So you have decided to make a blog. You want to get established in the internet world. But still confused which platform to choose?
In this post, we are gonna discuss the best blogging platform at present, which will be mostly easy and interactive for the beginners to start a blog.
There are lots of platforms present on the internet for blogging. You can even choose any CMS to start a blog. Nowadays CMS is playing a major role in building any website or blog. As CM’S are easy to use and handle lots of task without any load. Whether you know coding or not, it will help you build an awesome interactive website.
One of the most used CMS is WordPress. Even our blog also running on WordPress self-hosted platform.
Before starting to describe the things let me assume that you are a newbie and want to make a blog for the first time. As I have written earlier also, there are lots of platforms present, but you have to choose which is best for you. There will pros and cons for each and every platform.
Contents
The list of the best Blogging Platforms are:
- WordPress.org (self-hosted)
- WordPress.com
- Blogger
- Tumblr
- Wix
- Weebly
- Joomla
- Squarespace
- Medium
- Webs
- LiveJournal
- Ghost
WordPress.org (self-hosted)
WordPress is the world’s most popular and downloaded CMS. Around 28% of the entire web is powered by WordPress. Wordpress is an open source software, which you can download and install it your web host. It is a very flexible platform. Many professional bloggers already using and recommend this CMS. It is not only used for making a blog, you can also develop an E-commerce website with the help of WordPress and you don’t have any restrictions.
Pros
- It is an open source software, i.e no charges will be there to download the file or platform.
- You can install it on your WordPress/Web hosting provider, which one you like.
- There are 50000 of free plugins which will help you to build your site more interactive and easy for your visitors and you.
- There are hundreds of Free/Premium Themes to select from. You can select your theme according to your blog niche.
- You can earn money with the help of this platform via blogging.
- It is SEO friendly.
Cons
- You have to pay the charges for the domain and the hosting regularly. (I am not talking about free hosting service providers).
- Maybe setting up your blog take hours.
- You have to manage your back-up and security of the site.
- There is a little requirement of technical skills.
Good for
- Hobby bloggers
- Those who want to make money through blogging
- Travel Blog or Personal Blogs
- Professional Website or Business Websites
Cost
You have to pay for the domain and hosting. Either you can purchase the domain and the hosting separately and link them or you can purchase in a single Web Hosting service provider. Here is the list of the web hosting providers who are offering the domain for one year including with the hosting price.
If you purchase a Domain, it may cost as $11 to $15 a year. Here are the links to some best Domain name registrar. See the price as given below. The .com prices are given below:
| Domain Registrar | Cost Per Year (for .com TLD) | Buy Domain (Discount already applied below) |
|---|---|---|
 | $11.99/year | |
 | $10.69/year |
So, if you want to start a blog, you can choose Shared Hosting. It is the most recommended for the beginners, you can select the plan as per the storage of your blog. Later if your blog grows you change the Server to VPS or Dedicated as per your need.
WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a blog hosting service offered by Automattic. Unlike WordPress.org it cannot be downloaded. You have to create your blog on their hosting service. They will provide you to create a basic free blog with a subdomain of .wordpress.com. You won’t get all the features that self-hosted WordPress will provide.
You can read the difference of WordPress.com and WordPress.org
Pros
- Easy to set-up and no technical skills required. Write and post.
- It provides a free subdomain and a 3GB hosting for the initial free stage.
- You can create a free blog with a subdomain.
- WordPress team will take care of your blog’s security and back-up.
Cons
- Plugins and Themes are very limited.
- You have to subscribe to the premium plan to gain more control over your blog
- You cannot apply for the Google Adsense, to show the ads on the blog. WordPress doesn’t allow you to do so.
- WordPress has the control over your blog. You do not own your blog.
Good for
- Hobby Bloggers
- Personal Blog or Portfolio.
Cost
WordPress.com is providing you a free subdomain and a 3Gb web hosting for free. But you may not be satisfied with that. You can link your custom domain to your WordPress site. You have to purchase a domain. Here is the list of Top Domain Name Registrar.
| Domain Registrar | Cost Per Year (for .com TLD) | Buy Domain (Discount already applied below) |
|---|---|---|
| $11.99/year | |
| $10.69/year |
For web hosting, you can extend, you can change your plan from free to a paid one. Unlike wordpress.org site you have to select the plans from what the WordPress is offering. Here are the plans offered by WordPress.
Blogger
Blogger is a blogging platform offered by Google itself. It is very user-friendly and also free. It is the oldest platform and still, people use this because of its simplicity. If you know coding then you can make your website more interactive and user reciprocated.
You can see how to create a Blog on Blogger.
Pros
- You don’t have to pay for the hosting charges and very easy to set-up.
- It will provide you a free subdomain of .blogspot.com.
- It is easy to manage for a simple blog.
- You can you custom downloaded templated form blogger template providing websites.
