11 February 2022
Are you looking to start your blog but can’t figure out how to choose the best blogging platforms?
If you are a beginner, you should look for a platform that allows you to easily set up your website without any coding. It should be SEO-friendly, have extensive customization options, and be flexible enough to allow for future growth.
In this article, we’ll show you the ten best blogging platforms you can use by reviewing the pros and cons of the most popular blogging sites.
Many people make choices based on price when it comes to blogging platforms. Some of the best blog platforms are available for free. Check to see what plans each provider has and how many tiers there are. Then analyze their primary and unique features. Pay close attention to the value that out-of-the-box features provide compared to add-ons.
Let’s have a look at some more features you could need for your blog. This might help you compare different blogging sites.
Now that you know what features you could need for your blog, let’s look at some of the best blogging platforms for beginners on the market.
Below are the best blogging platforms for beginners:
WordPress.org is the most popularly used blogging platform on the internet. WordPress was founded in 2003 and today runs over 43% of all websites on the internet.
WordPress.org is an open-source, free blogging platform that lets you build your website or blog within minutes.
It’s also highly customizable, fast, and good for SEO (search engine optimization).
It’s a self-hosted option, which means you’ll have to sign up for a WordPress hosting account. WordPress is an excellent choice if you need complete control over the future of your site.
WordPress.org is 100% free, but you will need web hosting and a domain name to start any type of website.
See our post on how to start a WordPress blog for complete step-by-step instructions.
Aside from creating a blog, WordPress can also be used to create a small business website and an online store. For more details, check out how to create a website with WordPress.
Web.com is a popular website builder platform that includes the option of adding a blog area to your company’s website or online store.
Their drag-and-drop website builder tool is highly user-friendly for non-techies, and they have very low start-up costs ($1.95).
You may choose from dozens of pre-made templates and then customize the layout of your blog without having to write any code.
It includes SEO tools, blog security features, autosave & backup, website analytics, etc.
The basic website package is just $1.95 per month!
You may also subscribe to the marketing plan for more effective SEO services, beginning at $3.95 per month. If you wish to add an online store to your blog, the eCommerce plan starts at $9.95 per month.
Wix is one of the most popular blogging platforms, with over 110 million users. Their drag-and-drop website builder allows small businesses to create a website quickly.
You may even start a blog for free using their blog app. However, if you want to connect your domain, you’ll need to purchase their premium plan.
Wix is a hosted blogging platform, so you won’t have to worry about the server. It’s ideal for those who don’t want to spend their time doing anything but blogging.
Wix is completely free, and after you sign up, you’ll be given a sub-domain URL like www.yourdomain.wix.com.
You may, however, add a custom domain for $4.50 per month. Their premium plans generally cost from $8.50 to $24.50 per month.
HubSpot CMS Hub is a complete blogging platform for small, medium, and large businesses.
It’s built on top of HubSpot’s marketing and CRM tools, so you can create a website, get more subscribers, send newsletters, manage your customer list, and more, all from a single platform.
Their website builder allows you to change your website’s style easily, and you can even customize the content that visitors view depending on their previous actions.
The HubSpot CMS plan starts at $23 per month and includes all of the essential features for maintaining a secure, well-designed blog, as well as the marketing tools you’ll need to grow it.
You’ll upgrade to the higher tiers for custom SEO recommendations and advanced features.
WordPress.com is the most user-friendly blogging platform for beginners. It comes from Automattic, a firm founded by Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress.org.
You may get a simple blog hosting service for free at WordPress.com. You may also purchase premium services like a custom domain name, more storage, and more.
As a result, it’s a good option for people who want to use WordPress but don’t need the advanced features of other blogging platforms.
A basic WordPress.com account is free, but it will have ads and branding. The monthly fee for the personal plan is $4, and it is payable yearly.
Gator is a website builder and blogging platform built by HostGator, a well-known web hosting provider. It has a drag-and-drop website builder that allows you to create any form of a website, including blogs, company websites, and even an online store.
