Osegi
Web & Dev·1 min read

LiveJournal goes free for all authors and moves into Rambler

LiveJournal is dropping its paid plan for authors and folding into Russia's Rambler portal, less than a year after it put posting behind a 199-ruble subscription.

A blogger writing a post on a laptop, with the LiveJournal logo on the screen next to a Rambler portal homepage.
Image: Хабр
SUMODialoediviewergiftdetect

LiveJournal, the blogging platform many people still call by its Russian nickname ZhZh, will be free for every author. The paid subscription is going away, and the site is being folded into the Rambler portal.

According to LiveJournal's managing director Dmitry Chistov, this is an update to a working product, not a relaunch. He puts the audience at about 25 million people a month and more than 50,000 active authors from different countries. From now on, though, the focus will be on Russian readers.

When the paid model goes, some features will open up to all users. Services the company considers outdated will be shut down. The platform is also moving to a new technical architecture, though the company gave no details.

What is changing with LiveJournal and Rambler?

A block with LiveJournal bloggers has already appeared on Rambler's home page. Similar streams of posts from blogs and communities are planned for Rambler's topic sections, including auto, finance, food, entertainment and lifestyle.

Chistov says hundreds of new blogs are arriving at LiveJournal because other platforms are being slowed down or restricted.

Why the paid plan mattered

At the end of 2025, LiveJournal introduced new posting rules. To publish, an author had to meet one of four conditions: buy the "Professional" package, which cost 199 rubles a month or 1,999 rubles a year; link a Sber ID login to the account; hold at least 500 points of "social capital"; or have the blog listed in the Roskomnadzor register of bloggers, or get verified status. The limits also applied to comments and media uploads.

With the subscription ending, the first of those routes disappears. The source does not say whether the other conditions stay in place.

Apps worth a look

SUMO: the number puzzle

Tap the right tiles, add them up, hit the target. Easy to learn, hard to master. Free, for all ages.

Tags:livejournalramblerbloggingrussiafree subscription

More from this day

See all →

More in: Web & Dev

See all →