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Blogs have been a ubiquitous part of the digital era since the 1990s, and the best blogging platforms have lowered the barrier to entry for online publishing.
The first iterations of blogs were akin to static journals coded in HTML. When blog makers first came onto the scene, anybody and their mother could make a website that served as a personal diary. The savviest bloggers figured out how to make money blogging and became influencers. Around the same time, businesses started using blogs to attract potential customers.
As blogging continues to evolve, so do the best blog platforms. Because there are hundreds of platforms for you to weed through, we've created the below list to make it easier for you to choose the best one.
8 best blogging platforms of 2024
Choosing a blogging platform without understanding your needs is like grocery shopping without a list while hungry: you’ll make poor decisions and forget some crucial things. Consider your goals, values, skill level and budget before diving into this list of the eight best blog platforms for beginners and advanced bloggers on the market today.
01. Wix: best blogging platform for small businesses
Wix is the best blogging platform for businesses that have their sights set on growth. Perhaps you’re initially blogging for business as a means for reinforcing your brand identity but now want to use it to increase traffic and conversions. Or perhaps you want to monetize a blog by selling subscriptions or dropshipping. In any case, Wix is equipped with tools that can help you expand when you’re ready.
Wix's artificial design intelligence takes the guesswork out of how to start a blog. It’ll build a website from scratch for you in a matter of minutes with its AI website builder. Alternatively, you can choose from dozens of free blog templates and add your creative flair in the Wix Editor.
From there, your opportunities are almost limitless. You can use Wix Velo to add your own code or the Wix Editor to easily edit your blog’s layout, fonts, colors and imagery. And, if you need help with your business but don’t have the skills or time to do it yourself, you can hire freelance developers, designers, marketers and other creatives through the Wix Marketplace.
With the Wix SEO assistant, which suggests tasks that will improve your ranking, you’ll show up at the top of search engine results pages with ease. If you’re already an SEO wiz, you can manually update on-page SEO settings, apply custom SEO settings across multiple pages at once and use the Semrush integration to conduct keyword research.
When readers subscribe to your blog or become members, they’ll receive an email every time you publish a post to keep them coming back for more. You can segment your subscribers to send them targeted emails or to serve them ads directly through Wix. Plus, thanks to Wix’s robust reporting capabilities, you’ll be able to understand who your blog is reaching, what type of content they’re most interested in and more.
Get started with Wix's blog maker today.
Key Wix features and benefits:
Easy to get started
AI tools (content generator, image generator, etc.)
Customizability
Creatives for hire
Built-in SEO tools
Roles and permissions
Subscription forms and subscriber management
Monetization options
Built-in reports
Pricing: You can start a blog for free, but you’ll need a Premium plan to access all Wix’s valuable features. Check our Pricing Plans page to get the most up-to-date information.
Free plan ($0): Limited features and ads.
Light ($17/month): Basic plan for simple sites.
Core ($29/month): Basic eCommerce features and marketing suite.
Business $36/month): Geared towards growing your brand.
Business Elite ($159/month): Unlocks unlimited storage & scaling capabilities.
Enterprise: Custom plan for large corporations.
02. Medium: best blogging platform for easy distribution
Thanks to its built-in audience of 100 million readers, Medium is a great blog platform for distribution. With discovery features and social sharing tools, you won’t have to do much to spread the word about your blog posts. And because it hosts well-known thought leaders like Barack Obama, Medium lends newer writers (see how to start a writers blog) the exposure and credibility that normally takes years to establish.
Medium's revenue structure centers on memberships rather than ad revenue, enhancing the reading experience by providing a focused and immersive platform. This approach not only benefits readers but also empowers writers to earn income through the Medium Partner Program, in which you can contribute stories to the subscription-based content bank. Compensation is directly tied to the level of engagement your stories garner, ensuring that your efforts in producing high-quality content are duly recognized and rewarded.
In contrast to other platforms that offer substantial visual customization options, Medium's design flexibility is somewhat limited. While this constraint isn’t an issue for writers who don’t have a visual brand identity, it can hinder the branding efforts of businesses that do. If you’re in the latter group, you might be better off with a blog platform that offers more design capabilities.
Key features and benefits:
Distraction-free blogging
Easy distribution
Monetization opportunities
No ads
Custom domain name
Built-in analytics
Pricing: Free
03. Tumblr: best blogging platform for microblogging
Since its late-aughts launch, Tumblr has been known as the best blogging platform for sharing pop-culture content, memes, GIFs and freeform writing. Thanks to its reblogging and tagging features, akin to retweeting and hashtagging, your blog content can go viral.
