Looking for the best blogging platform to kickstart your content creation? You’re in the right place. Blogging platforms have evolved over the years to become increasingly intuitive, feature rich and versatile.
Some even give you the tools you need to monetize your blog, with access to affiliate marketing plugins, advertising tools, and ecommerce stores.
For content creators, the best blogging platform is one capable of offering the perfect combination of simplicity and flexibility. Your solution should make it quick and simple to set up an engaging blog, while also ensuring your business can evolve and scale over time.
These solutions come with state-of-the-art content management tools, features for SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and a host of other convenient features.
Some will allow you to instantly promote your blogs through social media, set up email marketing campaigns to nurture your audience, and even publish different forms of content, like podcasts and videos. Today, we’re going to be taking a closer look at some of the most popular tools in the blogging landscape.
The Best Blogging Platform: 9 Options
There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy to choosing the best blogging platform. The right option for you will depend on your goals as a content creator.
In recent years, the number of available blogging platforms has increased as businesses invest more time and effort into content creation.
After all, 74% of companies say content marketing is helping to increase their marketing team’s quantity and quality of leads. Plus, around 77% of internet users say they read blogs regularly.
Here are some of the best blogging platforms to consider this year.
1. Wix
Wix is one of the better-known website builders and blogging platforms in the world. Widely regarded as one of the easiest tools for beginners to use, Wix ensures anyone can quickly and conveniently create websites for showcasing content, products, and more.
Versatile and scalable, Wix gives content creators the freedom to choose between building their ideal website using a variety of customizable templates, or working with an AI system (Wix ADI) to have technology manage most of the work for them. Wix is designed to load quickly, so customers can access your pages in a fraction of a second. Plus, it offers a highly resilient infrastructure, with built-in enterprise security. Accessibility tools even ensure you can make your content available to everyone.
Wix has specific templates available just for bloggers, as well as the option to set up your own custom domain. There are advanced SEO tools to increase your global traffic from the search engine, access to email automation features, social media integrations, and advertising options. Plus, you can monetize your blogs by displaying ads, offering subscriptions, and hosting events.
Pricing:
Wix has a host of pricing options available to companies based on their specific needs and goals. If you’re planning on starting a blog, you’ll probably need one of their basic “website plans”. These start at £4 per month for the “Connect domain” option, which displays Wix ads, gives you 1GB of bandwidth, 500MB of storage space, and a free SSL certificate.
If you want a more comprehensive plan, you can opt for:
- Combo: £7.50 per month for a custom domain (Free for 1 year), no Wix ads, 2GB of bandwidth, 4GB of storage space, 30 minutes of video a £75 ad voucher, free SSL certificate, and 24/7 customer service.
- Unlimited: £11 per month for all the features of Combo plus 1 hour of video, 10GB of storage space and unlimited bandwidth. Plus, you get a visitor analytics and site booster app free for 1 year.
- VIP: £21 per month for all the features of Unlimited plus 5 hours of video, 35GB of storage space, professional logo design social media logo files, and priority care.
2. WordPress
WordPress is widely regarded as the “go to” option for bloggers. The platform is extremely flexible and versatile, allowing companies to build virtually any kind of website they can think of. You can even add ecommerce functionality with the use of plugins like WooCommerce.
Responsible for powering more than 43% of all the websites on the internet, WordPress allows companies to choose between hosting their website with WordPress, or building their site with open-source solutions and choosing their own hosting provider.
You can access your own domain with WordPress, and connect directly to a range of marketing tools for email, social media, and paid ads. Plus, WordPress has countless free and premium themes to choose from.
If you want to make sure your blog stands out on the search engines, WordPress can enable Google Analytics on your behalf. Plus, the whole solution is designed to make it easier to position yourself in the top spots for your chosen keywords, with excellent SEO capabilities.
Pricing
The price you pay for WordPress will depend on which version of the solution you choose. If you opt for the open-source software, it’s free to download the technology and use it however you like. However, you will need to pay for your own solutions for site maintenance and hosting.
If you choose WordPress.com, you can access the service for free, but it comes with WordPress.com branding and ads. If you upgrade to the $4 per month option, you can remove the WordPress.com logo and advertising, and access a custom domain.
For $8 per month, you’ll also be able to unlock additional storage and design tools.
3. Squarespace
If you want to create a gorgeous and eye-catching blog for your visitors, it’s hard to go wrong with Squarespace. Loved by content creators across the globe, Squarespace offers access to a huge range of beautiful, premium templates, to help you launch your site as quickly as possible.
