How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2024 (Compared)
Is it Your Goal to start a Blog, But You Can’t Figure out How to Choose the Best Platform?
How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2024 (Compared)
It’s hard to choose because there are so many different ways to blog. How do you know which one is best for you?
You can use this article to help you choose the best blogging platform. We’ll go over the pros and cons of the most popular blogging sites to help you decide.
Here are some of the most popular blogging platforms we’ll be comparing in this post.
- WordPress.org
- Web.com
- Wix
- HubSpot CMS
- Gator
- WordPress.com
- Blogger
- Tumblr
- Medium
- Squarespace
- Ghost
- Weebly
Choosing The Best Blogging Platform – What to Look for?
People who want to start a blog should think about what they want before going through the list.
In the beginning, you should look for an easy-to-use blogging platform that isn’t hard to learn and doesn’t need any coding skills.
This isn’t the only thing to think about. You’ll also need to think about what kind of blog you want to make now and in the future.
Your blog may look different and have more features as it grows. That means it’s important to choose a blogging platform that can be changed and has room to grow.
When you start with the wrong platform, it can be very hard to switch to a new one later on.
The last thing to remember is that even if you don’t plan to make money blogging right now, it’s a good idea to make sure that you’ll be able to do so at some point.
Then, let’s compare the best blogging platforms for people who have never done it before.
How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2024 (Compared)
1. WordPress.org
WordPress.org is the best blogging software in the world. WordPress was started in 2003, and now more than 42% of all websites on the internet use it.
Check this out: It’s easy to confuse “WordPress.org” with “WordPress.com,” which is a service that hosts blogs later in this list. Take a look at our guide to learn more about the difference between the two types of WordPress.
If you want to make your website or blog, WordPress.org is a free blogging platform that lets you do it in minutes.
So, you will need to sign up with a WordPress hosting company for this to work for you. WordPress is a good choice if you want to be in charge of the future of your blog.
Pros
- Everything on your website can be done by you with WordPress.org, and you can do it yourself.
- When you start a blog, you can add extra features like forums, an online store, paid memberships, and online courses to make it even better. The best way to make money with a blog is to use WordPress.
- There are a lot of free themes for WordPress. This lets you make a beautiful website that stands out from the rest. Most of the most popular WordPress themes have built-in options that let you change their look of them.
- You can also get more than 58,000 free WordPress plugins from us. These plugins are like apps for your WordPress blog. They let you add things like contact forms, galleries, and other things that make your site more interesting. We’ve put together a list of the best WordPress plugins for every site.
- WordPress is good for search engines because it is easy to use. SEO-friendly URLs, categories, and tags are easy to make for your posts. Plus, there are a lot of good SEO plugins that can help even more.
- In WordPress, you can easily set up website analytics powered by Google Analytics. This way, you can see the stats that matter to you. This helps you get more people to read your new blog and sign up for your email list.
- As the last thing, WordPress’ drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to make any kind of content on your blog site. It also lets you add dynamic content like videos, social media feeds, Google Adsense, graphs, charts, and more without having to know how to do it.
Cons
- It takes some time to learn how to run your website.
- You will have to make your backups and keep your computer safe.
Pricing
A domain name (about $14.99 a year) and web hostingstartst at about $7.99 per month. WordPress software is free, but you’ll also need these things.
If you want to start any kind of website, you need a domain name and web space.
You can get started with Bluehost, which is an official hosting provider for WordPress, for only $2.75 a month. They’re giving our users 60% off web hosting and a free domain name as a thank-you.
We have a step-by-step guide on how to start a WordPress blog. Check it out!
As a whole, WordPress is a great choice for both personal and professional blogs, and it’s easy to use.
Most of the well-known bloggers on the internet use WordPress as their content management system because it’s easy to use and has all the features you need to make a blog that’s going to be a hit.
How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2024 (Compared)
2. Web.com
A well-known website builder called Web.com has a built-in feature that lets you add a blog to your business website or online store.
Their drag-and-drop website builder platform is very easy for non-technical people to use, and they charge only $1.95 to start.
You can choose from one of their many pre-made templates and then change the layout of your blog without writing any code at all. All of the powerful features you need to make your blog and website work well are included. SEO tools, blog security features, autosave and backup, website analytics, and more are all included.
Pros
- Drag and drop website builder for people who aren’t tech-savvy (no coding needed).
- Dozens of blog templates that you can make your own.
- Web.com takes care of all the technical parts of hosting your website, so you don’t have to worry about anything.
- Starting at $1.95 a month, it comes with all the basic features you need.
- All paid plans come with a free domain name.
- During business hours, you can get help from customer service by phone, live chat, or email.
