Do you want to start your blog and you confused about the platform and can’t figure out the best blogging platform? It’s not an easy choice as a beginner to choose the blogging platform since there are several platforms out there.
The benefits of blogging are endless as to whether you are using it as a hobby or as a business. there are many blogging platforms that are paid and free but when you’re a newbie and don’t have any idea of operating you can always start with the free.
This guide is created for you to choose the best blogging platform and start blogging.
There are many blogging platforms for beginners to advanced bloggers. it’s an excellent way to get traffic on your website and build expertise in your niche.
Let’s dive into the best blogging platform which is free and paid as well their pros and cons
10 best blogging platform to consider in 2023
WordPress
Wix
Squarespace
Tumblr
Blogger
Gator
Medium
Ghost
Weebly
Strikingly
When to invest in blogging?
Before starting with the blogging platform let’s understand when you should invest in blogging?
Anyone who wants to publish the content on the web can invest in blogging but it depends whether you want to make money with blogging.
If yes.
Then I don’t recommend free platforms for blogging. as a blogger first thing, you will think about is blogging without coding skills most of the bloggers who are blogging on the web don’t have coding skills and that’s ok.
You can blog without coding and earn a good amount of money with blogging.
As your blog grows your audience will also expand so it’s important to choose a blogging platform that is flexible in the future to update the features of your blog.
Starting with the wrong blogging platform will be difficult to switch later on.
If you have the knowledge of blogging then you can invest in blogging and free blogging platforms are good if you’re a beginner and starting off with no knowledge.
WordPress
WordPress has over 60 million blogs. At this moment there are roughly 1.9 billion web pages.
There are two versions in WordPress they are free and paid wordpress.com (free) wordpress.org (paid)
The free version comes up with a lot of limitations but the paid version is by far the best.
There are several plugins and customization in WordPress which help to create your blog in several ways including adding about section contact form social media sharing buttons and much more.
In the free version, there are a lot of limitations and it’s not easily customizable like the paid version. In the paid version, there is an end number of themes but in the free version, there are not many themes.
Other blogging platforms are not widely used so they have fewer plugins and themes in comparison to WordPress.
Pros
• Easy to manage and access.
• More control over your blog.
• access to thousands of plugins and themes to design your blog
• Easy to setup and integrate when compared to another blogging platform
Cons
• You need a little bit of knowledge when compared to other blogging platforms.
• You have to handle your backup.
Recommendation: if you wanted to start with WordPress the basic hosting plans start with 199/month.
The hosting prices vary in the type of hosting plan you choose. if you choose the basic plan then it’s 199/month but if you choose the plus plan the price varies.
Bluehost is the best hosting if you wanted to start blogging they provide the cheapest hosting plans starting from 199/month. they also provide 24/7 customer support.
Wix
Wix is the hosting platform best known for its drag and drops you can create a website easily with its drag and drop feature.
One of the best things about Wix which most people like is its drag and drop feature. You can easily create your website with drag and drop.
Wix has both free and paid to host in free hosting you can easily create your website but free hosting comes with a lot of limitations.
You can also add a blog to your website with the Wix blog app. Wix is best when you’re a newbie blogger and doesn’t have much knowledge about the functioning of a website and blog. You don’t need to have coding skills to create a website on Wix.
Pros
• You can easily create your website with several templates and themes.
• Customization is very easy you can use templates from third parties.
• Easy to set up your website.
• Easy to integrate and add a blog using the Wix blog app.
Cons
• The free version of Wix comes up with a lot of limitations.
• It costs extra when you want to build an e-commerce website.
• It displays Wix ads on your website.
• Plans are costly when compared to WordPress.
Price: the plans start from 185/month it depends on which hosting plan you choose.
It’s easy to get started with Wix as its beginners friendly but as you grow it will be difficult to manage the traffic on a free platform. but you will get into trouble with the limitations of plugins and software.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a easy to used website building software it allows you to create beautiful websites with just drag and drop tools.
It is easy to use for beginners who don’t have much knowledge about websites. Squarespace’s focus is on small businesses that are building their website and online presence. An E-commerce website is easily created on Squarespace with its drag and drop feature.
Pros
• Easy to create a website for eCommerce with beautifully designed templates.
• Beginner friendly and doesn’t require much knowledge to use.
Cons
• More expensive plans than the other hostings.
• Fewer integrations and expensive when compared to WordPress.
• Adding an e-commerce store will be expensive.
• It has limited features and a few themes.
Price: Squarespace has different prices for the plans if you choose a personal plan then its price is $12 per month and if you choose a business plan then it costs $18 per month.
If you choose an e-commerce plan then it costs you $26 per month in this advanced e-commerce plan is also there which costs $40 per month.
Squarespace is good for small businesses not for the bloggers who want to earn money online and run their business online. if you want to run a full-time blog then Squarespace is not the option for you.
Tumblr
Tumblr is the microblogging platform. It is more like a social media platform where you can share your content.
If you are niche is a microblogging niche like the news then Tumblr is the best option for you.it has limited designs. you get a different experience that you don’t get on other social media platforms.
Pros
• Best for microblogging.
• You can add your domain to it and use it.
• Very easy to set up it doesn’t require much knowledge.
• It has more social media tools and features.