It’s critical not to mix up the Gator builder with HostGator website hosting. You can start a WordPress blog with HostGator’s hosting service.
However, Gator is an excellent choice if you’re seeking a non-WordPress all-in-one blog platform and hosting solution.
The Starter plan costs $3.84 per month and comes with free hosting, a domain name, and an SSL certificate. The Premium plan costs $5.99 per month, while the eCommerce plan costs $9.22.
Blogger has been there since the beginning, and it is also one of the best free blogging platforms.
Because of the limitations of plugins and themes, some users move from Blogger to WordPress to get more features and control over their websites.
Blogger integrated with Google Adsense to allow you to monetize your blogs. It is simple to activate using their dashboard.
You only need a Google account to start a free blog on blogger.
See our comparison of WordPress vs. Blogger for more pros and cons of Blogger.
Blogger is entirely free if you use a Blogger subdomain such as https://example.blogspot.com. If you need to use a custom domain, you must purchase it from a third-party domain registrar.
Weebly is a popular website-building tool owned by Square’s payment platform. They offer simple website creation solutions for business websites and eCommerce enterprises.
They also offer a blog option and free blog templates that you can add to your website.
For more details, see our Weebly vs WordPress comparison.
Weebly is free for basic use; however, you will be limited to a Weebly-branded subdomain.
Paid plans that allow you to connect a custom domain starting at $10 per month (billed annually).
Medium is a social platform for writers, journalists, bloggers, and experts from various fields. Its blogging design is simple; however, it offers limited social networking functions.
Medium is similar to many other social media platforms in that you may create an account and begin publishing content right away. Your profile address will look similar to this: https://medium.com/@yourname.
Medium is free to use.
Squarespace is an easy-to-use website-building platform with a drag-and-drop interface. It allows you to create beautiful websites and personal blogs without knowing how to code.
Squarespace focuses on small business owners that want a quick and easy solution to establish an online presence. It was founded in 2003 and now powers millions of websites worldwide.
Squarespace has different prices for websites and online stores.
Monthly prices for personal websites start at $16. If you pay annually, the price each month is only $12. Pricing for the Business plan starts at $26 per month, or $18 per month billed annually.
Pricing for online stores begins at $26 per month.
We strongly recommend WordPress.org over all other popular blogging platforms because it gives you complete control and flexibility over your blog’s future.
If you’re searching for a WordPress alternate, our second option for the best blogging platforms would be Web.com or HubSpot CMS.
Their drag-and-drop website builder allows to creation of any form of a website, from a blog to a business website to an online store, at a low cost.
We hope this article helps you choose the best blogging platforms for your blog.
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Most of the blogging platforms listed above have a free version, but WordPress, in our opinion, is the best free blogging platform. There’s a reason why WordPress powers over 43% of all websites.
While WordPress is free, you will still need a domain name and web hosting, both of which cost money.
You may also want to see our guide on whether is WordPress free to use and what are the hidden costs.
We believe that WordPress is the best blogging platform for SEO since it offers powerful SEO plugins like All in One SEO that you can use to boost your site’s rankings.
The self-hosted WordPress.org is the way to go if your goal is to earn money from your blog.
Check out the best ways to make money with a WordPress blog.
Wix is an excellent platform for bloggers who want a simple, easy-to-use platform with drag-and-drop functionality. It’s ideal for novices, and you can construct a website or blog for free using Wix.com. Many premium plans are also available if you want to add more features to your website.
The fastest way to increase the visibility of your blog and increase your audience is to create high-quality content and promote it on social media networks.
Check out our ultimate guide on 23 ways to increase your blog traffic for free.
You have a few options for posting a blog for free. You may create a blog using a free subdomain, such as those provided by free Wix, Weebly, or WordPress.com plans. Instead, you may create an account on a social media network like Medium, create a profile, and then publish your blog post using their publishing tools.
You can make money with every blog topic if you have good traffic to your site. However, there are several blogging niches that are more successful than others.
Check out some best blogging niches with low competition in 2023.