Cons
- There aren’t as many third-party plugins as there are with WordPress.
- Blog features aren’t even close to as powerful as WordPress.
- Because Web.com is a one-size-fits-all website builder, it’s hard to move your website to another platform later.
Pricing
There is a Web.com website starter plan that costs $1.95 a month. It comes with a drag-and-drop site builder, a blogging platform, hundreds of beautiful templates to choose from, and a free domain name.
It costs $2.95 a month for their Marketing plan and $3.95 for their eCommerce plan. If you want powerful SEO tools or eCommerce features, you’ll have to pay more.
3. Wix
Wix is a popular website-building service that is run by a company and that many people use to make their sites. Their drag-and-drop website builder makes it easy for small businesses to make a website. If you want to add a blog to your website, you can also use the Wix Blog app.
Wix.com was started in 2006 as a place where anyone could make a beautiful website without having to know how to write code. It now has more than 110 million users around the world.
Pros
- You can change the look of your site with a lot of different templates and apps from other companies.
- With simple drag-and-drop tools, you can build your site without having to know how to code.
- When you set up, it’s quick and easy.
Cons
- If you sign up for a free account with Wix, you’ll see their branding and ads on your site.
- It’s not easy to get free apps from third-party sources.
- When you choose a template, you can’t change it after you’ve made your choice.
- There are only paid plans that have eCommerce features, and even the paid plans don’t have all of the features.
- Check out our Wix vs. WordPress comparison to learn more about the two platforms.
Pricing
There is a basic Wix website builder that you can use for no charge. With a free account on Wix, you’ll get a subdomain that looks like this: https://username.wixsite.com/example.
If you want, you can pay $4.50 a month to have a custom domain added to your account. They have premium plans that start at $8.50 a month and go up to $24.50 a month.
4. HubSpot CMS
For small, medium, and large websites, HubSpot CMS Hub is a blogging platform that comes with everything you need.
There are marketing and CRM tools built into it, so you can use the same platform to make a website. You can send newsletters and manage your customer list all from the same place.
Their website builder makes it easy for you to change the layout of your website, and you can even change the content that people see based on what they’ve done in the past.
Pros
- A website builder that doesn’t need you to know how to write code.
- Because HubSpot will host your website for you, it will be quick and easy to set up your website quickly.
- Fully optimized for SEO and sales.
- It comes with a free SSL certificate.
Cons
- While the HubSpot CRM itself comes with free tools like contact management, email marketing, and forms, the CMS doesn’t come with any of these.
- It might cost more as you move up the tiers.
- If you’re moving from another blogging platform, the process of moving may take a long time, depending on how long your old service was.
Pricing
At $25 per month, HubSpot’s CMS plan gives you everything you need to have a safe, well-designed blog, as well as the marketing tools you need to grow it.
For the custom SEO recommendations and more advanced features, you’ll need to pay more for the higher tiers of the service.
6. WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a blogging service that is run by Automattic, a company founded by Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress.org. Automattic is a company that makes software for blogging.
WordPress.com gives people who want to start a blog free basic hosting. You can buy extra features like a custom domain name, more storage space, and other premium services.
WordPress.com is a good blogging site for people who don’t want all the extra features of self-hosted WordPress. It was started in 2005 to make WordPress more accessible to more people.
Pros
- None of that.
- It’s very simple to use and to keep clean.
- If you don’t mind having a subdomain on WordPress.com, it’s all yours for free. It looks like this: https://example.wordpress.com. This is the name of your free website.
Cons
- There are very few ways to make your site bigger. You can’t use custom themes or plugins to make your blog look different from the rest.
- You can’t put ads on your blog. When you make a free website with WordPress.com, they’ll show their ads on your site instead. Your blog doesn’t belong to you, and WordPress.com has the right to close your account if they think you’re breaking their terms of service.
Pricing
To start, you don’t have to pay anything for a basic WordPress.com account, but you’ll see ads from WordPress and see your branding.
You can pay $4 a month for the Personal plan to get rid of the WordPress.com logo and ads from your website. Also, you get your domain name (such as www.yoursite.com).
For $8 a month, you can get more design tools and more storage.
Beginners often start with WordPress.com, thinking they are getting the powerful WordPress.org software. Because of the similar names, they think they are getting powerful software. Then, many people switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org because they want to have more features and be able to make changes to their websites.
7. Blogger.com
Blogger is a free service from Google that lets you write about things you want to write about. If you’re not very tech-savvy, it gives you a quick and easy way to start a blog.
Blogger is one of the first blogging platforms. pyra labs launched it in 1999. Later in 2003, Google bought Blogger and made it into the product we use today.
