A blog or a website is a great way to share your thoughts with the world, which is why so many writers are starting their blogs. With so many different blogging platforms out there, which one should you choose?

We’ll talk about 15 of the best blogging platforms for writers. Some are free, and some charge fees, but all of them give you tools to make writing easy and fun!

Which blogging platform is best for writers

The two most popular platforms for making blogs are Blogger and WordPress.com. These platforms may be good to use, but they can also be limiting.

Explore other options that will let you do different things with your blog, like reaching more people, building a freelancer portfolio, monetization, and having complete control.

Medium

Medium is a popular blogging platform. It has many good features like no login needed and easy-to-use content management. 

Medium has a large audience and an active readership. You can get a membership for $5 a month (or $50/year). With Medium’s membership, other people can tip you when you write content that they like.

Medium also has a tool to republish your articles from another website theirs called the import tool. 

The tool is easy to use, and your site won’t be penalized should Google raise an eyebrow as Medium adds canonical links to its URL. Google will know that it’s not duplicate content. You can also change links to something that people can understand, like “https://medium.com/your-name” instead of a random string of letters and numbers.

If you want to be read by more people, you can publish your work on Medium. This means that you will give up control of your content. The site’s analytics are not as good as Google’s. Nevertheless, it is an excellent place to publish if you have something that you can’t put anywhere else, and it wants it to be seen by many people.

WordPress.org

WordPress has been around for 15 years. It is still prevalent. Many people use it for blogging, but it can also be used as a whole website. 30% of the Internet uses WordPress.

If you want a website, choose WordPress.org. You can find the software for free, and you can also blog for free on it with the WordPress.org website. But if you want your domain name, you will need to buy a host and pay for that.

WordPress is the most popular website software. Hosting for WordPress sites remains very affordable. Some hosts offer maintenance for free.

WordPress websites are easy to use. You can get free themes and also buy them for a few dollars. In addition, there are many plugins that you can use to make your site do things like show movies and help people find it on the Internet. Websites and videos teach you how to make your site better and more fun!

WordPress.com

WordPress has a solution if you do not want to spend money on a host for your blog. Instead, you can have your blog hosted for free on WordPress.com.

The URL is yourwebsite.wordpress.com, and it has a lot of plugins. You can get 3GB for free, and if you need more storage, you could go to a paid plan. WordPress provides backup for free!

You cannot display advertisements on your website. This means that there are not many ways to make money with it. However, WordPress can advertise for you. You are using a free service, so it should be fine.

The other disadvantage of WordPress.com is that you cannot use a custom theme or Google Analytics.

But is this bad? Not at all. You can always move your website from WordPress.com to a WordPress website on a server that you own.

If you are starting, WordPress is an excellent place to start. It is one of the best places to do blogging.

Jekyll

Jekyll is an influential blog site that people can use to share their thoughts. People say it is difficult for beginners, but they do not need to pay hosting fees.

This website is called Jekyll. It takes your content files and turns them into a webpage that you can upload to your website. You control the design, which means that you can make it look the way you want it to look. You don’t need to worry about databases or comment moderation because the site only has your content and looks how you designed it!

If you’ve ever lost content in the past because an online publisher went out of business, and if you are a techie, you will be glad to use Jekyll.

Tumblr

Tumblr is a social media and blog combined. It has over 496 million free accounts and is perfect for writing posts too long for Instagram and too short for regular blogging.

The interface is easy to use and suitable for mobile blogging. It is perfect for people who want to blog, and it lets you switch between accounts. In addition, readers can comment on your post or share it with their comments attached, just like the “Share” button on Facebook.

Tumblr recently announced that it was banning adult content. It wants the site to be a place where people feel comfortable. The site flags and prohibits content but doesn’t delete it. There are a few exceptions to the ban, such as nudity in classic art or news stories. NBC covered the story.

Tumblr is straightforward. Your posts will show in a feed with other people’s posts. So you need to ensure that you have something in the position that people notice, like a picture or video.

Tumblr is a good site, but it has some problems. There is no way to make money from posts, and Tumblr doesn’t provide security certificates. That means your posts will not be safe when they show up in Chrome.

Blogger

Blogger is a free site for blogging that does not allow anything else.

Blogger is good because it is easy. You can also change the color theme for your blog, but there are not many other ways to customize it. The blog posts that you write will be backed up in Google Drive when you sign in with your account.

The lack of thousands of plugins for WordPress is a relief. Finally, you won’t wonder if there is a plugin somewhere that could help you make your website easier to use or better looking.

To have your website is easy to do if you want one. If you have done it before, then you can set up a site within an hour.

Optimization is easy to do, and you can see data from Google Analytics. It has an integrated dashboard that shows which posts are getting more visitors than others.

One of the best things about Blogger is that it is easy to update posts when you are on your phone.

Ghost

Ghost is a website for creating publications and magazines. It’s different from WordPress because it is just for content, not pictures or videos. Of course, you can use plugins and themes to make your site, but Ghost is open-source software, which means it doesn’t cost money.

The Ghost website is different from WordPress. You don’t have to use the themes and plugins that are on the site. Instead, you can upload your own, which will make your website unique. In addition, the Ghost website has a two-column interface with Markdown instead of WYSIWYG formatting, and it also has built-in SEO tools for which you do not need to download any plugins.