- Since it is hosted on Google, so you gain a more grip on the SEO.
- You can earn money by applying Google Adsense.
Cons
- It lacks in tools and some features from other platforms.
- You require some technical skills to modify your blog’s custom template and other options.
- There are many restrictions in designing your blog. It is not as easy as the WordPress.
Good for
- Daily and Personal bloggers.
- Writers and Artists.
Cost
If you are satisfied with your free subdomain, then you don’t have to spend a single penny on your blog. but if you want a custom domain then you can proceed with purchasing a domain from the top domain registrars. Here are the list of registrars and the price they demand.
| Domain Registrar | Cost Per Year (for .com TLD) | Buy Domain (Discount already applied below) |
|---|---|---|
| $11.99/year | |
| $10.69/year |
You don’t have to pay for the web hosting, thanks to Google Cloud. Google is providing you an unlimited web host for your blog.
Tumblr
If you want to blog and manage your social networking in a single platform then you should try the Tumblr. It has the news feeds like Facebook, where you can see what your favorite other bloggers are posting.
It is for microblogging. You can share the links of your other blogs here.
Pros
- It is free and very easy to use.
- You get a free subdomain of .tumblr.com. Later you can connect it to a custom domain.
- Absolutely no skills required to make the blog. It’s like another social networking site with an extra blogging interface.
- You can choose your design you like. There are paid designs also.
- You gain a nice traffic due to the community.
Cons
- It doesn’t have any plugins or tools like other above platforms have.
- It will be difficult to build a nicely established blog on this platform as it has lacked in many features.
- You cannot earn money through Tumblr.
- When your blog grows and you are writing good contents then this platform cannot give you the right value for your contents.
Good for
- Microblogging and personal blog.
- Sharing your other blogs links here
- Building a community for your website.
Cost
In this platform, Tumblr is already providing you a free subdomain and it works more like a social network. But still, you want to connect your custom domain you can. Tumblr allows you to connect a custom domain to your Blog. Here is list of Domain registrars.
| Domain Registrar | Cost Per Year (for .com TLD) | Buy Domain (Discount already applied below) |
|---|---|---|
| $11.99/year | |
| $10.69/year |
You don’t have to purchase any kind of hosting. They offer you hosting for your posts and images. If you want Tumblr premium themes then you can purchase them at Tumblr Premium Themes. Only the themes will cost you nothing else.
Wix
Wix is a user-friendly online website builder. The websites are hosted on Wix hosting only. It has the drag and drops features which make the editing easier. It doesn’t require any coding knowledge, no technical skill just build using drag and drop.
Pros
- It offers more than 500 design for your blog.
- It gives you free subdomain of .wix.com and a simple hosting service. Other hosting plans are also there and you can connect a custom domain
- You can build the pages and contents with drag and drop features just like PPT without animation.
Cons
- Though it offers the drag and drops feature, it lacked in customization.
- Wix.com ads will be shown on your free plan blog. You are not getting the benefit of the ads, WIX.com does.
- Third-party apps are limited.
- You will get only 500Mb storage in the free plan.
- Lacked in E-commerce features.
Good for
- One page website for the well-established business holders.
- Artists those who want to show their stuff online and to do a trade.
- People lack technical skills and don’t have much time to spend on customization. Write and publish.
Cost
Wix offers you a subdomain for free and also allows to have your specific domain. You can connect your custom domain which you have purchased from other domain registration site or you can buy a domain from Wix itself. Here is the price they demand to have you a domain name.
Wix also offers you the web hosting with a premium subscription plans. If you are using free then you don’t have to pay for the web hosting, but if you want to extend the features you have to choose any of the premium plans.
With choosing the premium plan you will have a benefit of getting a domain name free for one year.
Weebly
Weebly also provided the drag and drops feature just like the WIX. It is also known for its easy customization. It is better known for the web-building and creating pages system.
Pros
- You can design your blog as good as you want, as it provides drag and drop builder to edit and customize your contents.
- Don’t have to bother about with the services and tools of the Weebly. If any breakdown happens they will rectify it.
- You will get a free subdomain of .weebly.com
Cons
- It provides 500Mb for free plan users.
- E-commerce website builder is for the paid users just like WIX. It takes the 3% of the benefit from the STARTER AND PRO plan users.
- Though paid plans for E-commerce but lacks in reliability and very limited
- Built-in features are very limited and you cannot add any further feature.
Good For
- One page website for the well-established business holders.
- Artists those who want to show their stuff online and to do a small trade.
- People lack technical skills and don’t have much time to spend on customization. Write and publish.
Cost
Same as Wix you can have your specific domain and extend your hosting features after purchasing a specific plan which they are offering. Weebly offers two kinds of main hosting service one for Websites and another for Online Stores. Here are the plans which Weebly is offering.
For more information, you can visit their official pricing site by clicking here.
