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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Medium

    Score10 out of 10
    N/AMedium is a blogging and web publishing platform from the company of the same name in San Francisco, California.

    $5

    per month

    WordPress

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AWordpress 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.

    $3

    per month 6 GB storage

    Pricing
    MediumWordPress
    Editions & Modules
    Medium Member - monthly
    $5
    per month
    Friend of Medium - monthly
    $15
    per month
    Medium Member - annually
    $60
    per year
    Friend of Medium - annually
    $150
    per year
    Personal
    $4
    per month 6 GB storage
    Premium
    $8
    per month 13 GB storage
    Business
    $25
    per month 50 GB storage
    Commerce
    $45
    per month 50 GB storage
    Enterprise
    Contact for pricing
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    MediumWordPress
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Pricing for Business and Commerce plans vary on number of GB.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    MediumWordPress
    Considered Both Products
    Medium.com
    Chose Medium
    Medium is easy to use. It is easy to add highlights and emphasis in paragraphs. It is easy to add images and videos anywhere in your articles. It makes article writing fun and easy to share. Other products were more cumbersome and awkward to use or were more expensive to operate.
    Incentivized
    Chose Medium
    Medium is yet another "medium" in the world of creating content. Like Google's Blogger and Quora, it is free to publish. Medium feels a bit more sophisticated than the others and, due to the look, feel and reach, helps you show up professionally in the field. With a fresh …
    Incentivized
    Chose Medium
    There are a handful of other blogging platforms available. The biggest difference between Medium and others is how streamlined it is. It's straight to the point and is excellent at showing related content, be it your own or another users. There's no new design to navigate …
    Incentivized
    Automattic
    Chose WordPress
    Ghost is another CMS and Editor that I believe is a bit more blogging- and article-focused. There isn't as an extensive list of themes and extensions, but the UI is a bit more modern and faster. Regardless, WordPress provides more flexibility for creating a site that isn't …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Would buy again
    108 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    109 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    109 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    95 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    100 Answers
    Features
    MediumWordPress
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Medium and WordPress
    Feature
    Medium
    -
    Ratings
    WordPress
    8.1
    159 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.1159 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Medium and WordPress
    Feature
    Medium
    -
    Ratings
    WordPress
    7.9
    134 Ratings
    1% above category average
    API00 Ratings7.9124 Ratings
    Internationalization / multi-language00 Ratings7.8103 Ratings
    Web Content Creation
    Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Medium and WordPress
    Feature
    Medium
    -
    Ratings
    WordPress
    8.1
    166 Ratings
    3% above category average
    WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings7.8151 Ratings
    Code quality / cleanliness00 Ratings7.3152 Ratings
    Admin section00 Ratings8.3164 Ratings
    Page templates00 Ratings8.7160 Ratings
    Library of website themes00 Ratings8.7162 Ratings
    Mobile optimization / responsive design00 Ratings8.5161 Ratings
    Publishing workflow00 Ratings8.1154 Ratings
    Form generator00 Ratings7.1131 Ratings
    Web Content Management
    Comparison of Web Content Management features of Medium and WordPress
    Feature
    Medium
    -
    Ratings
    WordPress
    8.2
    164 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Content taxonomy00 Ratings8.1142 Ratings
    SEO support00 Ratings7.9148 Ratings
    Bulk management00 Ratings7.5125 Ratings
    Availability / breadth of extensions00 Ratings9.2152 Ratings
    Community / comment management00 Ratings8.2152 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    MediumWordPress
    Small Businesses
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Umbraco CMS
    Score7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Blogger
    Score10 out of 10
    Square Online
    Score7.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Quora Blogs / Spaces (discontinued)
    Score8.7 out of 10
    RWS Tridion Sites
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    MediumWordPress
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (8 ratings)
    8.6
    (203 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    3.6
    (38 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.1
    (50 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.5
    (3 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.6
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.5
    (3 ratings)
    10.0
    (11 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (10 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    MediumWordPress
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Medium.com
    If you are vanity publishing and just want to see your stuff on the web, it is very, VERY easy to get involved with. Of course, your writing is not likely to stand out if you don't have a clear plan. The more I use it, the more I like it. The user interface is extremely well-done. I kinda wish my WordPress-based blogs had editors that were that easy to use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Automattic
    Wordpress is a great solution for a website of nearly any type. It may not be as suitable if a fully custom solution or app is needed, and it does have some limitations when it comes to connecting it to external products (especially if the product doesn't have any support from a native system), and it does require a lot of testing. Multiple plugins in one install are common but also increase the risk of conflicts, and when those do occur, it can be exceptionally time-consuming and tedious to identify what is causing the issue. As third parties create many plugins, you're also at risk with each potential security breach, which needs to be kept in mind. I would be cautious to use WordPress to store any sort of sensitive PPI. That said, it's a wonderful, easily customizable solution for many, many different types of websites and can allow even inexperienced client users with low-tech knowledge to update basics.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Medium.com
    • Content categorization and grouping.
    • The option to make some money from sharing your passion and teaching.
    • Moderating content manually to not promote AI-generated content and boosting very authentic and impactful posts.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Automattic
    • Easy to use User Interface
    • Coding / Plugin Implementation is awesome
    • There's always a solution available for the platform
    • Security is easy to use and robust
    • Implementation with 3rd party platforms, such as Google's variety of tools
    • Can download and host on your own server or use their hosted servers
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Medium.com
    • The payment wall can be confusing.
    • Hard to get traction if you're trying to go viral with an article.
    • Sometimes content gets buried too easily.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Automattic
