Do you want to know the best blogging platforms to start your own blog? Or thinking of switching your blog into a better platform?
The knowledge of blogging platforms is essential for starters and even professional bloggers. It’s because different platforms have different unique features; you’ll have to decide which one serves you right.
As lots of popular blogging platforms are out there, it’s hard to choose one. But don’t worry! We’ve made it easier for you.
In this article, we’ll cover 15 popular premium and free blogging platforms. Just go through them, their pros, and cons to choose the best one that you think fits your needs.
Before heading to the list, you should know what things to look for in a blogging platform. Here are some important points.
Now, let’s dive into the list of 15 top blogging platforms. Then, choose the best platform to start a blog.
It’s the most popular open-source and free software that powers over 40% of websites worldwide. Actually, it’s a Content Management System (CMS) that offers tons of inbuilt blogging features. Plus, this self-hosted platform gives you full control of your blog site.
WordPress provides tons of responsive themes to design your blog exactly as you want. Similarly, you can use plugins to add more features like social share, ad monetization, SEO, security, etc. to your blog. So, when it comes to blogging, WordPress.org is arguably the best option.
Blogger is a blogging platform owned by Google. Started in 2003, it’s one of the pioneers of blogging services. It’s an easy-to-use blog hosting platform suitable for beginners and non-techy bloggers.
If you’re thinking of starting a decent blogging account right away, then Blogger.com can be the one for you. You can easily sign up and organize your blog website within minutes. You just need to have a Google account.
WordPress.com is a fully-hosted site-building platform developed by Automattic. Its founder, Matt Mullenweg is the same person behind WordPress.org (fully-hosted version). In fact, both platforms use the same WordPress software but with different approaches.
People find it pretty confusing between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. So, you can read our guide on WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org to find the differences between them.
WordPress.com’s free blogging tool comes with some basic blogging features. You get limited storage, bandwidth, features, and sub-domain with it. However, you get additional features in the premium plan if you choose a paid upgrade.
Tumblr is a free blog portal popular mostly among youngsters. Rather than a full-fledged text blog, Tumblr approaches microblogging with more visual content. Multimedia like images, videos, and audio with shorter text descriptions is the focus of this platform.
To start, just sign in to Tumblr, choose a username (sub-domain). Then, you can start creating a blog on your desired niche. People of similar interests can find and follow you, just like a social media platform. Similarly, you can follow your favorite Tumblr bloggers.
It’s one of the popular Website builders you can use for creating blog sites. Weebly can also be really useful if you want to add blogs to your pre-existing business or other websites. Using available templates and drag-and-drop builders, you can easily create a blog with a pleasant appearance.
By quickly signing up, you can launch your blog for free. With depth, easy-to-use features, Weebly might be the right platform for you. You can also check detailed comparisons of WordPress vs Weebly and get more ideas.
Wix is a self-hosted platform for building any kind of website. So, it has been effectively used to build blogging sites. Wix presents Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI), which designs your site based on your preferences. Or, you can also go manually; choosing a template and customizing it.
Founded in 2006, Wix provides a perfect blogging solution without being techy. The responsive templates along with tools, colors, fonts, etc. let you design and set your brand.
Medium is a writing platform with a little bit of a different approach. It isn’t quite the typical personalized blogging platform. But rather, it’s a joint platform or community where writers publish their content and other members can access it.
The Medium doesn’t hand you a domain for a personal blog. But, it provides you a platform so you can showcase your creation there. For your benefit, you get exposure among fellow writers and readers. And hence, it opens a career opportunity for you.
Ghost is an open-source CMS that focuses solely on blogging. Being a user-friendly program, beginners can kickstart their blogging career from Ghost. With the easy setup procedure, you can create your blog site in no time. You can start with a free trial.
Use the available themes or download if you need more, to give your blog a nice look. Also, the crisp and easy interface lets you create your blog post super fast. You can get a preview of how your blog is going to look in real-time.
Drupal is a free, open-source platform that started in 2001. Not only a blogging medium, but it’s an entire content management system (CMS). Lots of big names, organizations, and companies have used Drupal for creating their site.
Like WordPress, Drupal is a self-hosted platform i.e. you can have your own choice of web hosting service and domain. You can use Drupal to create various niches of blogs, from simple to complex ones. Various themes and plugins make designing and developing your Drupal site easier.
Gator is a website builder powered by HostGator, the popular hosting service. You can use it to build any kind of software including a blog, without coding. The easy drag-and-drop builder makes the site-making process easy.
This platform is good for newbie bloggers with no experience at all. It provides all in one hosted solution to create your blog site without any trouble. Plus, there are many essential features packed together.
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Squarespace is a website builder popular for building visually compelling websites. It has a good set of blogging tools and features. Bloggers interested in art and design will love this platform.
With high-quality and polished templates, your site feels fresh and exotic. The templates are responsive and fully customizable. Also, a lot of in-built blogging and SEO tools are provided.
Joomla! is a free and open-source Content Management System (CMS). It’s one of the largest CMSs on the web. Because it’s user-friendly, extendible, and responsive, it’s loved and trusted by millions of users. About 3% of websites run on Joomla, which is still a great figure.
It has excellent built-in blogging features like multiple languages, post scheduling, managing users, etc. Besides, extensions like EasyBlog can be installed for smooth blogging operations.
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It’s one of the pioneer blogging platforms launched in 2003. It’s a fully hosted program and easy to set up. You can just sign in, and start decorating your site. It offers tons of themes with unlimited customization to give your site a decent look.
It’s an easy-to-use platform good for both beginners and professional bloggers. The dashboard gives complete control over your pages, site design, and posts. Plus, it offers tools like Google Analytics to track your sites’ growth.
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It’s a website builder that can be used to create impressive blogs. This platform is so easy to use. Even starting bloggers with no experience can use it. This premium program is flexible and feature-rich while being simple to use.
There are lots of good templates to choose from and customize your sites’ design. The SEO features like site speed, responsiveness, analytics, etc. are provided for ranking well in search engines.
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Adding and publishing posts is very easy. Also, you have access to a library of royalty-free images and videos that you can use on your blog. The provided blog templates are responsive and fairly customizable.
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That’s about it.
Do you agree with our list of the best blogging platforms? If you have preferences or experience on other platforms, then please share it with us! Don’t hesitate to leave your comment below.
We would like to recommend the WordPress platform. WordPress is powerful and you can make any type of website and blog with WordPress. If you want a fully hosted platform then Blogger will be the best option for you.
Next, you should check another guide on comparison on WordPress vs. Blogger. And also check WordPress vs Wix to know more about the two best blogging platforms.
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