The self-hosted CMS is free. This means you do not pay for it. Unfortunately, it also means that you must set up the CMS on your server and keep it running yourself. You can add other people to help with articles and edits, but this costs money too. The essential subscription is $29 a month, so if your blog gets many views per month, they have a better plan for you for $199 a month, which covers more views gives you better service.

Contently

Contently is a website that you can use to show other people what you have written. You can make a Contently page and include your best writing, so it is easy to find. People who are looking for writers can search based on topics, experience, or past clients.

This is a free website that helps you save your work. You can put it on this website and then access it from all of your devices.

Wix

If you want to have a blog but don’t like the stress of building it, Wix is for you. It’s similar to Blogger and easy to use. You can sign up with your Gmail account. You can see many themes or answer a few questions and let Wix’s Artificial Design Intelligence make a blog tailored to your specifications

The free blogging platform lets you customize your blog. You can use both a paid and an unpaid version. You can get the free one, then upgrade to the paid one if you like it better. If you want to, you can buy a domain name or use the free one provided. The monthly fee for freelancers is $14, and it seems like most people choose this option.

You can write posts for your blog with Wix when you are not home. They have good customer service, so if you have a question, they will answer it. You can also add people to help with your blog too. There is one downside, though–Wix will show ads on your website, and you don’t have complete control over the site because Wix owns it too.

Postach.io

Evernote is a top app for writing. It helps you to take notes and brainstorm ideas. Postach.io connects with your Evernote account to publish what you write as blog posts on the Internet.

Postach.io, Evernote is a content management system. You write your posts in the app first and then connect them to the site. There are fifteen themes, and you can also add plugins, like Disqus for comments or Google Analytics. So the site will work well on a mobile connection even though there are only fifteen themes available and many plugins or widgets to choose from.

You can have 1 Evernote account on your Postach.io for free. If you want more, then you need to pay for it. Depending on how many blogs you have, plans start at $5 a year and go up to $250 a year.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a website that different professionals can use. Using LinkedIn, you can connect with other people who are also in your profession.

Many of them are often active on the site. They share leadership and articles through the LinkedIn feed.

If you want to be an influencer or a thought leader in your business, the audience on LinkedIn is essential.

The platform has a culture and ready-made expectations that many people would like to use. That is good because it helps make your blog better. You need to make sure you create content that will get people interested in following your blog.

Squarespace

Squarespace is a hosting web service, and it does not offer any free blog options. But if you’re looking for web hosting and want good-looking visuals, Squarespace may be a good option. The site offers both free and paid templates that have customization options. Both the paid and free templates look great on Instagram!

Squarespace is a website that you can use to make a website. It allows people to see what you have to say and also reply. You can also post your blog on it, but only for the months of $12. This might be a good place for small businesses owners who need a place to put their blogs.

Some people find it hard to customize templates. They don’t match Wix for simplicity, but they give you the option of adding RSS feeds which Wix doesn’t currently support.

Web.com

Web.com is a company that offers both web design and domain registration services. They allow people to start their blog quickly with their website design tools or let Web.com’s experts do it for them! Web.com was founded in 1999 and has won awards too!

The website builder guarantees that the site will be up 99.9% of the time and unlimited storage. There are many different plans you can get. The first month is less expensive, but it becomes a recurring fee that ranges from $14.95 to $36.95 per month, depending on which plan you have chosen. You can also add security if you want to do so.

Substack

Substack is a new way to publish your blog. It’s like an email or newsletter. You can use it if you want to reach your audience directly through email.

When you create your account, you receive your web space. Your newsletter will be hosted on it. That way, people can look through old issues to see if they like what they see. This can make them more likely to follow you and subscribe to the newsletter.

Or they will unsubscribe if they don’t like what they see, which is good so you don’t have followers that do not engage with your content.

Substack is not a design-focused platform. But you can include images and videos. This is a simple way to create content about yourself, and it’s always free if you publish on Substack.

Weebly

Weebly is a website builder. It has excellent designs and practical tools. If you want to start blogging, use Weebly. They have powerful eCommerce tools. You can make your website with Weebly and get discovered by many people who will come to your page!

You can also pick from a range of websites, stores, domains, and add-ons. You can use your domain name from another site. The simple drag-and-drop interface helps you create content quickly and easily.

Basic accounts are free. Other, more expensive accounts are also available and cost $7/month, $15/month, and $30/month, respectively.

Conclusion

Before you can pick a blog platform, you need to know what is essential.

As a beginner, you’ll want to use a blogging platform that is easy to set up and has a low learning curve. If you don’t know anything about codes, all the platforms mentioned will be good for you.

You will need to think about the kind of blog you want to create. You will also need to think about what you want your future blogs to be like.

As your blog becomes popular, you might want to make some changes. For example, you might need to change the look of your site or add new features that will work for your audience. Make sure that you choose a blogging platform that can grow with these changes.

If you start with the wrong platform, it will be hard to switch to another one later.

You should keep in mind how you’ll monetize your website in the future, even if you only consider it as a hobby or a portfolio.