We’ll also try to steer you towards the specific platform that’s best for you, so that you can get started on the right foot.
Six best free blogging sites to consider in 2018
Below, we’ll list off six different free blogging sites that you can choose from. For each site, we’ll:
- Quickly summarize what type of use it’s best for.
- Share some information about how to get started.
- Give you some screenshots so that you know roughly what things look like.
Let’s dive in!
1. WordPress
Best for…people who want to 100% own their blog and customize it (though it depends on which version of WordPress you choose!).
Powering over 30% of all the websites on the entire Internet, WordPress is the most popular way to build any type of website – blogs included. But “WordPress” can actually refer to two different things: WordPress.com and WordPress.org
WordPress.com
Best for…blogging for fun.
WordPress.com is the platform used mostly for personal blogs because it’s easy to set up, customize, and maintain.
You can get started in just a few minutes and the setup process is super simple. You’ll be able to pick your own “theme” (how your website looks), add new pages, write blog posts, and more.
On the free plan, your blog:
- Will be a subdomain of WordPress.com (like yourblog.wordpress.com)
- Displays ads from WordPress.com
In general, WordPress.com is perfect if you just want to blog for fun.
But if your plan is to monetize your writing and work, you may find impediments along the way as the platform doesn’t provide full customization rights.
WordPress.org
Best for…setting up a serious blog or website that you plan to work on long-term.
On the opposite side, there’s the main WordPress, the self-hosted one. It is also free and can be downloaded , but you need to build the site entirely by yourself afterward. While you can find free WordPress hosting, a better long-term strategy is to pay for your own cheap WordPress hosting.
Because you’re hosting the WordPress software yourself, you have full control over how your site looks and functions, as well as how you make money from your site. But the flip side is that the setup process is a little bit more complicated.
Read this post for more on the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org (as well as which platform you should pick).
2. Medium
Best for…people who just want to write, are looking for access to a built-in audience, and don’t care about having their “own site”.
Medium is a multipurpose platform tackling diverse topics, where anyone with an account can write. Unlike most other free blogging sites, the big advantage of Medium is that your articles will be exposed to a wide audience since the platform is visited by 60 million readers per month (and the number increases every year).
It’s super simple to use – you pretty much just sign up and start writing. But the downside is that all your content is on Medium. That is, you’re not really building your own “space” like you would with WordPress. Read this post for more on the differences between WordPress and medium.
3. Blogger
Best for…people who want to write and aren’t concerned about owning their own site…but also wouldn’t mind making a little pocket money!
Blogger is one of the oldest free blogging sites, though its popularity has dipped in recent years.
It’s a solid solution for personal blogs, but it’s not the best resource for professional use. It works just like the other platforms: you need to create an account first in order to use it. After you create it (which is simple), you have to pick one of the default themes and you can start writing your thoughts down. This platform has an interface similar to Google+ profile and the editor looks like a Word page.
Blogger delivers a bunch of themes to choose from, each providing different skins, advanced color filtering, and various minimalist gadgets (aka widgets). But nothing too fancy or any advanced design customization. In general, Blogger has simple appearance options, so the focus stays more on the writing part. A nice part about this site is that it comes with ad spaces that you can place within your content pieces.
4. Wix
Best for…non-techies who want some “regular website” functionality along with a blog.
Wix is a free website builder that can be totally managed from the front-end. The main characteristic of this platform is that it comes with drag-and-drop options, so you don’t have to handle anything in the back-end. The design is very intuitive and modern, which can be used by both beginners and advanced.
The nice thing about Wix is that it has free hosting included, so you just need to arrange the layouts, pick a template, and you’re all set. It provides a nice collection of free and premium themes and templates for different purposes, including blogging.
To launch a Wix blog, just sign up and make a choice: you can either let Wix team create a site for you based on a questionnaire or build your blog yourself – which includes selecting a template and arranging the layouts via the WYSIWYG editor. If you go with the second option, all you need to do is to find a beautiful template and start customizing everything on the front-end, in a live preview mode.
You can add multiple elements to your pages, from multimedia widgets to backgrounds, menus, typography, forms, video boxes etc. When you think the site is ready, click Publish and start blogging your stories. After publishing, you can return anytime to edit the content blocks.
Read more about the differences between Wix and WordPress.
5. Tumblr
Best for…people who are into more short-form, image-focused content and don’t need any “regular website” functionality.
Tumblr is one sort of a blogging platform, just ‘milder’ than the others on the list. Unlike the rest of the platforms that are mostly created for publishing purposes, this one here is more oriented to multimedia or social media-like content. The interface of Tumblr is more playful and is easy to get started with – you can simply sign up and then you’re allowed to start posting.
Just like a regular blogging platform, it provides multiple post formats for different types of content. The thing with Tumblr is that it is purely for personal use and wouldn’t put up a great solution if you have business-oriented plans. It is simplistic, offers basic customization options and, like I said earlier, has more of a social media vibe.
Despite not being built for businesses, it does let you display ads on your page, use affiliate links, and integrate your blog with Google Analytics.
6. Weebly
Best for…non-techies who want some “regular website” functionality along with a blog (yes – just like Wix!)
Weebly is another website builder that you can use not only to blog but also to sell products or showcase your portfolio. It is somewhat similar to Wix to the extent to which it provides a WYSIWYG editor with drag-and-drop elements. If you want to add a certain button, you can simply drag it to the page and customize it. The same happens with photo galleries, slideshows, and any other multimedia element.
Weebly provides sidebars, media boxes, forms, ad spaces, social media icons, newsletter subscription, and many more. Moreover, the platform comes with built-in analytics and lets you use your own customized domain (for which you need to pay).
In the free plan, you get five custom pages, a Weebly subdomain, 500MB storage, and ad spaces.
And that wraps up our list of the best free blogging sites available in 2018!
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