While Tumblr’s user base isn’t as massive as it once was, those who are active on the platform tend to be very active and devoted. Tumblr users even have a secret phrase for identifying each other in the real world. Therefore, bloggers benefit from a tightly knit community and robust engagement.
Because Tumblr is primarily for curating visually immersive assets like GIFs and memes, it caters more to expressive visual content rather than the creation of extensive written materials. As a result, it tends to suit writers who embrace a more informal, stream-of-consciousness writing style or those who prefer to communicate through visual storytelling.
When it comes to monetization, Tumblr offers avenues for revenue generation (like TumblrPost+) through reader tips, affiliate links and partnerships with ad networks. This diversity of options empowers content creators to transform their passion into a source of income within the Tumblr ecosystem.
Key features and benefits:
Built-in distribution tools
Cult audience
Low barrier to entry
Monetization opportunities
Pricing: Free
04. LinkedIn: best blogging platform for professional networking
Thanks to its article publishing feature, LinkedIn is not only the leading social media platform for professionals but also a leading blogging platform for networking. This unique combination offers a valuable opportunity to share your insights and industry perspectives while cultivating meaningful connections. By using LinkedIn for blogging, you can share your ideas and promote yourself as a thought leader within your network.
LinkedIn enables you to add hashtags and SEO metadata to your LinkedIn articles to promote circulation and discovery. Additionally, the platform provides control over conversations by allowing you to disable or enable comments, ensuring that your content's discussion aligns with your objectives. However, it's important to note that LinkedIn’s lack of design and formatting tools makes it less ideal for those who work in visual fields or those looking to emphasize visual branding.
The distinct advantage of LinkedIn's approach is that all your articles link to—and are linked from—your profile. As a result, your blogging efforts on this platform can help you get noticed by potential employers and collaborators, while strengthening your credibility within your industry network.
Key features and benefits:
Discovery tools
Comment management
Distraction-free writing
SEO settings
Bolster your resume
Pricing: Free
05. Ghost: best blogging platform for influencers
Because it focuses on helping creators monetize their existing audiences, Ghost stands out as the best blogging platform for influencers—sort of like Patreon, but with a focus on written content. By enabling influencers to institute paywalls for premium content and curate a range of subscription-based tiers, Ghost empowers influencers to establish dependable and predictable revenue streams. This change in strategy helps influencers avoid the uncertainties of social media algorithms and provides them with more financial stability.
Beyond monetization, Ghost facilitates audience growth by placing CTAs and newsletter sign-up forms in strategic positions throughout your website. This amplifies your efforts to cultivate a dedicated subscriber base. With a sophisticated newsletter segmentation tool and an all-encompassing analytics repository, the platform equips you with the means to foster a stronger rapport with your audience, increasing the impact and reach of your content.
Key features and benefits:
Built-in monetization capabilities
Tiered subscriptions
Built-in marketing capabilities
Audience analytics
Distraction-free writing
Pricing: Plans start at $9 per month.
06. Drupal: best blogging platform for enterprises
As an open-source Content Management System (CMS) with a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, Drupal stands out as the optimal blogging platform for enterprises. That's a lot of jargon, so let's break it down to help you better understand why businesses like Nokia, NASA and Charles Schwab use Drupal.
Open-source refers to code that you can freely use, modify and distribute. In the context of Drupal, its open-source CMS empowers enterprises to develop blogs that fit their purposes without the constraints that proprietary software imposes.
WYSIWYG means that the content you edit within Drupal's editor mirrors its final layout upon publication. Essentially, Drupal's editor provides a means to visualize and edit content exactly as readers will see it.
When you combine those two features, you get a flexible toolset that an enterprise's technical team can develop freely and its content team can easily use, even if they aren’t tech-savvy.
Key features and benefits:
Easy-to-use content editor
Audience targeting
Accessibility features
100 native languages
Pricing: Free
07. Blogger: best blogging platform for beginners
As Google’s blogging platform, it's no surprise that Blogger is a great option for anyone who wants to start a blog (or especially starting a tech blog). Its intuitive interface, easily customizable templates and seamless integration with the Google suite make it particularly useful for beginner bloggers.
This last feature is likely a standout if you use many of Google's products. You can use Google Photos to enhance visual content, Google Analytics to optimize your blog content for search engines and Google AdSense to put your monetization efforts on autopilot.
As part of the Google ecosystem, you benefit from the tech giant's robust security infrastructure, ensuring the safety and protection of your blog's data and content. Furthermore, the platform enjoys an active user community and provides readily available online resources, ensuring you have a supportive network to turn to for assistance and insights as you embark on your blogging journey.
