9 Best Free Blogging Platforms for Bloggers

A blog can assist you in reaching a broad audience without limitations in terms of geography, whether your goal is to generate passive income or create a loyal readership.

Furthermore, the existence of costless blogging platforms has made the process even more convenient and effortless.

What Are Blogging Platforms?

Blogging platforms refer to websites that streamline the process of creating blogs for content publication. These content management systems come in various forms, such as website builders (which are extensively explained in Website Advisor’s specialized guides), simplified blogging software, and blogging applications.

Despite being in existence for over 20 years, it is only recently that they have gained widespread attention and recognition for their significance.

How to Choose a Blogging Platform?

It’s advisable to have an understanding of what to expect from blogging platforms before making a selection. If you’re a beginner, it’s best to opt for a platform that:

Is easy to set up
Comprises exciting learning aspects
Doesn’t demand coding skills

In addition, as time passes, you may want to incorporate additional impressive and persuasive features into your blog for your audience. It’s important to ensure that the platform is adaptable and provides sufficient opportunities for expansion in this situation.

With these crucial factors in consideration, here are the 15 best platforms that you should contemplate to experience something truly exceptional.

List of Free Blogging Sites to Consider in 2023:

1. WordPress.org

WordPress.org, which was introduced in 2003, has become a top blogging software and is responsible for powering over 40% of websites online at present. As an open-source platform, WordPress.org doesn’t require any payment unless you prefer a personalized domain name.

By using WordPress.org, you will need to register with the hosting provider associated with WordPress as it is a self-hosted platform. This grants you full authority to customize the appearance and functionality of your website.

After choosing a WordPress theme, all you have to do is tailor it to your liking and make your website accessible. Additionally, there are exceptional pre-made website templates that can be utilized to launch your website in just 5 minutes.

Advantages:

Free & open source
Customizable & versatile
Easily navigable dashboard

Drawbacks:

Installation might need a bit of learning
You’d have to take care of the hosting
You’ll have to take care of security and backups

Cost:

The platform’s advantage lies in its costlessness, meaning there will be no further expenses even with updates to its WordPress feature.

2. Wix

Wix is a prominent blogging site that offers comprehensive management capabilities, all free of charge. Its key feature is a drag-and-drop functionality that eliminates the need for back-end handling.

Wix boasts a highly contemporary and user-friendly design. Its standout feature is that it not only offers a multitude of template options but can also construct a complete blog on your behalf.

This site has the advantage of providing free hosting, which means you only need to register and start building your blog.

Advantages:

Customization through third-party apps and templates
Quick and easy setup
No coding skills required

Drawbacks:

Limited free account
Limited free third-party apps
No option to choose the selected template

Cost:

Even though using this website is free, if you choose the basic option, you must use the Wix subdomain. However, you can opt for a custom domain at a cost of $4.50 per month. Furthermore, Wix’s premium plans range from $8.50/month to $24.50/month.

3. Medium

Medium is an inclusive platform that allows anyone with an account to write and share their content. With a monthly readership of at least 60 million, choosing Medium increases the likelihood of gaining significant content exposure. This is possible due to its versatility as a site. People visit Medium to read diverse material and educate themselves.

In addition, using this platform is simple. All you need to do is register and start composing. That’s basically it. Nevertheless, it’s important to note that Medium doesn’t offer the option to establish your personal blog like WordPress, meaning your posts will only appear on Medium.

Advantages:

Easy to use and set up
Better exposure to existing readers’ community
Primary focus on writing

Negatives:

Limited features in terms of designing
No availability of a custom domain name
No option to run ads to make money

Cost:

Medium can be used without cost. However, if you desire additional benefits, you may select their membership package, which requires a monthly fee of $5 or an annual payment of $50. This package grants supplementary content access, audio materials, offline reading options, and additional features.

4. Ghost

You may want to consider this widely-used blogging site as a means to create a lucrative blog. It is a self-hosted system with a cost associated with it, and it is also equipped with a plethora of captivating features, resembling those found in WordPress.

Ghost’s flexible content management system and robust editor make it effortless to generate high-quality content.

In addition, having your own team will be effortless with the aid of this platform as it facilitates smooth collaboration.

Advantages:

Written in JavaScript, super-fast
Clutter-free and intuitive interface
Focused on writing and blogging

Negatives:

Not enough options for themes
Limited user interface options
Customization with apps isn’t easy

Costs:

Opting for the self-hosted version will involve acquiring a personalized domain and website hosting, which comes at a cost of $14.99 annually and $7.99 monthly, respectively. The pricing structure has also been segmented into three categories – Basic, Standard, and Business options – starting at $29 per month.

Before you subscribe to the premium versions of this platform, you can try it out for free for 14 days to evaluate its various features.

5. Weebly

Weebly is one of the top website builders or best free blogging sites for those aiming to develop a proficient website that effectively expands their business.

With this website builder, not only can you exhibit your writing abilities, but you can also trade commodities from your portfolio.

This tool bears some resemblance to Wix as it offers users an interactive editing platform with drag and drop features. To create buttons, one simply needs to drag the page and personalize it.