Cons
• Macro blogging cannot be done on Tumblr it’s for microblogging.
• Very limited designs are available you cannot use additional features.
• Importing your blog to other platforms like WordPress is difficult.
• It comes with a lot of limitations in design and tools.
Blogger
Blogger is a free blogging platform which is owned by Google it’s the early blogging platform which was developed in 1999.
Blogger is free and you can get Google Adsense approval on your blog and monetize your blog. It comes with a lot of limitations you cannot expand much in blogger its the best blogging platform if you’re just starting.
Pros
• It’s easy to use doesn’t require many skills.
• You can track the audience with the help of google analytics.
• You can blog for free.
Cons
• It’s limited to very few templates and not much blogging tools are available
• It’s difficult to do SEO of the blog as it’s free it’s very difficult to rank on google.
• No plugins are there for the blog which eventually leads to difficulty in the ranking.
• As it’s owned by google it can suspend your blog anytime.
If you are just starting with blogging and don’t want to invest in blogging then blogger is the best blogging platform for you. also it’s the best blogging platform to make money.
Gator by Hostgator
Gator is the blogging platform as well it’s a website builder. gator is easy to use you can drag and drop to create a website on the gator.
Don’t confuse gator with the web hosting platform. HostGator is the web hosting platform and the gator is the website builder.
gator doesn’t offer WordPress it’s a non-WordPress. If you want the best blogging platform and best hosting then you can go with the gator.
Pros
• Very easy to set up and use.
• Free domain and SSL is provided by a gator.
• Drag and drop feature makes website building easy.
Cons
• The e-commerce website is for higher plans.
• It’s not free they have 45 days money-back guarantee.
• Not much integration provided.
• If your someone who’s looking for a website builder and hosting then gator is the best blogging platform for you.
Medium
Medium is the community of the writers and the journalist. It’s a social networking platform you can on which you can publish your blog.
Medium is a different kind of platform from the blogging platforms we have discussed so far. It’s more like a social networking platform.
You can read the articles of all the writers here and get inspiration for your blog niche.
Pros
• It’s easy to use and not much coding skills are required.
• It helps in reaching more people with your blog.
• You don’t need to design much so your focus will be on blog writing.
Cons
• It doesn’t have many design features.
• In a medium, all your audience is on your blogs if you lose your blog then your audience will be lost.
• You cannot have a domain it’s like a Facebook or Instagram page.
Medium is more like a networking platform which is easy to use if you’re a beginner and learning to write an article than medium is the best blogging platform.
Ghost
Ghost is a platform which entirely focused on blog writing. It’s a hosting platform as well it’s software you can install and use.
It’s a free and best blogging platform for beginners. You can also turn your audience into clients as your blog grows.
Pros
• Easy to use not many skills required to setup.
• It’s in javascript so it’s fast and easy.
• Your interface is clean and easy to navigate.
Cons
• Not many themes available to change the appearance of the blog
• It’s not easy if you install.
• It’s not easy to customize.
Price: Ghost is free and if you used its paid plans with will cost you for the self-hosted domain of $14.99/ year and hosting starting from $7.99/per month.
Weebly
Weebly is another blogging platform with a drag and drops website builder it’s less popular than Wix and Squarespace.
If you want to start a blog and you don’t want to invest in blogging than Weebly is also the best blogging platform.
Pros
• Easy drag and drop website building
• Doesn’t require coding skills.
• Beginners friendly software.
Cons
• It’s more expensive when compared to other blogging platforms.
• Very few software integrations are available.
Price: the hosting plan starts from $8/month.
If you want to start and looking for drag and drop software then Wix or Squarespace is the best blogging platform for you. because it comes with a lot of customizations than Weebly.
Strikingly
Strikingly is the free blogging platform millions of businesses are using strikingly to create their blog and websites.
It’s one of the best blogging platforms to create a free website or blog for your business.
It allows you to build a website from scratch without any coding skills. If you’re a beginner or newbie who doesn’t have which knowledge then strikingly is the best blogging platform for you.
Pros
• It’s easy to use doesn’t much coding skills require.
• Easy drag and drop option for the website creation.
• Easy to add a blog to the website.
Cons
• It’s not much customizable when compared to other blogging platforms.
• Plans are expensive when compared to other blogging platforms.
• you need to upgrade to plan paid if you want rid of strikingly.com from your domain and only want your domain name.
Price: plans starting from $8/month if you choose a limited plan and pro plan costs $16/month and VIP plan costs $49/month.
If you’re using the free version then it’s good but if you’re choosing a paid plan then it’s expensive than the other blogging platform.
Summary
To break down the article in a short summary
Our recommendation is if you starting with a blog and want to monetize your blog and serious about your blogging then WordPress is the best blogging platform for you.
We recommend WordPress with Bluehost hosting because they have 24/7 customer service.
WordPress comes up with a lot of themes and thousands of templates to design your blog also there are thousands of plugins for website building.
If you don’t want to invest in the blogging platform then Wix is the best option for you.
But eventually, you will switch to WordPress when your blog grows.
If you liked the article on the best blogging platforms then let us know which blogging platform you use. also if you have any questions feel free to ask.
Also, check out our blog on best blog design it’ll help you in designing a blog