The best blogging platforms make it simple and easy for you to set up and manage a blog, whether for personal or business use.
The primary purpose of blogging platforms is to enable authors to publish content (whether articles, product reviews, or opinions) swiftly and simply through stand-alone websites, social networking sites, or email. These platforms can also provide powerful tools for marketing and, with well-thought-out content, build a brand and even a worldwide following.
Additionally, most blogs are relatively easy to set up, and - even better - platforms such as WordPress come with mobile-friendly themes, so you don't need to worry about fundamental website design issues.
However, before you put your creative cap on and start cranking out posts to charm your virtual visitors from all over the world – you need to find the right blogging platform for you. That's why we’ve hand-picked the best blogging platforms on the market, so be sure to check them out before any action is taken.
We've also listed the best WordPress hosting.
The best blogging platforms of 2023 in full:
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Originally created as a blogging platform, WordPress currently powers more than 43% of all sites on the internet, which is a testament to its popularity. It offers an excellent balance between ease of use and more powerful features.
Since you’re paying for a full service, you can let WordPress’s technical team handle all the details, such as taking care of the domain name, keeping your site secure, and web hosting services – it’s an all-in-one package.
There are thousands of free themes made for WordPress across the web, with flexibility in fonts and plenty of options for a custom look. They also offer specialized customer support, Google Analytics is easily enabled, and credit card payments can be accepted via an available plugin.
While there is a free tier available, it is suitable for non-commercial blogs only since it puts WordPress ads on your blog but removes the ability to monetize it.
However, you can also install the free WordPress blogging software on just about any hosting package, often with just a single click. This is the preferred way for many personal and business websites as it offers an immense amount of freedom to do what you want with it, away from the limitations of paid-for website builder option.
Read our WordPress review.
If you ask any old-time blogger about what platform they started their blog with, the chances are they'll answer that it was Blogger. Over two decades later, Google’s offering in the blogging space still holds several advantages over the competition, including that your existing Google account means you already have a Blogger account.
Those working on a shoestring budget will be glad to hear that Blogger is completely free of charge, and you’ll get a “blogspot.com” subdomain to boot. (You can also add your own custom domain in a couple of clicks.)
Blogger is one of the simplest blogging platforms out there and you’ll even get a choice of templates that can be further customized.
Since it's a Google offering, Blogger easily integrates with other Google products. Google Analytics provides details on your visitors that can help you grow traffic, for instance, while Google AdSense displays relevant ads to monetize your blog. (Basically, you can pay for the coffee as you sit in Starbucks and blog into the night.)
With all that going for it, is there any reason not to use Blogger? Well, since with Blogger you’ll get basic blogging tools only, as your blog grows it will outgrow Blogger at some point. Also, making a transition from Blogger to another platform can be somewhat tricky, although not impossible.
Overall, though, while Blogger lacks the flexibility of rival platforms such as WordPress, it's easy to set up and run, and could be a smart choice for very simple personal sites.
Whether you’re looking for a blogging platform to start a personal blog or build a professional site, you've surely run into Wix – one of the biggest players in the site-building landscape today.
Newcomers to the blogging game can get started in moments, simply by picking a template from their wide selection. You can preview your preferred design in desktop and mobile forms before you commit, a nice touch. Beware, though: commit to a template and you can't change it without starting your site from scratch, which can be bothersome at best.
With Wix, you can create your blog for free (provided you have your domain name set up and don’t mind having Wix branding on your blog), drive traffic to your blog with Wix’s advanced SEO tools like AMP & Schema, and have a personalized SEO plan to increase your visibility on search engines.
Wix also has a scheduling feature so that you can write your blog entries when it’s most convenient for you and then schedule them to go live at an optimal time.
Read our full Wix review.
Jekyll is an expert-level site generator which can transform plain text into static websites and blogs. Essentially, users provide content in one site of files, and then Jekyll builds a website which can be uploaded to your server.
As you'll probably have guessed already, the problem with this approach is complexity. There's no WYSIWYG visual editor, no drag and drop interface here: Jekyll is all about configuration files and command line switches. Even advanced users might take a while to figure out how it works.
Put in the time, though, and there are all kinds of benefits. Sketch has very similar features to the big blogging names, but it's infinitely more configurable. Because it generates static HTML files, there's no need for a database, making your sites much faster. And the speed benefits mean you could get by with a cheaper web hosting account, too (you may even be able to host a site for free on GitHub.)
Another big plus is that Jekyll is open-source and entirely free. The down side is there's no customer support beyond a community forum, but if you're an expert user who needs this level of control, Jekyll could be ideal.
While some blogging platforms encourage their users to evolve and blur the line between a blog and a full-fledged website – Tumblr stands at the other end of things. Nevertheless, it must be doing something right as it claims a staggering 580+ million blogs.
It focuses on the more concise end of the spectrum, with an emphasis on shorter content: a link, a picture, jokes, Spotify tracks, and videos (keep in mind that adult content is no longer welcome). Like with social media platforms, you can also follow other blogs, and republish posts you like to your own blog.
The main benefit of using Tumblr is its simplicity and mobile-friendliness - and it costs nothing. However, it is less than ideal for more ambitious blogs, as all content remains in the Tumblr ecosystem, and there is no way to directly monetize it.
To be fair, you could add ads via companies like Google AdSense, Yahoo Bing Contextual Ads, and Infolinks, or link your Tumblr blog to your online store, business site, or YouTube channel – however, you can’t do it directly through Tumblr.
Read our Tumblr review.
Best blogging platforms FAQs
How to choose the best blogging platform
While all platforms slightly vary in terms of features, the best blogging platforms should cover all core features including an easy-to-use content editor, tons of themes and templates, some search engine optimization SEO tools (or an ability to install third-party ones), and an ample app store with extensions or integrations with third-party tools.
In addition to this, you should look for advanced security, analytics and performance tracking tools, a solid customer service, ecommerce features (if you plan to monetize your blog), and a free trial (or at least a money-back guarantee) – so you can try out the platform before spending any money.
Also, before opting for one blogging platform over the others, you should have an idea of how much creative freedom and control you wish to have over your blog – as well as what level of technical know-how you possess.
How we test the best blogging platforms
Firstly, we’ll check what plans are offered by the provider, how many tiers there are, and evaluate their main and unique features while paying special attention to the value that out-of-the-box features offer in comparison to those available as add-ons.
Then we’ll test for ourselves how simple it is to purchase a plan with a provider, set up a blog, and start adding content to it – with an emphasis on ease of use, functionality, and flexibility.
In the end, we’ll estimate what value for money the provider offers and how do their products compare with similar blogging platforms.
What is a blogging platform?
Not long ago, the tools you would use to create a site and tools for building a blog were quite different – now, the boundary that divided them is blurred more than ever. Most content management systems (CMS’) and full-fledged website builders will allow you to create and manage any sort of blog or a site.
So, nowadays, a blogging platform refers to any software-based set of tools that let you create a blog while storing all your content, media, files, links, and everything else critical for your blog to work.