Likewise, the photo gallery slideshows and other multimedia components will undergo the same modifications. These components will also enable you to access media boxes, social media symbols, subscriptions, and more, side by side.

One of the greatest advantages of using the Weebly platform is the built-in analytics reports that provide a comprehensive overview of your blog’s performance and highlight areas that require improvement.

Creating blog posts is a breeze as you can effortlessly move the text boxes, picture frames, and page breaks within the content to your desired position.

Key characteristics:

Drag & drop website builder
Easy user-interface
Safe and secure
Work as an e-commerce store
Domain registration
Full-width page editor
App integration

What makes Weebly a preferable choice?

Powerful block building platform
Provide the best post previewing options

Currently, there are excellent bargains on offer.

Buy Starter kit at $5 per month
Buy Pro kit at $12 per month
Buy the Business kit at $25 per month

6. Blogger

Blogger, owned by Google, is a highly robust and user-friendly platform that caters to both beginners and seasoned bloggers, making it the ultimate choice for everyone. It offers many delightful surprises, making it accessible to a broad audience.

Blogger offers a wide variety of templates, including mobile versions specifically designed for smaller screens. Moreover, with the increasing number of people using smartphones to access online content, Blogger serves as a convenient choice among websites.

This tool not only provides professional editing results but also strikes the perfect balance between power and usability, making it less complicated to use.

An excellent attribute of this blogging platform is the integration feature, which enables the owner to conveniently utilize Google Apps.

By attaching a drive with a blogger, users of Google Drive accounts can effortlessly store data and files.

Bloggers encounter a significant issue of spam comments through this blogging platform; nevertheless, they have devised an automatic spam filter to address it. Consequently, you can conveniently oversee the comments through bloggers.

However, opting for a blogger is an excellent choice, given that it is among the best blogging sites without any cost, when you consider its adaptability and numerous other features.

Distinctive characteristics that are quiet or noiseless.

Provide solid solution for personal blogging
Work as a professional users
Include default themes
You can interact with Google Plus profile
Provide you handy themes and different color filtering tools
It comes with ad spaces, so you can earn from the blog as well

What makes a Blogger a good choice?

Perfect for the newcomers
Provide an impressive selection of the templates

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7. Tumblr

Tumblr is a unique and superior free blogging platform compared to others available online. It stands out from the rest as it is primarily designed for publishing content.

The blog is designed to be compatible with both multimedia and social media, while the temple’s interface is user-friendly and has a playful design.

To begin blogging, sign up for a Tumblr account using your regular Google account or another option.

Similarly to other blogging platforms, this one offers various post templates suited for diverse types of content. Moreover, you can upload images, videos, and various content varieties that enhance the experience for your clients.

This blogging platform is geared towards businesses and boasts a user-friendly interface, along with minimal customization choices and acknowledgement across various social media platforms.

Nonetheless, this is an excellent solution for businesses as it enables them to showcase advertisements on their page alongside their sentiments and integrate their blog using Google Analytics.

Key characteristics:

Photo uploading, private message sending a public message
Networking features like real-time updates and private messages
Search options like email address and keyword
Targeting options and customized designs
Easy to publish

What makes Tumblr a good choice?

Easy to start a blog
Allows social media
Customize pages

8. Joomla

Considered as one of the best free blogging platforms, Joomla is ideal for new bloggers seeking a cost-effective option. Not only does it enable you to work on both hosting and domain, but it also ensures complete creative control.

With the Bluehost platform, one can conveniently gain entry to a dependable domain and hosting platform. Additionally, Joomla offers a versatile interface that enables the regular publishing of a range of contents.

The initial tab functions as a traditional chat interface and permits you to toggle between tabs and choose the date, post categories, and Meta description keywords.

The top-notch platform is capable of accommodating multiple languages and offering CMS solutions worldwide. It is equipped to handle over 17 languages and facilitates effortless updates.

Additionally, it provides the fundamental elements that transform the blog into an open-source content management system and allow for global publication of content.

The online applications developed using modern view controller web applications are enabled with independent CMS, thereby providing the ability to create robust apps.

Key characteristics:

Banner management
Media management
Contact management
Well supported languages
Integrated with customer support
Search
Multilingual supportive CMS

What are the reasons to opt for Joomla?

It is an award-winning CMS platform
This is 13 years old and won 20 awards
It is free and easy to download

9. Jimdo

Experts highly recommend Jimdo as one of the top free blogging site applications. Its basic features enable you to create a website customized to your preferences, giving it an impressive appearance.

When you check its option, your site will automatically be created and based on your choices. The downside of the Jimdo is that you can have a custom option.

With Jimdo, you can immediately build impressive blog posts, eliminating the need to meticulously work on individual content boxes. Additionally, you can easily analyze and edit your page without being redirected to another page.

In addition, incorporating the photo and logo into the content element is a straightforward task. There are numerous alternatives available to pick from, such as basic text, photographs, images, galleries, and countless others.

Additionally, you have access to various categories including edit previews and image previews. You can construct your project by incorporating individual elements that can be added separately, along with text, pictures, and other components.

Notable Characteristics: