Top 9 Blogging Platforms – A Detailed Comparison

Having learned how to start a blog and earn money from experts, you are now eager to begin your own blog. Nevertheless, novice bloggers often struggle with the daunting task of selecting the most suitable platforms for generating income. How can you ascertain which blogging platforms are the most advantageous? This guide will unveil the top blogging platforms for writers, and by the time you finish reading it, you will have a clear choice of platform, along with the knowledge of how to initiate a blog and receive compensation.

01. WordPress.org

Price: Free
Domain Name: Not Provided.
Web Hosting: Not Provided.
Themes: Over 4,400 themes.
Best For: Beginners, Professionals, and Businesses.

Today, WordPress stands as the most favored and highly endorsed CMS (Content Management System) accessible nowadays. Among the prominent online platforms like TechCrunch, CNN, and Bloomberg, WordPress is extensively employed to enhance their websites. The primary reasons behind its substantial popularity are its adaptability and user-friendly nature. Moreover, it grants individuals the freedom to construct their blogs according to their own preferences.

Looking for an aesthetically pleasing theme for your WordPress blog? Don’t worry, you have numerous options. The official WordPress directory offers thousands of free themes that can be utilized to personalize your website. Alternatively, you can explore various premium themes from third-party marketplaces, which also offer a vast selection to choose from.

The plugins contribute to the distinctiveness of WordPress, allowing you to effortlessly establish your own online store, gather email addresses through pop-up messages, enhance website SEO, and perform numerous other tasks, even if you lack web development or coding expertise.

You can freely download and utilize the WordPress software. Nonetheless, to establish your blog, it is necessary to buy a domain name and a web hosting plan individually to host your website. Opting for a hosting provider such as SiteGround, which provides specialized web hosting plans for WordPress blogs, would greatly facilitate the setup process of your website.

Make sure to take a look at our step-by-step tutorial and web hosting comparison if you require assistance with setting up a WordPress website.

02. WordPress.com

Price: Free or $2.99 per month.
Domain Name: Free sub-domain.
Web Hosting: 3GB free space.
Themes: Over 100 free themes.
Best For: Beginners

WordPress.com, built by Automattic, the company behind WordPress software, differs from WordPress.org. With this platform, setting up a blog is hassle-free as it eliminates the need for web hosting and setting up WordPress independently.

With the free plan, you have the opportunity to create a blog on WordPress.com with limited features using a subdomain name (such as yourname.wordpress.com). In return, WordPress will display their ads on your blog, and you’ll have restrictions on customizing your blog theme or showcasing your own advertisements.

By upgrading to a paid plan with a starting price of $2.99 per month, you can eliminate ads and obtain a personalized domain name. Nevertheless, if you wish to monetize your blog and include your own advertisements, switching to the $8.25 per month plan is necessary.

03. Medium

Price: Free
Domain Name: Not provided.
Web Hosting: Unlimited
Themes: Not available.
Best For: Beginners, marketers, freelancers.

Medium, a burgeoning blogging platform created by Ev Williams, one of the co-founders of Twitter, solely prioritizes writing without the need for software installation, theme customizations, advertising, or premium subscriptions. It simply offers a space to creatively compose and distribute your personal narratives.

Medium is a great platform to consider starting on if you have an interest in writing for enjoyment or establishing a reputation for yourself or your brand without any cost, as it garners millions of readers on a monthly basis.

Among the individuals utilizing the platform to host their blogs are Jeff Jarvis, Tim O’Reilly, Hillary Clinton, and the US White House.

If you are interested in writing, you have the option to create a Medium account without any charge. Additionally, if you already possess a custom domain name, you may utilize it as well.

04. Tumblr

Price: Free
Domain Name: Free sub-domain.
Web Hosting: Unlimited
Themes: Over 100 themes.
Best For: Beginners

Originally a microblogging platform, Tumblr gradually transformed into a social network primarily used for sharing GIFs and memes. Due to its accommodating content policy, it has gained popularity among NSFW and adult content creators.

If you want to personalize your blogs on Tumblr, you have a predefined selection of both unpaid and premium themes. Moreover, if you own a custom domain name, you can set up your blog to utilize it instead of the free sub-domain provided by Tumblr.

When blogging on Tumblr, attracting readers to your content won’t be too challenging as the platform already encompasses a user community. Nonetheless, due to its scarce customization choices, Tumblr is not appropriate for aspiring professional bloggers.

05. Joomla

Price: Free
Domain Name: Not provided.
Web Hosting: Not provided.
Themes: Not Provided.
Best For: Advanced users.

Joomla is a content management system (CMS) software that shares similarities with WordPress, yet possesses greater intricacy. Navigating through Joomla is comparatively more challenging than WordPress, thus making it primarily suited for adept users who are ready to invest time in mastering the platform.

Joomla is not only suitable for creating blogs but also various other types of websites due to its powerful platform. It offers an extensive range of useful modules, allowing for easy customization of your blog or website according to your preferences.

Similar to WordPress, acquiring web hosting is necessary for setting up a Joomla blog. Additionally, it is essential to source Joomla themes in order to personalize the design according to your preferences.