For online stores, you have to select a paid plan. It won’t works for free.
Joomla
Joomla is a powerful and self-hosted downloadable CMS just like WordPress.org. It can be hosted on any hosting provider. You can create any kind of website or blog with the help of this CMS.
Pros
- It has hundreds of free templates to design your blog.
- It has many extensions (tools or plugins) to make the services and tasks easier for you.
- You are the owner of your own blog
- You can earn money through Adsense
Cons
- Just like wordpress.org you have pay for the hosting and domain
- Unlike WordPress, it doesn’t have much Templates and Extensions.
- You are responsible for the back-up and security of your blog.
- It requires technical and some coding skills to design.
Good for
- Professional Bloggers.
- Writers and Hobby Bloggers
- Bussiness Websites
Cost
Joomla is another open source CMS, just like WordPress.org.Purchasing the domain is mandatory so you can purchase the domain from the top domain registration website. Here is the list of domain registrars from where you can.In can be hosted on many web hosting
| Domain Registrar | Cost Per Year (for .com TLD) | Buy Domain (Discount already applied below) |
|---|---|---|
| $11.99/year | |
| $10.69/year |
You can also buy the domain and host from a web hosting provider.In can be hosted on many web hosting. You can see the plans of the web hosting providers for Joomla.
If you are making the blog for the first time, then you should go for the shared hosting. It is best for the beginners.
To know more about the domain and the hosting click on the link:
JOOMLA.COM (Platform Hosted)
Joomla.com also offers a service like WordPress.com. That means you can host your website on Joomla itself. They will provide you a subdomain and a basic hosting for free. You can check the plans as follows.
The Joomla.com and Joomla CMS works like same just the difference is the availability of the features. Joomla CMS is the self-hosted, so you can install more extension and can have more control over the blog.
In the case of Joomla.com, you may get the support from the Joomla team for the site back up and security, but you have to face the lack of extension in this platform. The differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org are also applicable in the Joomla.com and Joomla.org.
Squarespace
Squarespace serves as a simple website builder and website hosting provider. You will get a 14 days trial, within that you have to choose the plan. It does not come with plans. You have to purchase hosting and a custom domain. You don’t need a designing skill, it is simple and straightforward.
Pros
- It has some simple drag and drop tools which make the customization easier.
- There some professional templates according to the purpose or category of the website.
- It provides E-commerce plans and services separately.
- Nice built-in analytics.
- You can get the plugins from Square Studios. It is all paid.
- You place ads on your website by applying for Google Adsense.
Cons
- It can be expensive for most of you. You have to pay for the hosting and the sometimes have to buy the plugins.
- Limited features for tools and services. You can create at most 20 pages and only have two contributors in Personal Plan
- You don’t get any free plan, after 14 days of sign up.
Good for
- Company Websites and Professional Bloggers.
- Those who don’t want to customize much rather want a simple and optimized blog.
- Large business owners who want a professional looking and optimized website.
Cost
Squarespace doesn’t offer you to create a full-time free blog. You have to select a plan to host your blog. You can transfer your domain or can purchase the domain name from Squarespace itself.
For Web Hosting Squarespace classified into two major plans, one is for Website and another for the Online stores. You can check the plans from the image given below.
For more information about the plans you can visit their site: Click Here to Visit.
Medium
Medium is another platform which is also like Tumblr. It is a community-based blogging platform. You will be able to see, read and comment on the stories that others are posting. You can also connect your other social accounts in it.
Pros
- It is absolutely free and very easy to set-up
- You don’t need any coding or technical skill. If you can post on Facebook, you can blog on Medium.
- All the members get a profile domain or URL (medium.com/@name/). Just like Facebook or Twitter.
Cons
- Everybody gets the same design. You cannot customize your blog like in other platforms.
- The Medium has the control over your blog or you can your profile.
- You cannot show custom ads on your blog to make money.
Good for
- Creating a community through your stories.
- Making your other blogs (hosted or self-hosted) gain some traffic by posting the links to the stories.
- Daily or Hobby Bloggers.
Cost
You don’t have to pay for anything on this platform. It’s more like a social networking website. You will the profile id or blog id. You can post the articles just like you post on the Facebook page. The structure of the page will be like a blog.
Webs
Webs is a very simple blogging hosted platform and a site builder. It also provided the drag and drops features. Though the concept is like WIX and other blogging site builder cum hosting platform, it feels like the out-dated one. The features are not as advanced as other website builders.
Pros
- It has a free plan where you will get a free subdomain of web.com and a free hosting space.
- Very easy and fast set-up. Takes a couple of minutes only.
- It is good for a really simple blog.
- You fully own your blog. Webs don’t claim anything from your blog.
- If you become the premium user you can display your own ads on Google Adsense.
Cons
- The template options are very less even for the premium users.