Currently, Squarespace already powers millions of blogs around the world, and it’s very straightforward to use if you don’t consider yourself to be particularly tech savvy.
There are lots of bonus features to explore, like SEO capabilities to improve your chances of standing out on the search engines.
Plus, you can integrate your site with email and social media marketing tools, so promoting your latest blog posts is straightforward too.
Squarespace comes with analytics and reports, so you can learn more about which blogs are generating the most engagement and opportunities.
You can set up your own affiliate marketing plans and even transform your blog into a store if you like, selling digital downloads and physical products alike. Plus, there are a handful of addons and integration options too.
Pricing:
Squarespace has a host of different plans available depending on whether you’re building a blog or an online store. The cheapest option is to pay for your store on an annual basis. Pricing options start at around $18 per month for a “personal website” or blog. Which comes with access to a custom domain, endless templates, and a range of mobile optimized features.
If you want to upgrade to a business plan, you’ll pay either $26 per month or $18 per month annually, for access to advanced ecommerce and website analytics, and fully integrated ecommerce.
4. HubSpot CMS
HubSpot offers companies access to a comprehensive selection of tools for sales, marketing, and customer service. The “CMS” solution provided by the brand is an all-in-one platform for blogging and website creation, designed for companies of all sizes.
It’s easy to use, and comes with access to a free CRM system, so you can track customer relationships.
The CMS comes with a straightforward drag-and-drop builder, plenty of pre-built themes and templates, and access to a fully managed and optimized hosting environment. You can choose your own domain name, and design content that’s already optimized for SEO.
Though relatively simplistic compared to some other content creation platforms, HubSpot’s technology is brimming with advanced feature options.
You can create custom reports, control access for team members, and access a conversions platform for tracking customer success. You can set up membership sites, create content in multiple languages, and host video too.
Pricing:
The pricing for the HubSpot CMS hub starts at $23 per month for annual customers. This comes with access to a CDN, SSL certificate, WAF, custom domain security settings and premium hosting. Plus, you can access a host of website themes, a drag-and-drop editor, live chat, forms, reporting, and more.
More advanced plans can get expensive quite quickly. For instance, the Professional plan starts at $360 per month with dynamic personalization, smart content and reporting, password-protected pages, A/B testing, custom reporting, SEO optimizations and recommendations, and content staging tools. There’s also a Google Search Console integration.
Enterprise plans are customized to your specific needs, but start at around $1,200 per month, with a host of extra features for web apps, memberships, adaptive testing, content partitioning, single-sign-on, and site performance monitoring.
5. Blogger
Blogger is probably one of the oldest blogging platforms out there, and the original option for many businesses used to get started online. Owned by Google, the solution offers companies a quick and simple way to get started online without any technical knowledge.
The product is packed with handy templates and themes to get you started, all with flexible layouts.
You can choose your own domain to add to your website with a couple of clicks, and there’s also the option to monetize your blog with direct access to the Google AdSense landscape.
Blogger also comes with handy built-in analytics, so you can learn more about your audience and their preferences over time. Google analytics can also be connected to your site.
There’s also plenty of storage options for content, and excellent security, so you don’t have to worry about suddenly losing access to your content for any reason.
While Blogger is far from the most advanced option on the market for content creators, it’s still one of the top contenders for beginners who want to dive into website creation quickly.
Pricing:
Blogger is completely free to use provided you already have your own Google account. Once you have a Google account, you can start designing your website immediately. However, you may need to pay for extra features, such as your own domain name.
It’s also worth noting that you won’t be able to access many advanced features with Blogger if you’re looking to rapidly scale your site.
6. GoDaddy
GoDaddy is best-known as an online hosting solution where companies can access hosting capabilities and domain names to build their online presence. However, the company also offers a fantastic and easy-to-use website builder.
The solution comes with a range of different templates, so you can ensure your website matches your intended brand.
There are specific templates for companies in different industries, and everything can be customized to suit your specific needs. The website builder also comes with access to AI-powered advice and guidance on how to boost your online presence.
There are built-in tools for SEO, social media and email marketing, plus, you can access a range of useful reports too.
The analytics and reporting section will give you a better understanding of how customers and visitors access and use your website, so you can generate more opportunities over time. As your site grows, you can also implement your own online store, set up an appointment system, and integrate your site with other tools for growth.
Pricing:
You can get started with the GoDaddy website builder for free, before moving up to a paid plan. Options start as low as £4.99 per month, with access to SSL certificates, custom domain connections, guidance and analytics, and social media marketing.
Plus, you get email marketing options and online appointments included too.
