Are you in the process of building your own blogging website but feeling unsure about which platform to choose? It can be tricky to determine which blogging site is the best option, especially if you’re a beginner seeking an SEO-friendly platform.
How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform?
Safety and security
Opting for a platform that guarantees content safety and provides backup is advisable due to the unpredictable alterations to procedures and policies by the third-party host, despite the acceptability of a free site for recreational purposes.
Customization
With the free blogging platform, you can include header, footer, and social buttons functions. Basic customization options are accessible at no cost. Put your resources towards the party offering the most extensive customization options.
Budget
Opting for a free plan is the preferable choice for those who are new to blogging. However, for those who are more established in the blogging world, investing in a paid plan is recommended as it demonstrates a higher level of dedication. Therefore, starting off with a basic plan and gradually upgrading as your audience grows is the sensible approach.
Monetize the blog!
Monetize your blog without delay if you have more than 100 daily visitors and are also posting ads, even though it may require some patience; otherwise, do not consider monetizing it.
The Top 8 Best Blogging Platforms of 2023
In order to determine the most suitable blogging platform for you, we have compiled a list of benefits and drawbacks of various popular blogging platforms and sites, catering to beginners, writers, students, teachers, microbloggers, and developers.
1. WordPress.org – Best Blogging Platform
For writers, WordPress.org is considered to be one of the most excellent open-source blogging platforms globally, having been established in 2003. At present, it is responsible for powering more than 39.6% of websites worldwide. This platform allows users to develop a blog and website at no cost, and the process takes just a few minutes. The user is required to register with a hosting provider to ensure full control over the blog.
For both students and teachers, creating an online presence without any costs is made easy through the utilization of WordPress as their preferred blogging software and platform.
While the WordPress.org software itself is without charge, obtaining a domain name involves a fee of $14.99 per year, and website hosting incurs a monthly cost of $2.99. Both a domain name and hosting are necessary to launch a website of any kind, indicating that no options are accessible at a zero-dollar amount.
WordPress is highly compatible with search engines, making it effortless to create SEO-based URLs and tag posts. Furthermore, numerous other SEO plugins can provide additional features. Given that SEO is crucial for monetizing blogs nowadays, WordPress stands out as the top blogging platform for this purpose.
The platform provides a vast library of themes that you can use without limit. WordPress.org serves some of the finest and most sought-after WordPress themes.
Pros
- You can control your website entirely.
- Adding extra features to a blog such as paid membership, online store and forums are easy to add for growing a blog. This feature makes the WordPress.org platform very scalable for your business.
Cons
- Working on your own website is complex and involves certain learning curves.
- Managing security and backups is an additional task for managing a website.
2. Wix
The Wix blogging platform is considered one of the most powerful and top-tier options for bloggers who are willing to pay for a premium service. Its drag-and-drop functionality offers a user-friendly experience and allows bloggers to create their own website, which sets it apart from Medium. As a result, Wix is widely regarded as the best website builder for bloggers. Additionally, small businesses seeking to establish their online presence can take advantage of the Wix Blog App to connect with customers.
In 2006, Wix was launched with the aim of enabling individuals to build their own websites without the need for coding. Currently, Wix boasts over 110 million users worldwide.
With the basic website builder from Wix.com, you can create a website without any cost. A free account is included, and you can also try it out for 14 days. However, if you want a custom domain, it will cost you $4.50 per month. Additionally, there are premium packages available that range from $8.50 to $25.50 per month.
Pros
- The startup is easy and quick
- Drag and drop tools are easy to use with no coding
- Third-party apps and hundreds of templates are available to customize the site.
Cons
- Limited third-party apps
- The template cannot be changed any time at later stages of website development
- The free account has limited options and a lot of ads on the site.
3. Blogger
The earliest blogging platform, which was founded in 1999 and is well-suited for non-tech-savvy individuals, is Google’s Blogger, a free service that allows for simple and speedy blog creation.
Google acquired it in 2003 and transformed it into the current product. All that is required to get started on Blogger is a Google account.
Although Blogger provides users with a subdomain ending in blogspot.com at no cost, they may opt to obtain a custom domain through a third party registrar.
Pros
- Managing and using Blogger is easy in a technical manner.
- It is free
- Google’s robust reliability and secure platform is an additional benefit for the user.
Cons
- Limited blogging tools and no new features are added.
- Limited templates and design options. Also, the third-party templates are of low quality.
- No new features or updates are added.
4. Medium
Established in 2012, Medium boasts a sizable pool of experts, journalists, bloggers, and writers, comprising its community. Though its social networking features are minimal, it is relatively user-friendly when compared to other blogging platforms.
Medium functions similarly to a social media site in that members first create accounts before sharing written content. Upon registration, a web address is provided, though individuals are unable to utilize their own personal domain.
Although Medium is free, its limited control and monetization options have caused many individuals to switch to WordPress.
Pros
- A user can only focus on writing instead of designing.
- An online community already exists with similar interests.
- It is easy to use and does not require any coding skills.
Cons
- Users can’t make money by posting ads.
- A personal domain name cannot be acquired.
- Medium has control over the audience, it means losing the blog will lose your followers.