- The customization using drag and drop is very limited.
- The builder lacks many features like it doesn’t provide you a built-up template.
- They will run their third party ads on your free blog. You won’t get any profit.
Good For
- A Small Blog.
- Personal Bloggers and Writers.
- An official page for your restaurant or office.
Cost
WEBS is a platform hosted website builder, just like Wix and Weebly. You can connect your domain to the webs blog or purchase the domain from webs itself. If you purchase the domain from webs it may cost you $19.9. But to have a domain name you have to go for the premium plan first.
The premium hosting plans which WEBS offers are as follows.
You can select the plans as per your blog’s requirement and which you can afford.
LiveJournal
Another example of a community-based blogging platform, LiveJournal. It is more like a social Journal. You can post photos, videos and share stories just like a Social Networking website. You can build a discussion group to start an online discussion of any topic.
Pros
- It provides you to make a free profile or blog.
- It is very easy to use just like a Social App
- Very simple and straight-forward.
- There are different languages present in it. You can choose according to your country language or audience.
Cons
- It’s more like a Journal rather than a Blog.
- Whether you opt for a Professional plan, the templates are not that much good as other platforms have.
- You cannot make money by showing you own ads there.
- LiveJournal will show their own random ads on your profile to promote their platform. If you are a free user.
Good For
- Making Journal Blog
- Providing News and happenings around you.
- Gaining traffic to your original blog hosted or self-hosted.
Cost
LiveJournal provides you to have a free blog. The blog is more like a Facebook Page with a much more simple template and design. If you want to have more styles, templates and customize your blog, then you can select the Professional Package of LiveJournal.
You can upload more user-pics, at most 30. Then after 30 pics, you have pay for the additional charge. For 70 pics, you have to pay $10, for 140 – $20.
Ghost
Ghost is a new emerging platform with all new features for blogging. The main motive of this platform is to make blogging easier than WordPress. From time to time WordPress has been upgraded from a simple blogging platform to a Multisite Builder. Ghost only focuses on the blogging part and make the blogging services easier for the webmasters.
It also provides two kinds of services, just like WordPress- Self-hosted and Platform Hosted (also known as Ghost Pro)
Ghost Pro
Pros
- It is simple and concentrate on the blogging and writing only.
- It gives you a nice user interface with a split screen.
- Some nicely built-in features like SEO, social media etc.
Cons
- Unlike WordPress.com, you don’t get a free plan. You only get a 14 days trial, after that its mandatory to select a paid plan to continue your blog.
- Since a simple version of WordPress, customization is limited.
- Limitation in plugins or apps.
Cost
The hosted platform is providing some plans which are as follows.
If you want to add the domain, you can easily link your domain or can purchase it from
Self-hosted Ghost
Pros
- No download cost for the CMS (as it is open source, just like WordPress self-hosted).
- A simple and straightforward dashboard.
- Extended with latest blogging features.
- You can show ads on your blog.
Cons
- You should have a knowledge of coding.
- Sometimes critical to edit or customize. It has the limitation in customization of your blog.
- Tricky to install the CMS on your web server.
- May not be good for a high-end Website.
Good For
- Personal and Hobby bloggers.
- Trying new platform and experiencing new technology.
- A small company blog.
Cost
You have to purchase the VPS or Dedicated server hosting. Since installing ghost needs some root access and commands, Shared Hosting won’t allow you to do so. You need to install Node.js on your server. There are some commands to update the server and change the user. So you need to access the root of your server.
The VPS hosting offered by different web hosting sites are as follows.
With these web hosting, you can have one domain name free for one-year.
Conclusion
Apart from these, other blogging platforms are also present on the internet. But I find these best blogging platforms a bit more fascinating than others. If you truly want to make a step in the blogging platform, you can try out from any of platforms mentioned above according to your need and plans you can afford.
If you want a dedicated blogging platform and earn money then go for self-hosted WordPress.org platform without any hesitation. We recommend you to use WordPress because most of the professional bloggers also having using the self-hosted for years and getting success.
If you want to make the blog to get some social attention then go for Tumblr. You can also choose Medium or Tumblr to gain some traffic to your self-hosted or hosted-blog on another platform.
Many of us don’t want to spend the time on editing and customizing if you are one of them, who just write and post useful contents then go for Squarespace or Ghost. They are very easy to edit.
If you are lacking the designing skill and don’t want to spend hours to design the pages using modules and pages. Then you should opt a website builder with drag and drop services, like WIX or Weebly.
I hope that I am able to cover the points regarding the platforms. If you have any queries, feel free to ask in the comments section below.
If you find the post helpful then share this post with your friends. Check what tools we use in this blog on our Blogging Tools & Resources Page. For more stuff keep visiting our blog.
Hey JP Thanks for writing this great article . This is really helpful for audience.
Thank you for the feedback and I am glad that our articles helped you.