    • WordPress breaks often so you need to have someone who understands how to troubleshoot, which can take time and money.
    • Some plugins are easier to customize than others, for example, some don't require any coding knowledge while others do. This can limit your project if you are not a coder.
    • WordPress can be easily hacked, so you also need someone who can ensure your sites are secure.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Medium.com
    No answers on this topic
    Automattic
    The complications we have and the lack of support. Every plugin has a differente team of support in charge and make one plugin work with the other one always affects the website performance. It's a thousand times better to have only one provider with all functionalities included unless you are an expert web developer or have a team dedicated to it
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Medium.com
    By comparison, most online editors are clunky. The Medium editor is amazingly powerful and still easy to use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Automattic
    Extremely easy to use and train users. It took very little time to get everyone trained and onboarded to start using WordPress. Anytime we had any issues, we were able to find an article or video to help out or we were able to contact support. The menu options are well laid out so it is easy to find what you are looking for.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Medium.com
    No answers on this topic
    Automattic
    Anyone can visit WordPress.org and download a fully functional copy of WordPress free of charge. Additionally, WordPress is offered to users as open-source software, which means that anyone can customize the code to create new applications and make these available to other WordPress users.
    Read full review
    Performance
    Medium.com
    No answers on this topic
    Automattic
    Mostly, any performance issues have to do with using too many plugins and these can sometimes slow down the overall performance of your site. It is very tempting to start adding lots of plugins to your WordPress site, however, as there are thousands of great plugins to choose from and so many of them help you do amazing things on your site. If you begin to notice performance issues with your WordPress site (e.g. pages being slow to load), there are ways to optimize the performance of your site, but this requires learning the process. WordPress users can learn how to optimize their WordPress sites by downloading the WPTrainMe WordPress training plugin (WPTrainMe.com) and going through the detailed step-by-step WordPress optimization tutorials.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Medium.com
    Medium is supported across android, iOS and the web. While it may not have all the languages supported, English is certainly an option and with a pricing model that ranges from free to $5 for a subscription, you can't go wrong whether you're a small or large business. Everything is hosted in the cloud so it is very accessible
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Automattic
    I give this rating, which I believe to be a great rating for a community based support system that's surrounding it. Most platforms and products have their own, and as WordPress does have their own team that help here and there, a lot of it's handled by community involvement with dedicated users who are experts with the system who love to help people.
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Medium.com
    No answers on this topic
    Automattic
    Varies by the person providing training. High marks as it's incredibly easy to find experienced individuals in your community to provide training on any aspect of WordPress from content marketing, SEO, plugin development, theme design, etc. Less than 10 though as the training is community based and expectations for a session you find may fall short.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Medium.com
    No answers on this topic
    Automattic
    It is very easy to find online resources to learn how to do just about anything with WordPress.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Medium.com
    Medium is dirt easy to use. The hard part is figuring out if it is worth the effort to include it as part of our content-marketing strategy.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Automattic
    WordPress is not a great solution if you have: 1) A larger site with performance / availability requirements. 2) Multiple types of content you want to share - each with its own underlying data structure. 3) Multiple sites you need to manage. For very small sites where these needs are not paramount, WordPress is a decent solution
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Medium.com
    There are a handful of other blogging platforms available. The biggest difference between Medium and others is how streamlined it is. It's straight to the point and is excellent at showing related content, be it your own or another users. There's no new design to navigate between posts, everything is where you expect it to be letting you focus on the post.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Automattic
    WordPress isn't as pretty or easy to use as certain competitors like Jimdo, Squarespace or HubSpot, but it makes up for it with its affordability, familiarity and the ability to find quality outside help easily. The same can't be said for certain competitors, as you might need to find an expert and it could get costly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Medium.com
    No answers on this topic
    Automattic
    WordPress is completely scalable. You can get started immediately with a very simple "out-of-the box" WordPress installation and then add whatever functionality you need as and when you need it, and continue expanding. Often we will create various WordPress sites on the same domain to handle different aspects of our strategy (e.g. one site for the sales pages, product information and/or a marketing blog, another for delivering products securely through a private membership site, and another for running an affiliate program or other application), and then ties all of these sites together using a common theme and links on each of the site's menus. Additionally, WordPress offers a multisite function that allows organizations and institutions to manage networks of sites managed by separate individual site owners, but centrally administered by the parent organization. You can also expand WordPress into a social networking or community site, forums, etc. The same scalability applies to web design. You can start with a simple design and then scale things up to display sites with amazing visual features, including animations and video effects, sliding images and animated product image galleries, elements that appear and fade from visitor browsers, etc. The scaling possibilities of WordPress are truly endless.
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Medium.com
    • Good way to raise awareness of our content with @mentioned influencers
    • Good way to link back to your original content
    • Aside from publishing your own content Medium is a great news site in its own right. If you're looking for relevant industry news or other content, check in daily to see what's going on with others in your industry.
    Read full review
    Automattic
    • Allowed us to being all websites under a single umbrella, saving costs on similar products.
    • It's increased our website turn time and made us faster and more efficient at launching websites.
    • Edits and tweaks happen much faster as we have a customized environment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots