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Common Changelog Review

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Should I use Common Changelog?

Write changelogs for humans. - common-changelog.org

· 1 week ago

Free to adopt: use Common Changelog if you hand-write changelogs and want entries that explain why a change matters. Skip it if your team or tooling expects Keep a Changelog, which has far broader adoption and linter support.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 8 usable public sources; mostly changelog-format comparison blogs, no direct product reviews.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depthIt is a writing spec, not software
  • Support qualityNo evidence; spec maintained via GitHub
  • Security postureStatic docs site; nothing to assess

Pricing

Free

Style guide

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Open-source maintainers
  • Hand-written changelogs
  • Small teams wanting human release notes

Not for

  • Anyone shopping for changelog software — this is a spec, not a tool
  • Teams running commit-based changelog generators
  • Toolchains that parse Keep a Changelog format
  • Product teams needing hosted changelog pages with email subscribers

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Migrating an existing Keep a Changelog file means reformatting; parsers may break

medium

Adoption is tiny (one LibHunt project mention), so future tooling support is uncertain

low

No support channel or SLA — issues live on GitHub, response not guaranteed

low

No pricing trap — but switching formats later is pure migration cost

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free and open — a style guide, not a paid product
  • Entries focus on why a change matters, not just what changed
  • Stricter, cleaner take on Keep a Changelog
  • Simpler structure: no Deprecated or Security sections to maintain

Cons

  • Not software — no generator, hosting, or linting included
  • Omits Deprecated and Security sections some teams require
  • Far less adoption and tooling than Keep a Changelog
  • Ecosystem linters like remark-changelog target Keep a Changelog, not this spec

Sources & method

- 8 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x3review x5

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 8

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Entire spec is free
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Clean markdown rules, but stricter than Keep a Changelog
  • Feature depth. It is a writing spec, not software
  • Support quality. No evidence; spec maintained via GitHub
  • Security posture. Static docs site; nothing to assess
  • $0 Price Open-source style guide, not a paid product
  • Yes Free tier Entire spec is free
  • 1 project LibHunt mentions Tiny ecosystem footprint
  • 2 Sections dropped vs Keep a Changelog Deprecated and Security removed

Pricing

Style guide

Free

  • Markdown changelog spec
  • Public GitHub repo
  • No hosted service or paid tier

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Discussion is thin: most references are blogs comparing it to Keep a Changelog rather than direct user reviews.

“As for actually writing changelogs, I suggest to follow keep a changelig or c”
Reddit, r/reactjs

Companies that could

  • MQT DDSIM⁸ Uses Keep a Changelog instead
Full analysis

Based on 8 usable public sources; mostly changelog-format comparison blogs, no direct product reviews.

Free open-source style guide for human-written changelogs; stricter than Keep a Changelog, with much less tooling support.

Methodology

Based on 8 usable public sources; mostly changelog-format comparison blogs, no direct product reviews.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. Common Changelog (official site)common-changelog.org
    official
  2. vweevers/common-changelog on GitHubgithub.com
    official
  3. Changelog Examples 2026 — Screensnapscreensnap.pro
    review
  4. Keep a Changelog Format Explained — Releasepadreleasepad.io
    review
  5. Stop using changelog generators — mikey writes fyimikeywrites.fyi
    review
  6. Reddit r/reactjs thread on changelog resourcesreddit.com
    review
  7. keep-a-changelog vs git-quick-stats — LibHuntlibhunt.com
    review
  8. MQT DDSIM contributing guidemqt.readthedocs.io
    official

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