Are you planning to start your own blog and you’re looking for the ideal blog platform to use?
With all the options to choose from, making a decision can be a challenge.
In the purpose of this post, we have tested various of the most popular blogs to help you choose the best platform for your requirements.
How To Choose the Best Blogging Platform
Before you start your blog, be aware of what you are looking for in an online platform.
Here are some guidelines to help you pick the best blog platform:
- User-friendliness For beginners, it’s important to have an intuitive platform that’s simple to setup and manage , and doesn’t require programming skills.
- Support The top blogs offer support for customers in the event that you require help with issues that aren’t easy to solve regardless of whether they’re related to technicalissues, billing, sales or even experiences.
Support should be accessible via different channels.
Common channels include live chat or email support, phone support tickets, forums, ticketing systems and knowledge bases.
- Flexibility The most effective blogging platforms offer the opportunity to expand (scalability) and allow you to alter the design or features.
- Content ownership and data Do you write controversial content? Some blogging platforms view themselves as third-party platforms. That means they have control over the content you publish. They may take down your content if you break these terms and they can also quickly delete your content if the platform is shut down.
- Options for monetization The majority of people don’t create blogs to earn money for their websites, however some blog owners start their blogs for this reason. It’s helpful to know that you can add an online store as well as subscriptions or advertisements on your website.
- Price: The most effective blogging platforms will fit your budget and include capabilities that can be worth the cost. Free platforms aren’t worth the cost if it doesn’t meet your needs.
Best Blogging Sites
- WordPress.org
- WordPress.com
- Wix
- Ghost
- Medium
- Blogger
- Tumblr
1. WordPress.org
Since its launch in 2003, WordPress is the most well-known CMS for content management (CMS). WordPress powers 40% of the web including personal blogs to small-scale business websites such as WebsiteSetup to corporate websites like Sony, TechCrunch, and the Meta Newsroom.
The most popular blogging platform serious bloggers who need complete control of their site.
Support: DIY. The platform for free blogging doesn’t have a dedicated support staff, but it does have huge communities of enthusiastic users, which means there’s a person likely to be able to answer your questions.
If you have problems on issues with your WordPress blog, there are a few options you have the option of:
- Go through the WordPress documentation.
- Ask a question on WordPress’ support forum.
- Learn from tutorials.
Certain web hosting firms are well-versed about WordPress and offer technical support. Indeed, WordPress recommends Bluehost, DreamHost and SiteGround.
Customization Highly customizable due to the thousands of pay-per-use and complimentary WordPress theme and plug-ins. WordPress plugins enhance functionality and provide additional features.
The ownership of your data You are the owner of the content you create.
Monetization Options: Plenty. You can place ads on your site and affiliate marketing, sell digital goods and build websites for membership.
Prices: WordPress software is open source and is free to download. However, you’ll have to buy the web hosting as well as a domain.
Find out our opinions on various web hosting plans.
2. WordPress.com
Don’t mix WordPress.com as WordPress.org.
WordPress software is the basis for both platforms, however the similarities stop there.
WordPress.com is a hosted service, which makes it easier for beginners, but more limited than WordPress.org — particularly with its free plans.
The plan that is free:
- Limits domain names to [yourname].wordpress.com.
- Advertisements are displayed.
- It comes with a limited set of included plugins.
The best blogging platform small blogs for hobby purposes.
Support Support for HTML0 is not available for the Personal and free plans. Live chat is now available on the premium plan.
Customization: Average. Customers who subscribe to the higher-tiered plan are able to use premium themes add more plugins and use sophisticated search engine optimization (SEO) software.
Data ownership: WordPress.com owns your data.
Option for Monetization none on the free or personal plans. Users can earn advertising revenue when they purchase the Premium plan or more.
Pricing A limited free version available. Plans that are paid begin at $4/month when they are they are billed annually.
3. Wix
With more than 200 million customers around the world, Wix is a popular web builder that is primarily designed to assist small-business owners build their own websites quickly.
Its blogging tool is extremely popular among beginners due to its simple installation and integrated SEO tools.
Best blogging platform for: Beginners
Support Tickets, knowledge base, and telephone assistance (for the VIP customers) are all available.
Customization Wix lets you to modify your website with drag-and-drop editors with a wide range of applications and integrations and attractive templates.
Wix can also help you create designs for your site by using it’s Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) software Editor X. But once you’ve chosen the template, you aren’t able to alter it.
Ownership of data In accordance with Wix Guidelines, you are the owner of the data and content on your website.
Monetization Options: Average. Wix offers a range of ways to monetize your site, including the addition of Google ads and blog post subscriptions, or the option of the option of a paywall.
Pricing The Pricing: A limited free plan is available. Paid plans begin at $8.50/month for billing annually.
4. Ghost.org
The company was established in 2013. Ghost has been an open-source platform for blogging that was developed as a more efficient WordPress alternative. Ghost makes use of JavaScript (WordPress utilizes PHP along with MySQL).
