Blogging Platforms
Blogging Platforms Overview
Top Rated Blogging Products
These products won a Top Rated award for having excellent customer satisfaction ratings. The list is based purely on reviews; there is no paid placement, and analyst opinions do not influence the rankings. Read more about the Top Rated criteria.
Blogging Products
(1-25 of 38) Sorted by Most Reviews
The list of products below is based purely on reviews (sorted from most to least). There is no paid placement and analyst opinions do not influence their rankings. Here is our Promise to Buyers to ensure information on our site is reliable, useful, and worthy of your trust.
Wordpress is an open-source publishing platform popular with bloggers, and a content management system, known for its simplicity and modifiability. Websites may host their own blogging communities, controlling and moderating content from a single dashboard.
Key Features
- Library of website themes (131)88%8.8
- Mobile optimization / responsive design (130)86%8.6
- Admin section (132)82%8.2
Wix is a free, hosted website builder, designed to be user-friendly and customizable without requiring coding from the user. It is well-known for its eCommerce solution, which allows users to build an online store.
Key Features
- Library of website themes (89)77%7.7
- Page templates (92)74%7.4
- Mobile optimization / responsive design (92)68%6.8
Top Pros and Cons
Squarespace is a CMS platform that allows users to create a DIY blog, eCommerce store, and/or portfolio (visual art or music). Some Squarespace website and shop templates are industry or use case-specific, such as menu builders for restaurant sites.
Key Features
- Page templates (85)89%8.9
- Admin section (84)85%8.5
- Library of website themes (83)82%8.2
Weebly, now from Square, is a basic content management system with blogging and eCommerce features. It can be utilized for building standard websites or specialized webpages for online stores.
Key Features
- Mobile optimization / responsive design (39)90%9.0
- Page templates (40)21%2.1
- Library of website themes (40)21%2.1
Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003. Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at a subdomain of blogspot.com.
Tumblr is a very easy to use microblogging platform and social networking website, owned and operated by Tumblr, Inc. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog. Users can follow other users' blogs, as well as make their blogs private.
Movable Type is a Perl-based content management system from Six Apart, featuring the capability to host multiple weblogs and standalone content pages, manage files and user roles, templates, tags, categories, and trackback links.
Quora headquartered in Mountain View, California now offers Blogs on Quora to replace their previous Board system, providing site users with a blogging platform.
Medium is a blogging and web publishing platform from the company of the same name in San Francisco, California.
is a social network owned by SUP Media where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary - a wide variety of political pundits also use the service for political commentary.
Prezly is presented by the vendor as all-in-one public relations management tool that helps PR teams organise their workflow, collaborate and save time.Accessible through any browser, Prezly's key features are divided between three main areas:Contact managementFull PR CRM for managing…
Duda, the eponymous platform from the company in Palo Alto, is a web design platform for companies that offer web design services to small businesses. The company serves customers from freelance web professionals to digital agencies, all the way up to the large hosting companies,…
Arena.im is a live chat, live blog, and content wall solution that can be embedded on a website, from the company of the same name headquartered in San Francisco. The solution avails an in-built customer data platform that enables users to activate individual marketing with centralized…
Pixpa is an all-in-one platform to create websites with an integrated e-commerce store, client galleries, blog, online stores without any coding knowledge. Pixpa aims to enable creators to manage their whole web presence from one seamless, versatile platform, hence saving time and…
Live Center is a customizable live-blogging solution that enables journalists to deliver up-to-the second live news coverage, such as sports events, elections, breaking news, weather and other streaming or time-critical news. The solution offers a mobile-friendly editor, allowing…
The LinkedIn Publish Platform supports long-form content publishing and blogging by influencers.
TypePad is a blogging platform from Newfold Digital (formerly Endurance International Group), that is no longer accepting new subscribers.
Visual Stories is a content platform that empowers users to post using Web Stories, a visual storytelling format. Users can host web stories, blog, and community builders on a custom domain. Creating Web Stories is done with a WYSIWYG editor, ready-to-use templates and free media…
Disqus is a comment plug-in designede to make it easy for publishers to bring their content to life, fuel colorful discussions, efficiently moderate comments, and build engaged communities. From the company of the same name in San Francisco, the vendor states Disqus exists to facilitate…
Innoblogs from Innogage in Ohio is a collaborative blogging platform with analytics, for helping a team of bloggers generate SEO friendly content to increase brand awareness.
Terkel is a question and answer marketplace that connects brands with expert insights. Creators can answer questions and get their insights published. Publishers can ask questions and get content for their blog.
Learn More About Blogging Platforms
What Are Blogging Platforms?
Blogging platforms are a type of web CMS designed to simplify the creation and maintenance of blogs. Blogs are text and image-heavy websites that get updated over time with new content; updates are called blog posts.
Blogging platforms are popular among freelancers and individuals looking to set up their own website blog. Many free blogging platforms provide individual users with all the functionality they need. However, for business users or more advanced individual users, paid platforms offer more functionality. For example, a paid blogging platform subscription will likely offer:
more storage space
better access to customer support
a larger number of user seats/licenses
more integrations with other software platforms
This type of software is closely related to CMS systems and headless CMS platforms.
Blogging Platforms Features & Capabilities
WYSIWYG Editor
Administration and User Management
Publishing Tools for Managing Content
Commenting System
Sharing and Distribution
Multilingual Support
Video uploading
Media Management (Videos and Images)
Performance Tracking
Templates & themes
Custom Content Types
Content storage/repository
APIs to Create Plugins
Hosted vs. Self-Hosted Blogs
Blogs can be either hosted by a third-party service or self-hosted. A hosted blog is a good option for beginners and users with less technical knowledge. This type is also good for users who do not wish to manage the back-end technical aspects of the blog. The content of a hosted blog will live in a dedicated sub-domain within the blog hosting site’s own domain.
Users who plan to self-host will need to rent a server, download blogging software, set up a database, and obtain a custom domain name. This approach grants users much more freedom for deep customization. However, it also requires coding skills and will be more work to set up and maintain.
Key Selection Considerations
Many popular blogging tools are fairly similar and fairly flexible—by design, they can be used for a variety of projects. According to users some of the most important distinctions are the following:
Technical knowledge requirements
Cost
Domain name availability
Depth of customization
Scope of blog/website
Before you choose, determine your skill level, your goals, and your timeline.
Pricing Information
There are many open-source and free blog platforms to choose from. However, blogging platforms with more features or designed for corporate use usually charge a modest monthly fee. You may also need to pay for the domain and hosting.
Related Categories
Frequently Asked Questions
What do blogging platforms do?
What are the best blogging platforms?
On TrustRadius, the most popular blogging platforms (by the number of reviews they have) are:
What are some examples of free blogging platforms?
Here are some popular free and open-source blogging platforms:
If you’re looking for a blogging platform with extra functionality, a paid platform is likely a better fit. But if all you need is a zero cost and simple blogging solution, a free blogging platform is the way to go.
How much do blogging platforms cost?
Many popular blogging platforms like WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace offer a free plan. However, free plans often have limited functionality. Paid plans for personal use start between $5-$15 per month while business plans tend to start between $25-$40 per month.
The cost will depend on a few factors, including the number of users, the amount of online storage space needed, and the range of features needed.