Is there a completely free way to publish a changelog?

Yes. A CHANGELOG.md in your repository costs nothing, and GitHub Releases publishes release notes for any repository on GitHub. Several hosted tools also list free plans; this page gives what each one's own pricing page listed and the date it was read.

Does Relnotely have a free plan?

No. Writing is free with no card — drafts, importing your history and setting up your page — and publishing starts a 7-day trial, then $19 a month. Relnotely's three utilities, the Changelog Grader, the Release Notes Generator and the CHANGELOG.md Validator, are free with no account.

What usually sits behind the paid plan of a changelog tool?

It varies by company, which is why each entry here links to the pricing page. Reading those pages on the dates given, the things most often listed on paid plans rather than free ones were a custom domain, removing the vendor's branding, more team members and higher usage limits.

Are free plans good enough?

For many small products, yes. The honest test is whether the limits on the free plan are ones you will hit — a cap on users, posts or seats — and whether you mind what the page looks like and whose domain it is on.

Free changelog tools: what is actually free, with dates

"Free" means different things on different pricing pages: a permanent free plan with limits, a trial, or a tool that simply costs nothing. This page lists what is free in changelog tooling, with what each company's own page listed and when it was read.

How this list was made

Relnotely wrote it. Relnotely has no free plan, and says so below; its free utilities are listed because they are free.
Every plan and limit comes from that company's own pricing page, read on the date beside it and linked.
Trials are not listed as free plans. Several tools offer a free trial; a trial ends.
We describe what each page says, not what it leaves out. Opinion is in the section called Our view.

Hosted tools that list a free plan

Beamer

Free plan, as listed on 20 September 2026: for fewer than 1,000 monthly active users; paid plans from $59 a month. Beamer's pricing page. Relnotely vs Beamer

Canny

Free plan, as listed on 22 September 2026: $0 a month with 25 tracked users, automatic feedback capture and unlimited feedback; Pro from $79 a month billed yearly. Canny is a feedback tool with a changelog among its features. Canny's pricing page. Relnotely vs Canny

Featurebase

Free plan, as listed on 22 September 2026: 1 seat, with live chat, a unified inbox and feedback included; paid plans from $29 per seat a month billed yearly. Featurebase's pricing page. Relnotely vs Featurebase

Headway

Free plan, as listed on 20 September 2026: unlimited changelogs, public page customization, widget customization, custom categories and "eyecatcher"; Pro at $29 a month lists custom domain, whitelabel, team management and scheduled publishing. Headway's pricing section. Relnotely vs Headway

ReleasePad

Free tier, as listed on 22 September 2026: a limited number of published posts, a public changelog page and a basic widget, with no time limit; Pro at $35 a month per product. ReleasePad's pricing page. Relnotely vs ReleasePad

Free without a hosted tool

A CHANGELOG.md in your repository

A text file, following the Keep a Changelog convention if you want tools to be able to read it. It costs nothing and versions with your code. It is written for developers rather than customers; when a CHANGELOG.md is not enough covers the difference.

GitHub Releases

If your code is on GitHub, a release can carry notes, and the releases page is public for a public repository. GitHub's documentation on releases describes how they work. It suits libraries and open-source projects, where the readers are already on GitHub.

Free utilities, no account

These are ours, and they work whatever you publish with:

Changelog Grader — paste any public changelog's address and get a scored report: feed, posting rhythm, entry pages, link previews.
Release Notes Generator — commit messages in, customer-facing notes out, grouped into New, Improved and Fixed. Runs in your browser.
CHANGELOG.md Validator — checks a file against Keep a Changelog, with line numbers.

Where Relnotely fits

Relnotely's price: $19 a month, one plan, with no free plan. Writing is free with no card — drafts, importing your history, setting up your page — and publishing starts a 7-day trial. Our pricing.

Our view

This part is opinion, not a claim about any company above. A free plan is paid for somehow: usually by limits that push a growing product onto a paid tier, sometimes by the vendor's name on your page. Neither is a trick — each pricing page says what it offers — but it is worth reading the limits before building on one. We chose not to offer a free plan rather than fund one with a badge on customers' pages — by default our name is not on a customer's changelog at all; the small print under the subscribe form names us only if the customer chooses to say who delivers their emails — and to make the writing free instead, so nobody pays before they have seen their own changelog working.