Similar to WordPress and WordPress, Ghost is accessible as open-source software (Ghost) and as a hosted service (Ghost Pro). Ghost is a platform for developers or users with more sophisticated technical expertise. Ghost (Pro) is intended for creators who can make money from their audience.
Best blogging platform for: Minimalist bloggers.
Support Forums and knowledge base available. Ghost (Pro) also comes with email support for the basic plans as well as an account manager for plans with higher tiers.
Customizations A wide range of custom options thanks to thousands of free and paid templates and integrated features (Ghost’s versions of plug-ins). Ghost also includes SEO as well as social sharing tools. It also allows integrations from third party companies.
The ownership of your data Ghost gives you access and ownership of your members’ content, member’s content, and data about your membership.
Option for Monetization Multi-Purpose, such as WordPress.org. With Ghost you have the ability to:
- Create a website for membership.
- Offer subscriptions.
- Join as an affiliate.
- Advertisements on display.
- Create an online store by integrating an Snipcart integration.
Pricing for the self-hosted option, you’ll require a web hosting service and a domain name.
We suggest hosting plans like A2 Hosting or DigitalOcean. They might not have the option of a domain for free however these hosting companies can maintain a pace with Ghost. DigitalOcean also provides an installation option that is one-click for Ghost.
The Ghost (Pro) fully-managed hosted service starts at $9/month when it is billed annually. Other options consist of SSL and CDN as well as a custom domain and assistance.
5. Medium
Twitter co-founder Evan Williams started Medium in 2012 in order to let users post posts that were larger than Twitter’s 140 characters. Medium has a huge pool of users, which includes the former U.S. President Barack Obama.
The users can sign-up for freeand choose between two kinds of accounts on Medium: members and writers (readers).
Writers earn income by participating in the Medium Partnership Program. Readers are able to sign up for an annual subscription to read more articles beyond their free three-month article limits.
The best blogging platform for writers who have an audience built-in.
Support Support for Ticketing and Knowledge base are available.
Customization Medium permits users to integrate content on other sites, create domain names and connect to social media and email accounts. However, it’s limited in options for customization — nearly all blogs appear identical.
Ownership of data Medium is the one who controls the content you publish. It can also be difficult to move your viewers to Medium on to another system.
Monetization Options: Limited. This program permits you to earn income in two different ways. The number members who are referred to you and the amount of time that people read your content.
Pricing Pricing: Free plan is available. The cost of membership starts at $5 per month.
6. Blogger
Established in 1999 and bought in 1999 by Google after 2003. Blogger has been one of the first blogging platforms.
Similar to Medium It’s a great simple solution for anyone who wants to begin writing. Since Google is its owner the ability to join for free with an existing Google account. Blogger also works well with other Google products. For instance, you could keep images in Google Drive.
Free blog URLs appear as [yourname].blogspot.com, but you can also buy custom domains.
The most popular blogging platform personal websites.
Support The Blogger Help Center is the knowledge base. It also hosts an online community forum.
Customization: Limited. The themes can be downloaded for free and you can buy premium themes on marketplaces such as ThemeForest as well as Etsy. Blogger also has a password protection feature that restricts access to private content.
Ownership of data You own your content, however Blogger is the one who controls the content. Google manages the service and has the power to stop it if you breach its terms of service.
Monetization Options: Limited. You can show advertisements on your blog if your account is inactive Google AdSense account.
Pricing: Free. The only expense you could pay is to purchase an individual domain. Look up the best locations to buy the domain name.
7. Tumblr
In 2007 Tumblr began as a microblogging platform that showcases multimedia content such as videos, audio, and GIFs.
Tumblr is different in comparison to other blogging sites due to its social-networking aspect. Once you sign into the site, you’ll be able to scroll through posts in the feed of accounts that you follow — much as Instagram. You can reblog (or share) the posts you like with the click of a button and include comments.
Since its start, Tumblr has always had an audience that is predominantly young. About half of the 133.5 million members come of Gen Z.
Best blogging platform for: Microblogging.
Support A ticketing and knowledge database are is available.
Customization Limits on options for customization. Themes that are free or premium are available. Themes can also be purchased through marketplaces that are not affiliated with Tumblr, such as Theme Atlantic and Creative Market. Tumblr also provides password protection that limits access to private content.
Ownership of data Data ownership: On Tumblr you are the owner of your content, however Tumblr manages the content. It will remove content that is not in accordance with its Conditions of Service.
You can save and transfer your data if you need to move them to another blogging platform, however it isn’t easy because of the format used by Tumblr.
Monetization Options: Limited. The year 2021 was the first time Tumblr launched Post+ for beta creators to earn money from their content.
Pricing: Free. The only cost you may be charged is to purchase an individual domain name.
7 Best Blogging Sites — What’s Your Pick?
When you’re starting a blog, it’s not about whether or not there are platforms available it’s which platform to pick. Each one has its own attributes, pros, and pros and.
Before you choose the right blogging platform, you must determine your requirements, goals and preferences to make the choice simpler.
We at WebsiteSetup love self-hosted WordPress because it’s both powerful and adaptable.
What do you think is the top blogging site? Tell us via the comment section below.
