Online publishing software known as blogging platforms enable authors to post articles, opinions, or product reviews. These posts can be shared through independent websites, email, feed syndication systems, and social media networks.
Presented here is a curated selection of the leading Blogging platforms, featuring their most sought-after attributes and website URLs. The catalog encompasses both no-cost open source options as well as fee-based commercial software.
Best FREE Blog Sites & Platforms: Top Picks
#1) Wix
Wix.com is a user-friendly and intuitive drag-and-drop platform for bloggers of all levels. It boasts more than 250 million users worldwide and provides everything necessary for developing and expanding your online brand. This comprehensive solution offers an array of design tools, integrated SEO features, advanced marketing functionalities, dependable web hosting, top-notch security, and exceptional performance. Wix.com is the ideal platform for constructing a profitable blog.
Characteristics:
- It allows you to create a personal blog or a portfolio website or even an online store.
- 800+ themes and templates
- Free SSL Certificates
- Industry leading 99.98% Uptime via their Enterprise-grade Infrastructure that includes 20 PoPs, with 200 CDN location. This ensures your blog loads fast for users across the globe.
- Inbuilt DDoS protection
- Built-in Backups to easily recover your data
- Fully-manage services so you do not have to deal with technical deatils of setting up your blog.
- Wix offers Good Security Features and encrypts Sensitive Data. It is GDPR, CCPA and LGPD compliant
- Track traffic with Google Analytics and other powerful marketing, analytics, and SEO tools
#2) WordPress
As an open-source and no-cost CMS, WordPress is renowned globally for its popularity. Although it was initially developed as a blogging platform, it has evolved notably with the addition of various functionalities over time. These days, it is being hailed as an all-encompassing content management system.
Characteristics:
- You can design multiple pages with no coding skills using Page Builder plugins.
- Option of WordPress hosting or self-hosting.
- It is one of the best free blogging platform that allows you to create webpages for multiple functions for your blog.
- Offers Backward Compatibility.
- WordPress Plugins comes with excellent unofficial support other than the main help document.
- WordPress offers a simple addition of posts or pages on the site.
- Hosts offer WordPress installation using cPanel with very few clicks.
#3) Blogger
Blogger is a platform that enables users to build and manage their own website through blog-publishing services, with a range of design and functionality tools available. It is considered one of the finest free blogging platforms as it integrates seamlessly, eliminating the need for users to purchase, set up, and handle separate applications for creating their webpage.
Characteristics:
- The drag-and-drop blog editing interface.
- Allows raw Conversion.
- Option to create private blogs.
- Web feed options.
- Link editing in compose mode.
- Offers country-specific blogger addresses.
#4) Medium
Medium is a platform that enables individuals to share their personal stories and ideas through content. It’s recognized as an exceptional blog platform since it’s free and allows users to post their unique content and connect with readers either within the community or publicly. Additionally, it aids in discovering engaging insights and knowledge.
Characteristics:
- It allows you to automate story descriptions.
- Provide an option for URL customization.
- Blogger.
- It offers an easy-to-use editor that lets writers focus on their creation instead of formatting.
- Offers partnership program for a firm or individual
- Interests customization.
#5) Weebly
With Weebly, creating a personalized blog for your business is effortless thanks to its intuitive drag-and-drop website builder. This blogging solution presents 50 unique templates that can be tailored to your preferences.
Characteristics:
- Weebly offers a free plan for a limited period, which allows you to try it out on a small scale before paying.
- Offers built-in easy to understand SEO guides.
- It allows you to change the blog template.
#6) SITE123
Site123 is a user-friendly tool for constructing websites. It is a top-notch blog platform that is free and enables the creation of small business websites, blogs, or even eCommerce sites with minimal effort.
Characteristics:
- It allows you to build your basic website for blogging.
- Offers SEO tools that give you a perfectly optimized blogging website.
- Responsive web design and mobile-friendly website
- It offers more than 250+ design templates.
- It is visually pleasing and fits in many different industries.
#7) Squarespace
Squarespace is a renowned website builder that boasts expertly crafted templates. It integrates hosting, templates, themes, CMS, e-commerce, and technical assistance into a single package and even includes blogging capabilities.
Characteristics:
- Modern design templates.
- Adjust the styling of your sites along with fonts, colors, and page configurations.
- Customizable content layouts.
- It allows you to add your personalize CSS and other coding.
- Simple, easy-to-use editor interface.
- Social media supported.
#8) Tumblr
Tumbler, being a top-notch blogging platform, offers the convenience of sharing multimedia and other content across micro-blogs and social channels through a unified dashboard. With this platform, one can easily handle multiple accounts and monitor their content calendar.
Attributes:
- Page customization tools.
- It allows you to comment, re-blog, and like posts.
- Automatically posts to Facebook and Twitter.
- It allows you to schedule your post.
- Platform supports text, image, quote, link, chat, audio, and video uploads.
#9) Ghost
Developers can use Ghost, an open-source website builder and publisher platform, to easily create and publish content. This platform, considered one of the top free blogging sites, offers user-friendly tools.
Characteristics:
- Provide support for Content Editor and Content Management
- It allows you to scheduled Posts.
- Custom Domains.
- Support for automatic Backups.
- It allows you to do role-based permissions.
- Offers tools for SEO optimization.
#10) Write.as
Write.as is a platform designed for writing and publishing while keeping the writer’s privacy as a top priority. This feature allows writers to differentiate between writing and reading, preventing notifications related to likes and comments from being a distraction.
Features:
- It provides an easy option for writing and publishing.
- It allows you to publish individual articles.
- You can share your URL with other blogs, social media, or email.
#11) Hubspot
If you are not familiar with HubSpot as a content management system, chances are you know HubSpot as a tool for managing customer relationships.
HubSpot has gained recognition for its comprehensively equipped all-in-one solution consisting of an expansive inventory of tools within its Marketing, Sales, Service, and Operations Hub. Over the past few years, HubSpot has accomplished significant progress in the realm of CMS and has recently unveiled a newly designed free CMS platform.
One of the greatest features of HubSpot’s platform is the integration of its business tools and website tools, which unite your brand and customers within a single location.
Who is HubSpot’s Free Blogging CMS for?
Historically, HubSpot was an excellent selection for marketers, salespeople, and customer support departments. However, now that HubSpot has incorporated an easy-to-use website builder and CMS, businesses of all sizes can benefit from a single solution for managing their entire company.
Commence your journey with HubSpot’s complimentary CMS and business instruments. In case you aspire to expand, HubSpot presents upgraded versions and characteristics that can facilitate your progress.
General Information About HubSpot’s Free Blog CMS
HubSpot’s latest CMS platform offers all the necessary tools for creating a website with top-quality content and enhanced security features, completely free of charge. The package comprises:
- Free theme marketplace with built-in templates
- Built-in SEO recommendations to optimize content
- Included security measures including SSL, web application firewalls, and malware detection
- Content distribution network and content hosting
- Integrations with their marketing, sales, and support tools
#12) Joomla
Joomla is an open-source content management system similar to WordPress. To maximize the benefits of this free blogging platform, obtaining a domain name and hosting plan is necessary, just as it is when running a self-hosted WordPress website.
Joomla, which powers approximately 58 million websites, is the second most widely used CMS globally after WordPress.
Who Would Like Joomla
Joomla demands a certain level of technical expertise that surpasses that of WordPress and several other leading free blogging platforms available today, making it less suitable for individuals seeking an effortless (non-technical) interface.
In addition, the user system is more sophisticated, which implies that if you possess technical expertise, there are more pre-installed options available for you to explore.
Joomla has the advantage of having built-in multilingual support, making it unnecessary to add any extra plugins.
General Information About Joomla
Mambo, which was created in 2000 by an Australian corporation known as Miro, was originally referred to as Joomla. Subsequently, the source code was divided into what is now known as Joomla.
Joomla has been updated several times since it was officially released in 2005.
To enhance the functionality of Joomla, one can incorporate additional extensions.
Joomla has five types of extensions:
of the system are interconnected and rely on each other for proper functioning.
Mini-applications, referred to as components, typically consist of both an administrative and a site side.
The subject of discussion is modules.
Modules such as login or footer are utilized for page rendering using this extension.
Rephrase: 3. Add-ons
In Joomla, a plugin is a feature that activates an occurrence, such as incorporating a form onto your website, implementing shortcuts, or including an additional method for authentication.
There are various types of templates available.
The appearance of a website is determined by its template, which also modifies the display of its components and modules.
“Languages” cannot be rephrased as it is only a noun without any context or additional information to rewrite.
The basic Joomla package includes additional languages, while supplementary ones can be included using an extension.
Hosting with Bluehost
Joomla mandates self-hosting of your website which makes it slightly less of a fully free blogging platform. I suggest opting for Bluehost as your Joomla host. Bluehost hosts 85,000 Joomla sites and provides a 1-click installation feature as soon as you sign up. However, it would be recommended to go through my list of 25 genuine Bluehost reviews and decide for yourself.
#13) Yola
Yola is a user-friendly blogging platform that is free and has a drag-and-drop tool. It utilizes a WYSIWYG interface, making it simple and quick to learn and operate.
Who Would Like Yola
In my opinion, Yola’s free version is not the top choice for a free blogging site. Although it offers attractive templates that are responsive, the free version has limited features and does not measure up to the other free blogging sites we have evaluated on this list.
One of the most attractive aspects of Yola is the option to utilize your site as a platform for eCommerce. However, this feature is not accessible with the free plan.
The main thing to note is that it is not possible to create a blog directly on the Yola site. The only way to have a blog on the Yola platform is by incorporating an existing Tumblr blog.
Considering these factors, I suggest solely utilizing Yola’s free version to experiment with website building or to identify whether you’re inclined to invest in a pricier premium package.
General Information About Yola
In 2007, Yola was launched as a blogging site that was free of charge in South Africa. With its headquarters located in Cape Town, the company currently boasts more than 12 million users.
Yola offers approximately 80 templates, but the templates lack categorization. Thus, you must assess whether the template aligns with the website you aim to build.
Six languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, are available for the Sitebuilder.
Their objective is to facilitate the process of getting your business online.
You receive access to the following features at no cost:
- 3 Pages
- 1GB bandwidth
- 1GB storage
- Yola subdomain
Which Free Blogging Site is Best For You?
Ultimately, the free blogging site that meets your needs is your own decision to make.
Wix can serve as an ideal platform for beginners who are not focused on earning money through blogging and prefer an uncomplicated approach to starting a blog.
Opting for Tumblr might be a suitable choice for you if you seek something enjoyable and slightly different with an incorporated group of people.
If you’re looking for the ultimate answer on which blogging site is the best, I suggest starting with self-hosted WordPress. This particularly holds true if you aspire to have a significant impact on several readers or create a lucrative business through blogging.
To put it briefly, choosing self-hosted WordPress is still the ideal option if your objectives for blogging involve generating income from your website and creating a coherent strategy that entices readers.
WordPress offers immense opportunities for growth as a blogging platform free of cost (without necessitating site migration soon after inception). Through WordPress.org, you can begin with a straightforward personal blog or establish a successful venture. Moreover, for those seeking simplicity at the outset, no technical expertise is required.
For bloggers looking to establish a serious business, a WordPress blog hosted on one’s own server offers the highest potential. Additionally, by selecting an inexpensive hosting plan, one can maintain their blogging expenses to approximately $5.00 per month.