5. Squarespace
Squarespace caters to eCommerce users as an inclusive website builder and blogging platform famous for its captivating templates. It is an extensive rival of WordPress, providing easy options to establish an online presence for those with minimal technical knowledge. Squarespace’s reasonable pricing offers great value to users who aspire to integrate social media, sell products, and effortlessly customize their website.
With over 45 modules to select from, Squarespace provides a comprehensive blog post editing tool that allows for the inclusion of image galleries, newsletter subscriptions, custom code, accordion, charts, scheduling, and social media integrations. Users may connect their social media accounts, and bloggers can conveniently personalize their posts and products using the drag-and-drop editor to distinguish themselves from their rivals.
Choosing from 100 pre-made sections, a portfolio page feature and pre-designed color schemes can help users spark their creativity.
Squarespace provides effective marketing resources such as email campaigns, promotional pop-ups to attract customers, an announcement bar, and social media promotions on various platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.
Pros
- Stunning website designs out of the box
- No design or development experience required
- Can run full websites or just blogs
- You get full control of audience info and retention
- Dozens of free templates to choose from
- Hosted by Squarespace, so you don’t need to have a separate host
Cons
- Monthly fee
- Tied to their platform
- Might be restrictive to people who are used to having full control over design and development
- No add-ons outside of the official Squarespace themes
6. Weebly
Weebly, a web builder, serves as both a blog and a complete website. Currently, Weebly emphasizes an integrated partnership with Square (distinct from Squarespace) to process transactions and act as a competitor to Shopify, in addition to blogging and content creation. Weebly could be a suitable choice if your focus includes all three areas. Additionally, they provide well-crafted and stylish templates/themes as well as a comprehensive plugin collection. Weebly targets a more business-oriented audience compared to blogging platforms like Blogger.
The no-code drag-and-drop editor of Weebly is believed by certain individuals to be more intuitive than WordPress. Posting your content is effortless as you just have to drag any of the numerous elements onto the page and start writing. If you are already acquainted with WordPress, then the writing experience will be quite familiar and easy to manage.
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Professional themes and lots of plugins
- Solid eCommerce platform with a secure payment portal
- Easy to set up and use
- Not a lot of technical experience required to get started
Cons
- The free plan is fairly limited
- Outside of the plugin library, not a lot of customization options
- Potential trouble if you leave the platform
- SEO limitations
7. Hubspot CMS
The HubSpot CMS platform is both powerful and robust, catering to the needs of marketing professionals and developers alike. Even casual bloggers can benefit from HubSpot’s comprehensive marketing tools, including its user-friendly drag-and-drop website builder. As a secure hosted platform, HubSpot offers standard features such as backups, marketing automation, subscriber management, email segmentation, and intuitive publishing tools. Businesses can also use HubSpot to manage customer relationships by growing their subscriber base, grouping customers into lists, and creating visually appealing email templates and newsletters.
If you prefer using WordPress for blogging, you can still benefit from HubSpot’s CRM by integrating it with WordPress.
With HubSpot’s drag-and-drop builder, it’s not difficult to develop a blog. There are numerous themes available in the Marketplace that can be customized to match your branding. Adjusting colors and fonts or incorporating forms and other features is simple.
You can easily set up your blog with HubSpot using a quick setup wizard that takes only a few minutes to complete. The wizard allows you to input your blog details, select a template, and begin publishing content without any hassle.
The visual editor showcases your blog posts exactly as your audience will perceive them. It exhibits all the components of your theme, such as the hero section, sidebar, navigation, and footer. Alternatively, you can utilize the distraction-free mode for a simplified writing experience.
Pros
- Custom templates and tools to style your blog
- Powerful professional marketing tools for lead generation, email marketing, and analytics to help grow your audience.
- Built-in SEO features
- Easy to create and publish content
Cons
- The cost is more than other less robust blogging platforms
- Not for beginners. The advanced features require someone with more technical skills.
- More difficult to use and learn than other platforms.
8. Ghost
Initially conceived as a blogging platform, Ghost has undergone changes in recent times. It is no longer exclusively for bloggers as it promotes itself as a platform for creators. The Ghost dashboard enables you to publish content, send newsletters, provide paid subscriptions, generate popups and opt-ins, and many more. Ghost seems to be positioning itself as a rival to other drag-and-drop website builders in our list. Ghost caters to all levels of users at an attractive price point while also providing premium features which are sold at a lower price point relative to its competitors.
Ghost offers a seamless blogging experience with its user-friendly interface. Although Ghost’s interface is similar to WordPress’s Gutenberg, it doesn’t provide as many options. Ghost still offers some content types such as images, dividers, html, and other standard options.
Ghost’s true potential lies in the additional features it offers to expand your audience. By allowing you to add subscribers, establish membership levels, and accept payments, you have all the necessary tools to effortlessly set up a high-quality content delivery system. Moreover, with Ghost’s convenient membership management system, you can effortlessly oversee all your memberships, both free and paid.
Pros
- Incredibly fast to use as a writer and a reader
- A blogging-first platform
- Intuitive interface
- Can use markdown or HTML to write your posts
- Continuously updated by the developers and the community
- Open source
- Membership and Email marketing tools to grow your audience
Cons
- Not every host is ready to support Ghost
- Installation on a host that does support Ghost can be complicated if you aren’t tech-savvy
- As a self-hosted option, you are limited to customization options
- Very few themes are available without hand-coding your own
- The community is still relatively small, but it is growing