06. Blogger.com

Price: Free
Domain Name: Free sub-domain.
Web Hosting: Free 1GB space.
Themes: Limited number of themes.
Best For: Beginners and personal bloggers.

Since 1999, the blogging platform owned by Google has been offering bloggers a free space, and it continues to be active. Google states that countless individuals still utilize Blogger as a platform to host their blogs.

Blogger is an excellent platform for creating a basic blog due to its flexibility in customizing the website’s design according to personal preferences, and it also provides the option to monetize the site with ads at no cost.

However, Blogger websites have a limited selection of themes and most of those designs are now considered outdated, potentially damaging the credibility of your professional blog. However, for a simple personal or hobby blog, Blogger is sufficient.

07. Wix

Wix is highly regarded by experienced bloggers as the top choice for writers who have acquired the knowledge of creating a blog and earning income. Wix serves as a comprehensive and high-quality blogging platform, providing a remarkably user-friendly option for novices.

Wix, being a solution provider for small businesses around the world, offers a blogging platform equipped with drag-and-drop features. This allows you to easily customize your blog within an hour, addressing any concerns related to their official websites.

By utilizing Wix’s Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) tool, setting up the blog can be achieved in just a few minutes. The process of establishing a Wix blog becomes significantly simpler with the utilization of the platform’s blog templates.

There are 7 distinct niches available on Wix, each offering over 70 templates for individuals to choose from when creating a blog. Furthermore, every template includes necessary pre-installed blogging functionalities.

Wix was launched in 2006 and was created solely for the creation of personal websites with zero codings. And now, this platform – which many online entrepreneurs consider as the best blogging platform to make money – has over 110 million users worldwide.

You can create a website for free using the Wix website builder. Upon visiting Wix.com, you can sign up for a free account with a 14-day trial included. However, if you want a custom domain, it will cost you $4.50 per month. The premium packages for the blogging platform are priced between $8.50 and $25.50 per month.

Example of Blogging Platforms available on the internet.

A few blogs that are powered by Wix are:

Monica Pack Pilates
Adam McCain
Brown Owl Creative
Sonja van Duelmen
Tobias Becs, etc.

Advantages

Setting up a blog is incredibly easy and quick
Create a blog with zero codings, thanks to drag-and-drop features
Hundreds of customizable templates are available
Third-party applications are available

Consequently, the company made the decision to extend the deadline for submitting the project.

Third-party applications are limited
Templates cannot be changed at later stages or risk losing all edits
The free account/plan has minimal options
Lots of ads can affect usage

08. Squarespace

Squarespace is widely regarded as an exceptional platform for writers and bloggers due to its inclusion of various visual elements. It serves as the perfect choice for photographers, artists, and designers, offering them an all-inclusive website builder with effortless drag-and-drop functionality. Additionally, Squarespace is renowned for its vast selection of visually appealing templates.

Squarespace allows any small business or entrepreneur to establish a strong online presence and generate significant visibility without necessitating the hiring of a professional website designer.

Having been founded in 2003, Squarespace presently empowers numerous websites. The platform provides multiple pricing options for both websites and online stores. A personal site can be availed at $16 monthly or $12 monthly if paid yearly.

Online stores typically charge between $26 to $40 per month.

Examples of blogging platforms include

Examples of blogging platforms include:

Yellow Co
Knapsack Creative
Studio McGee
TinySeed
KeyNest, etc.

Squarespace is the platform used for constructing all of these blogs.

Advantages

Aesthetically pleasing, professionally designed templates
It is user-friendly and simple to use
It offers domain names with eCommerce stores and SSL/HTTPS separately
A few SEO tools are available
Extra social media functions
Excellent choice for beginners who are not tech-savvy

Furthermore, the use of mobile phones while driving is prohibited due to the potential dangers it can pose.

Integrations are severely limited to a few select tools and services
You can only use these features available within the proprietary platform

09. Jekyll

Jekyll is a user-friendly content management system that operates on files and is available as an open-source platform. It offers a simplified alternative to traditional CMS by utilizing Liquid and Markdown templates to render your content and generate a fully functional static website. This website can be easily hosted by Nginx, Apache, or any other web server of your choice.

Jekyll is responsible for fueling GitHub Pages, which allows you to host blogs/sites directly from your GitHub repositories. While GitHub.com offers a free domain for the platform, there is also an option to use a custom domain.

Examples of blogging platforms.

Jekyll is utilized by over 268 organizations in their tech stacks, encompassing Sentry, GitHub, RazorPay, New Relic, Babbel, and numerous others.

Advantages

It is the perfect choice for those who love CSS, Markdown, and HTML
Users can check in their entire websites – including content, etc. – into version control. This means upgrading your blog is possible without losing any of your content
Blogs powered by Jekyll are incredibly fast – due to static assets – with minimal effort from you
You can run your Jekyll blog at almost zero costs. You can host your site on GitHub Pages for free. You will only get to spend approximately $10 per year on a domain name.
You can do almost anything that can be done with a regular content management system.
You can work without coding
Open-source
Gitlab pages integration
Incredibly low maintenance
Authoring simplicity and freedom
Easy to deploy

Cons: – Drawbacks – Negative aspects – Disadvantages – Downfalls – Weak points – Limitations – Flaws