Key features and benefits:
Monetization opportunities
Part of the Google family
Robust analytics
Customizable templates
Strong security
Pricing: Free
08. Jekyll: best blogging platform for developers
Unlike many of the other platforms on this list, Jekyll isn’t a content management system (CMS) but an open-source static site generator that’s built on Ruby programming. If you’re an expert coder, the sky’s the limit when it comes to customizing your Jekyll blog.
The platform benefits from an active developer community that offers support, guidance and resources. The availability of extensive support documentation is a standout feature, providing invaluable assistance for overcoming challenges during the blog-building and optimization process.
Jekyll sites are faster than other types of websites because Jekyll pre-generates static HTML files for each page, eliminating the need for on-the-fly database queries and complex processing, resulting in quicker load times and improved user experience.
Because the way Jekyll operates eliminates the need for on-the-fly database queries and complex processing, the sites it generates have a rapid loading time that outpaces those built on other blogging platforms. This rapid loading time not only elevates user engagement but also contributes to better search engine rankings, ultimately bolstering the visibility and impact of your developer-centric content.
Key features and benefits:
Low cost
Open source
Highly customizable
Site speed
Pricing: Free
How can I make my blog popular?
There are many things you can do to make your blog popular. Here are a few tips to help you get started:
Write great content: The most important factor in making your blog popular is to write great content that people want to read. This means writing about topics that are interesting and relevant to your audience, and writing in a clear and engaging style. You should also keep your blog posts concise - people are more likely to read short, concise blog posts than long, rambling ones.
Promote your blog: Once you have written great content, you need to promote your blog so that people can find it. This can be done through social media, email marketing and other channels. Guest blogging is another great way to get exposure for your blog and to reach a new audience. You can also use social media buttons to make it easy for people to share your blog posts on social media.
Optimize your blog for search engines: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of making your blog content more visible to search engines. This can be done by using relevant keywords in your titles, meta descriptions and throughout your content.
Build an audience: The more people who read your blog, the more popular it will become. You can build an audience by interacting with your readers, commenting on other blogs and participating in online communities. When people comment on your blog posts, take the time to respond to them. This shows that you care about your readers and their feedback.
Be patient: It takes time and effort to build a popular blog. Don't get discouraged if you don't see results immediately. Just keep writing great content, promoting your blog and interacting with your readers, and you will eventually see your blog grow in popularity.
What is a blogging platform?
A blogging platform is a software application or website that provides the tools and features necessary for creating and managing a blog. Blogs are typically websites that are updated regularly with new content, usually in reverse chronological order. Blogging platforms make it easy for users to create and publish blog posts, as well as manage other aspects of their blog, such as design, layout and comments.
How to choose the best blogging platform
Choosing the right blogging platform can significantly impact your blogging journey. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you make the best decision:
Define your blogging goals: Before diving into platform options, clearly define your blogging goals and needs. Are you aiming for a personal blog, a business blog or a portfolio site? What level of technical expertise do you have? How much are you willing to invest?
Consider ease of use and features: Evaluate each platform's user-friendliness. How intuitive is the interface? Do they offer a WYSIWYG editor for easy post creation? Assess the features available, such as template customization, plugin support, comment management and analytics tools.
Evaluate scalability and flexibility: Choose a platform that can grow with your blog's needs. Consider the platform's ability to handle increasing traffic, adding new features and integrating with third-party tools.
Compare pricing and support: Research the pricing models of different platforms. Some offer free plans with limited features, while others charge monthly or annual fees for more advanced options. Evaluate the level of support provided by each platform, including tutorials, FAQs and customer service channels.
Test and compare trial platforms: Take advantage of free trials or demo versions to test different platforms firsthand. Experience the usability, features and overall feel of each platform. Compare your experiences and make an informed decision.
Best blogging platforms FAQ
How do I choose a blogging platform?
When deciding on a blogging platform, it's important to consider your budget, technical proficiency, long-term goals and the type of blog you want to create. Moreover, you'll want to think about the less-obvious features that you'll inevitably need as your blog grows.
For example, you'll want to look for a platform that has built-in SEO features, so you don't have to constantly hop from one platform to another and get personalized recommendations on how to improve your content. You'll also want to make sure that your site is reliable, both in terms of performance and security (e.g., can it handle various types of media without slowing down page speed?). Other features to look out for: subscriber management, mobile-friendliness, built-in marketing features and more.
Are you looking for a blog that checks off these boxes? Create your blog for free by signing up for Wix today.