Last Updated on December 29, 2022 by Kundan Sharma
If you are want to start a blog and confuse with so many options.
Well, I know it’s quite difficult for new people. Who just thinking about starting their first site.
In this article, I will help you to choose the best blogging platform that is right for you.
I will also give you details, pros, cons, and the price of the most popular best blogging platforms out there.
How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform?
If you get started with the wrong platform then it might be difficult to grow your site.
That’s mean it is important to choose a self-hosted, flexible blog rather than a free platform.
List of Best Free and Paid Blogging Platforms in 2023
1. WordPress.org
WordPress.org is the most popular blogging platform in the world. Today more than 28% of websites over the internet are powered by WordPress.It was launched back in 2003 and it is open-source software that helps to build a website.
Note: Don’t confuse open source software WordPress.org with the WordPress.com. it’s not good as WordPress.org
Most bloggers and marketers using the same WordPress.org platform to run their sites.
You only need to get WordPress hosting from their hosting providers. I recommend you take hosting from the Bluehost and it is also recommended by WordPress, basic plan starts from just $3.95/monthly.
- The open-source software that’s means it’s free to use. You don’t have to pay any cost for the software.
- WordPress.org self-hosted the platform gives you full control over your site.
- They have a lot of features and tools that help to grow your site and don’t require more coding skills.
- WordPress provides more than 45,000 free and paid plugins. They add more additional features to the WordPress site.
- You get lots of free Beautiful and mobile-ready themes that’s make your site more user-friendly.
- You have to take care of Hosting yourself.
- You need to manage your own website from the sketch.
The good thing is WordPress.org is free software. You don’t need to pay any cost for the platform. But you need to buy a domain name it will take cost around $12 to $15 for a year.
You can register a domain from GoDaddy and NameCheap both are good domain registrar companies and also need the hosting of $3.95/monthly.
2. Squarespace
Squarespace is a website builder platform that allows creating stunning websites using their drag and drop tool. It’s good for small business owner who wants to create a website for their business.
- Squarespace is easy to use for beginners, who haven’t a technical bone in their body.
- They provide beautiful template designs.
- They have limited features to build a site.
- It’s a little expensive for small businesses.
Squarespace plans might be expensive for beginners.
3. Wix
Wix is a platform to build websites. It does provide an easy way to create a website for small businesses.
It helps to create a blog around your website easily.
- Wix provides some better templates and designs for your website.
- You don’t require coding skills, you can use their drag and drop tool to build a better site.
- It’s easy to set up with Wix and doesn’t need additional Hosting for your site.
- • The free account has limitations and shows an advertisement on your site.
- Features are very limited.
- Once you choose the template then you can’t change it later.
- Even free third-party apps are limited.
Wix premium plan starts from $29/month.
4. Weebly
Weebly is another blogging platform that is good for businesses, who want to create a blog on their website.
- It is easy to build websites with the help of drag and drop builders with no coding skills.
- They provide a quick and easy setup and also host your site for you.
- You can use Weebly for free.
- It has limited integration with other tools.
- Migration your site from Weebly to another platform is difficult.
- They have limited features.
5. WordPress.com
WordPress.com launched in 2005. It is a freemium Blogging platform.Don’t confuse WordPress.com with WordPress.org (It’s the best free open source Blogging platform for the self-hosted site).
You can start a basic blog for free on WordPress.com with a WordPress domain. But later you need to take more things like custom domain, storage, and other premium services to grow your site and one more thing is without taking their paid plan you can’t able to grow your site.
However, it comes with a hosting solution but you don’t have 100% control over your site.
- Easy to set up doesn’t require to take Hosting from another hosting provider. You get Hosting from WordPress.
- Easy to use and manage your site.
- Get hundreds of free theme designs.
Cons
- WordPress.com free plan is quite limited.
- They have lots of restrictions and limited options to extend website functions.
- You don’t have complete control over your site like in the self-hosted site.
WordPress.com is a free Blogging provider but has some limitations with the free plan you will get a domain name like yourname.wordpress.com and shows ads on your site.
You need to upgrade to their Personal plan for $2.99/month to remove the logo and advertisement from your blog even get a custom domain for your blog.
Later you have to pay more to get additional design and extend storage.
6. Blogger
Blogger is a free blogging platform. It was owned by Google in 2003. It’s very easy to create a blog on Blogger. You don’t need lots of plugins to run a website.
You can create a free blog with their Blogspot domain and can also monetize your blog with Google Adsense to make money from basic blogging. It is good for beginner bloggers, most of the bloggers started their Blogging journey from this platform.
If you want to do serious blogging and also want to make money then I recommend you to take your blog on WordPress.org platform.
- Everything is free at blogger.
- It’s very friendly for the beginner and easy to use.
- You get unlimited bandwidth and they have also the advantage of Google.
- Easy to get back up and migrate your site to WordPress platform.
- Blogger has limited Blogging tools; you can’t grow your blog with that amount of basic limited tools and features.
- Blogger hasn’t much improved its features from the last few years.
- Google can suspend your site at any time, without know you. If they find anything wrong.
If you want to use a custom domain then you can buy a domain from a domain registrar company like GoDaddy and Namecheap, It cost will be around $15/year.
After taking a domain name then you can add your custom diamond at the place of the free Blogspot domain.
7. Tumblr
Tumblr is a little different blogging platform. It is a microblogging platform with a social networking feature.
Tumblr has a serious lack of tools but it’s free and easy to use.
- They have a social network feature to connect with other users.
- You can easily make different media contact.
- Tumblr has a Simple interface.
Cons
- Tumblr comes with limited features with them you can’t grow your site.
- It is difficult to get back up and migrate your blog to other platforms.
- Tools, Features, and Themes are really poor and not useful.
You can also buy the additional themes However, some plugins are free but unfortunately, they are not so useful.
8. Medium
Medium landed in back 2012. It has grown a lot in a couple of years, now they have a community of bloggers, writers, and marketers.
- Medium is easy to use you don’t require coding skills to start a blog on it.
- Medium helps to reach up to people, who have a similar interest as yo
- You can design your website very easily.
- The biggest drawback of this platform you can’t run ads to make money from your site but in most cases, peoples earn money from running ads on their site.
- It is not good for you if you want to earn money from ads.
- Medium features are so limited.
- Medium owns your audience, if you lose your blog then you also lose your followers.
Medium is free for use but you can’t monetize your blog well.
My Recommendation
It’s extremely powerful and easy to use and more flexible than all of the other blogging platforms.
I hope this article helped you to choose the right blogging platform for your blog. If you are going to start blogging with WordPress then the self-hosted platform then follows this article How to start a WordPress site on Bluehost step by step guide.
Hi, I am Kundan Sharma Founder of this blog Blogging Spark. I’m a passionate Blogger and Digital Marketer. Who share useful content that helps you to build a profitable Blog to make passive income online.