More advanced plans start at £7.99 per month for extra social media connections, social posts, email marketing options and branded content creation tools.
Or you can use the £11.99 per month plan for unlimited access to a range of features, including payments, recurring appointments, and text and email reminders for your customers.
7. Drupal
Similar to WordPress, Drupal is an open-source website builder, great for companies and creators looking for complete freedom when building their online presence.
The solution comes packed with helpful content management tools, APIs for multi-channel publishing and a range of convenient templates. You can even search for specific themes and templates based on the type of website you want to create in your chosen industry.
Drupal comes with built-in performance analytics and reports, so you can learn more about your target audience as you grow. There’s multilingual translation included, marketing automation features, and in-depth security options to keep your website safe.
Plus, when you sign up with Drupal, you’ll gain access to a fantastic online community.
The Drupal community is packed with designers, developers, and editors who can help you build and scale your company over time.
In fact, Drupal is excellent for people who think they might want to increase the size of their site over the years, adding new features and customization. There’s plenty of bandwidth and storage support on offer.
Pricing:
Since it’s an open source platform, Drupal is free to download and use. However, just like with WordPress, you’ll have to purchase your own hosting and security options outside of Drupal, which could lead to extra expense you need to plan for.
8. Ghost
If you’re looking for a blogging platform that combines phenomenal ease of use with flexibility, Ghost could be ideal for you. This content management system started similar to WordPress.com and WordPress.org, with the option to either access it with built-in web hosting, or as a stand-alone software.
Today, Ghost defines itself as a creator economy platform, providing everything business users need to create, publish, share, and grow their brands.
Not only do you get access to a wide range of free themes and templates to help you design the perfect site, but you can also create your own design completely from scratch.
Ghost makes it easy to create stunning blogging sites, regardless of whether you’re interested in publishing personal blogs, or creating an ecommerce website where you can sell goods and services.
Although it’s not as well-known as some of the other popular blogging platforms out there, it could be an ideal alternative to a WordPress blog if you’re concerned about the security issues or other problems associated with the average WordPress site.
Pricing:
The price for using Ghost depends on the size of your audience and your functionality requirements. For up to 500 audience members, you can access the Starter plan for as little as $9 per month, for one user, and standard themes and integrations.
Other packages include:
- Creator: Starting at $25 for up to 1,000 members with 2 staff users, unlimited custom themes, custom integrations, and thousands of Zapier integrations.
- Team: Starting at $50 per month with all the features of Creator, plus 5 staff users, priority customer support and higher usage limits.
- Business: Starting at $199 per month for up to 10,000 members with all the features of Team, plus unlimited staff users, advanced domain configurations and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
9. Tumblr
If you don’t need the full control and flexibility you’d get from a platform like WordPress, you might consider experimenting with a solution that gives you access to a built-in audience, to help you grow faster.
Tumblr is a little different from the other blogging platforms mentioned so far. It’s essentially a free blogging platform for content creation and sharing, with included social networking features.
On Tumblr, creators from all industries can share their knowledge and insights, without needing any HTML or CSS know how. There’s no need to worry about creating a new blog website from scratch, or following complex tutorials.
The beginner-friendly system allows you to simply share and publish your blogs with a couple of clicks.
You can also follow other blogs, reblog the content created by other companies, and even access built-in sharing tools to send your posts to your favorirte social media platform.
With Tumblr, you have complete control over what you share, and when you share it. You can access the technology for free with a subdomain, or purchase a professional blog domain separately.
Pricing:
Tumblr is a free blogging platform for people who want simple blogging functionality. However, if you want to access your own custom domain name, or update your blog with premium themes, you may have to pay an extra price. It’s similar to buying WordPress themes or plugins for a self-hosted WordPress website.
Choosing the Best Blogging Platform
As you can see from the list above, finding the best platform for your blogging requirements can be complex, because there are so many effective, user-friendly options out there.
The most popular blogging platforms range all the way from open-source solutions like WordPress, to marketplace environments like the Medium partner program. You can also find a host of hosted solutions from vendors like Wix, Weebly, and even Shopify.
Before you start building your own blog, it’s worth thinking about your goals. If you just want to share content online, a free version of a simple blogging platform might be enough.
If you want to create a highly customized website, you may need to opt for a more flexible and advanced platform.
It’s also worth deciding if you want to host your site yourself, or have someone else handle it for you. Accessing an open-source solution like WordPress with WordPress hosting services from a third-party like Bluehost can give you access to more flexibility, but it does require more technical knowledge.
Hosted platforms can be a lot simpler to handle, particularly if you’re an entrepreneur or small business, but they lack some scalability.
