22 Sep 2026 · meridian.blog

Paid from

9Read 22 Sep 2026 · meridian.blog

API

Meridian exposes a REST API and a GraphQL endpoint, with GraphQL available in development mode.Read 8 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Support

The Self-Hosted plan includes community support, while the Managed Cloud plan lists priority support.Read 8 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

License

Meridian is released under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Maker

The Meridian site credits Ali Raza as its creator.Read 8 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

API extensibility

Stripe-specific endpoints support tiers, checkout sessions, billing portals and webhooks.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Billing portal

Members receive a customer portal for self-service billing.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Blog analytics

YesRead 22 Sep 2026 · meridian.blog

Built-in memberships

YesRead 22 Sep 2026 · meridian.blog

Content types

Users can create posts and static pages, organize tags, search all content and provide an RSS feed.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Custom domain

YesRead 22 Sep 2026 · meridian.blog

Database requirement

Meridian requires PostgreSQL 16 and can optionally use Redis for caching.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Deployment options

The project documents Docker deployment and one-click or guided deployment on Railway, Fly.io and Render.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Editor blocks

Documented blocks include text, headings, quotes, code and dividers.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Email compliance

The documentation says Meridian enforces DKIM, DMARC and SPF and adds one-click unsubscribe headers for Gmail and Yahoo.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Email deliverability

Meridian enforces DKIM, DMARC, and SPF and includes one-click unsubscribe headers for Gmail and Yahoo compliance.Read 8 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Email integration

Meridian supports multiple email providers and recommends Resend for sending newsletters.Read 8 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

GraphQL

A GraphQL endpoint is available at /graphql in development mode for content queries with personalization and member context.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Import tool

The repository includes a Jekyll importer that parses Atom or RSS, converts HTML into content blocks and preserves tags and cover images.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

License and fees

Meridian is open source under AGPLv3 and says it charges no platform fee.Read 8 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Limit: email configuration

Without email configuration, newsletters only log to the console, which is intended for development.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Limit: managed hosting availability

The $9 Managed Cloud plan is marked Coming Soon.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Limit: Render database

The documentation says Render's free PostgreSQL tier expires after 90 days and must be upgraded for production use.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Local development

Local setup uses Deno 2.x, PostgreSQL 16, environment variables and migration commands.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Maker identity

The site credits Ali Raza as creator, and his personal site describes him as a software architect and builder.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Maker profile

Ali Raza's personal site identifies him by name but provides no Meridian headquarters or founding year.Read 15 Oct 2026 · aliirz.com

Membership tiers

Memberships support free, premium and custom subscription tiers with tier-based content visibility.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Memberships

Meridian supports free, premium, and custom subscription tiers with content visibility rules based on member tier.Read 8 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Newsletter feature

Administrators can compose newsletters, accept public subscriptions and send through Resend.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Newsletters

Publishers can compose newsletters in the admin dashboard, and subscribers can sign up through a public form.Read 8 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Operational limit

Self-hosting requires the operator to manage Docker or Deno, PostgreSQL, secrets, migrations and backups.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Payments

Meridian connects to the publisher’s Stripe account and automatically creates Stripe Products and Prices from subscription tiers.Read 8 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Publishing

Its block-based editor stores content as structured JSON and supports posts, static pages, tags, full-text search, and RSS.Read 8 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Publishing editor

The editor is block-based and stores content as structured JSON.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Repository activity

The public GitHub repository shows seven commits, zero stars, zero watchers and one fork.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

REST API

Public REST endpoints expose site settings, posts, tags, pages, search, RSS and newsletter signup; administrative routes require JWT.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Runtime

The software is built for Deno 2.x, with vanilla JavaScript and Tailwind CSS.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Security warning

The quick-start documentation supplies default admin credentials and instructs operators to change them immediately in production.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Source availability

The public repository contains backend, frontend, database, shared-code, tools and tests directories.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Stripe integration

Meridian connects to the publisher's Stripe account and automatically creates Stripe products and prices.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Support model

The free self-hosted plan lists community support, while Managed Cloud lists priority support.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Update process

The documentation says migrations run automatically on startup for updates and recommends backing up with pg_dump first.Read 15 Oct 2026 · meridian.blog

Plans and prices

Every Meridian plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• Blogging Platforms#2 of 1259.3