Clean Blog is a free, open-source blog theme for Bootstrap created by Start Bootstrap, and its single core function is to provide a ready-made blog site structure with a homepage, about page, contact page, and a sample post page. This theme ships as static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in its dist folder, and it also includes Pug and SCSS source files so developers can rebuild the theme with npm. Start Bootstrap releases the theme under the MIT license, which allows commercial use without restrictions.
What is Clean Blog?
Clean Blog is a responsive blog template built on the Bootstrap framework and maintained by Start Bootstrap, a library of free Bootstrap templates. The template outputs a multi-page blog site: index.html serves as the blog homepage with post previews, about.html and contact.html provide standard pages, and post.html demonstrates a single blog post layout. It accepts HTML and CSS edits directly, or you can modify the Pug templates and SCSS variables and compile them with the included npm scripts.
What makes Clean Blog stand out?
- Bootstrap foundation — Built on Bootstrap, with GitHub repository topics covering Bootstrap 4 and Bootstrap 5, so the theme works across those versions.
- Prebuilt pages — Includes five pages: blog homepage, about, contact, sample post, and a post layout example.
- SB Forms contact form — The contact page ships with SB Forms integration; sign up at Start Bootstrap, paste your API token into the form's data attribute, and the form is functional.
- Pug and SCSS source files — The
srcdirectory contains Pug and SCSS, allowing you to compile the theme withnpm run build:pugandnpm run build:scss. - npm build system — Eight npm scripts are provided, including
npm startto launch a live preview and auto-reload on changes, andnpm run buildto produce thedistfolder. - MIT licensed — Released under the MIT license, free for personal and commercial projects.
Who should use Clean Blog?
- Bloggers — Publish posts by replacing the sample post content in
post.htmland adding new post preview entries toindex.html. - Developers — Use the Pug/SCSS build pipeline to customize the theme and recompile it into static files for any static host.
- Designers — Quickly prototype a blog design by editing the HTML and CSS in the
distdirectory without touching the build tools. - Anyone needing a free blog — The theme is free and MIT-licensed, so it can be used as a starting point for a personal blog or even a commercial project's blog section.
What can you do with Clean Blog?
- Start a personal blog — Drop in your own posts and customize the styling to launch a minimal, readable blog with minimal effort.
- Create a company blog — Use the about and contact pages to give a business site a built-in blog and a working contact form via SB Forms.
- Learn Bootstrap theming — Study the Pug and SCSS structure to understand how a Bootstrap theme is assembled, then compile your changes with the npm scripts.
How does Clean Blog work?
Download the latest release, clone the GitHub repo, or install it via npm with npm i startbootstrap-clean-blog. For a quick start, open the prebuilt files in dist and edit the HTML and CSS. For a more advanced workflow, run npm install and npm start to open a live preview, then edit the Pug and SCSS sources and the browser reloads automatically.
Pricing
Clean Blog is free to use under the MIT license. Start Bootstrap's entire library of free themes is released under the MIT license, so there are no licensing fees or attribution requirements.
FAQ
Is Clean Blog free?
Yes, Clean Blog is released under the MIT license, which means it is free for personal and commercial use. The entire Start Bootstrap library of free themes carries the same license.
How do I install Clean Blog?
You can download the latest release from Start Bootstrap, install it via npm with npm i startbootstrap-clean-blog, or clone the GitHub repository. After installation, open the index.html file in a browser to preview the static version.
How does the contact form work?
The contact form uses SB Forms, a service from Start Bootstrap. You create a free account, set the domain your form will be used on, and copy the provided access key into the data-sb-form-api-token attribute on the form. If you don't want to use SB Forms, you can delete the custom data attributes and the associated script.
Can I customize Clean Blog?
Yes, for basic changes you can edit the CSS and HTML in the dist folder. For deeper customization, the source includes Pug and SCSS files, and the npm scripts let you rebuild the theme with your changes.
What pages are included in Clean Blog?
The theme includes a blog homepage (index.html), an about page, a contact page, and a sample post page (post.html). This structure gives you a complete blog starting point.