There is nothing else you need to start a free blog on Blogger. You just need a Google account to do it!
Pros
- Blogger is free, but you have to sign up for an account to use
- People who don’t have any technical skills can use and manage it without any trouble.
- Has the added benefit of Google’s strong, safe platform and reliability.
Cons
- People who read your blog can’t add new features as it grows in popularity. You can only use basic blogging tools at first.
- Design options are limited because there are fewer templates to choose from. Blogger templates that are made by other people are often of poor quality.
- Blogger doesn’t get many new features or updates very often.
- Google can stop your blog at any time, or even stop the Blogger service. People who work for them have a history of giving up on projects without warning, like Feedburner.
Blogger is free, so some people start with it because it’s easy to use. As their blog grows, they end up switching to WordPress because it has more features and gives them more control over their site.
Pricing
To use Blogger for free, you must have a Blogger subdomain like https://example.blogspot.com, which means that you can use it for free. It’s not easy to get your custom domain name. You need to buy it from an outside company.
How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2024 (Compared)
8. Tumblr.com
People who blog on Tumblr aren’t like people who blog on other platforms. If you want to follow other blogs, reblog them, share them, and more, this is a platform for microblogging.
Pros
- Tumblr is free if you use a Tumblr subdomain like https://example.tumblr.com to sign up for the service. If you want, you can also connect a high-end custom domain name.
- Easy to set up and use:
- It has a built-in social media component.
- When you use Tumblr as a microblogging tool, it’s easy to post videos and GIFs, as well as images and audio formats, quickly.
Cons
- This means that you can’t add more features to Tumblr as your blog grows.
- There are a lot of themes for Tumblr, but they can’t add extra features.
- It’s hard to back up your Tumblr blog or move it to another service (see our guide on how to move from Tumblr to WordPress).
Pricing
This site is free to use and you don’t have to pay for it. You can buy a custom domain for your Tumblr blog. There are also third-party themes and apps that you can buy.
How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2024 (Compared)
9. Medium.com
In 2012, Medium was started by a group of writers, bloggers, journalists, and experts. Since then, the group has grown into a large group of people. It is an easy-to-use blogging platform that doesn’t have a lot of social networking features.
Medium works a lot like a social network site. You can sign up for an account and start writing your articles. As soon as you sign up, you’ll have a profile address that looks like this: https://medium.com/@your name. But you can’t use your web address.
Pros
- Medium is very easy to use. There is no setup and no coding skills required to use it.
- It lets you get in touch with people who share your interests on the internet.
- You don’t have to worry about making a website anymore.
Cons
- People can’t do very much with the features when it comes to designing or making a name for the company.
- Medium owns your followers, so if you lose your blog, you’ll lose all of them.
- In this case, you can’t use your web address. You’ll just get a profile page like Facebook’s, like https://medium.com/@yourname, like in the case of Medium.
- You can’t make money by running your ads.
Pricing
Medium is a free service that you can use as long as you want.
10. Squarespace.com
Squarespace is a website-building service that lets you make beautiful websites with simple drag-and-drop tools. It focuses on small business owners who want a simple way to get their business online.
Founded in 2003, Squarespace now powers more than a million websites on the internet.
Pros
- People who aren’t very tech-savvy can use Squarespace because it’s simple and easy to learn how to use.
- Templates that have been made by professionals are beautiful and look good.
- It separates domain names with SSL/HTTPS and e-commerce stores into two groups.
Cons
- Squarespace is only able to use the features built into its platform.
- There are only a few services and tools that can be integrated.
Pricing
Depending on what you want, Squarespace has different prices for websites and stores.
The price for their website plan starts at $16 a month, or $12 a month if you pay for the whole year at once. For the Business plan, the price starts at $26 a month, or $18 a month if you pay in full each year.
Online store prices start at $26 a month and go up to $40 a month.
How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2024 (Compared)
11. Weebly.com
There is a well-known website builder called Weebly that is owned by Square’s payment platform. They make it easy to make business websites and e-commerce stores with tools that are simple to learn and use.
If you want, you can also add a blog to your website, and they have free blog templates that you can use on your site.
Pros
- Having a fully-hosted website and blog platform.
- Using Square’s payment platform is easy.
- The hosted version doesn’t need to be set up.
Cons
- In the free plan, there are a lot of restrictions on what you can do and how much data you can It also has Weebly branding in it.
- Paid subscriptions are more expensive than the best blogging websites.
- Blogging and SEO tools don’t have the same power as WordPress.
Pricing
They have a limited free version that comes with Weebly branding and ads, but it is still free.
Their paid plans start at $8 a month if you pay for them at once. Getting the pro plan costs $12 per month, and the business plan costs $25 each month.
