Top 5 Best Blogging Platforms (CMS) in 2023- Your ultimate comparison chart
Have you decided to create your own blog or website? But don't have any idea about which blogging platform to go with or which blogging platform will be best for you? Whilst there are tons of blogging platforms, how'd you know which one is right for you?
In today's article, I will help you with choosing the best platform to blog with, in 2021 by providing you information with a comparison with each other and also going over the pros and cons of the most popular blogging sites.
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Choosing the best blogging platform to blog in 2021- What to look for?
Before narrowing down our list of the top 5 best blogging platforms, it is very important to know what you are seeking in a blogging platform or expecting from a blogging platform.
As a rookie, you'd probably want something easy to use, user-friendly, efficient, and most importantly does not require any or much coding skills.
But it is even more important to decide what you want to blog about, now and in the future, before thinking about which blogging platform is best for you. This blog post by fellow blogger Corbett Bart might help you decide what to blog about in 2021.
But, let's assume you have already decided what to blog about, then it is very important to be careful about what blogging platform you choose, cause in the future as your blog grows with time, you'd want to or sometimes have to change the layout and add or remove some advance features or simply make some adjustments to your website, hence your blogging platform has to be compatible with all the options and features that you might require.
While you can always switch to another platform, but it's not as easy as it sounds. Trust me, it's very tough and can be very time-consuming, also can prove to be harsh later on for your blog and its rankings.
Choosing the best blogging platform to blog in 2021- Plans for Making Money!
Lastly, you need to plan whether you're thinking of earning money from your blog or not. If you are taking blogging very seriously, then you should make some little investments going on for a blogging platform, ie., purchasing a domain and hosting.
If you're not that serious or not thinking of earning some money, just trying to get the experience of blogging, then you have the option to go on without any sort of investment. Many blogging platforms are completely free to start with.
But, even if you're not planning to make money from your blog right now, you might want to in the future, then it will be smart to make sure that you will have the option in the future.
Okay, so with all that in mind, let's go ahead towards our list of the top 5 best blogging sites for beginners in 2021:
WordPress.org
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| WordPress.org is a free Content Management System |
Chances are that anyone who's even a little familiar with websites and blogs knows about WordPress.
WordPress is the world's largest content management system (CMS), founded in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg, WordPress now runs more than 39% of the world's websites.
Nota Bene: It can be so easy to be confused between WordPress.org and WordPress.com, which is a blog hosting service. You can check this guide from Wpbeginner on the differences between Wordpress.org and Wordpress.com.
Wordpress.org is an open-source blogging platform and content management system (CMS) that lets you manage your website for free. You can build up your blog with WordPress.org within minutes!
Wordpress.org is a self-hosted CMS solution, which means that will need a WordPress hosting provider to host your blog on WordPress.
WordPress.org is really the best option if you want to have full access and control over your website.
There are thousands of WordPress plugins and themes available on the internet, hence you will have the largest variety of ways to customize and run your blog.
Pros of WordPress.org:
- WordPress.org will "literally" give you control over any aspect or features of your website/blog.
- Biggest collection of themes, plugins, and tools; that will let you run your website/blog in any way you want to. There are 60,000+ free plugins available, and even more, free themes! These plugins are like apps that will let you add features or options to your website, ie., contact form, galleries, product checkout, payment method, etc.
- WordPress.org has a huge variety of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools and options, that make WordPress search engine friendly.
- You can easily create Search Engine Optimization-friendly page links/URLs, categories, subcategories, subdirectories, tags/labels, etc. In addition to all of these, you will have access to thousands of free SEO plugins for WordPress.org.
Cons of WordPress.org:
- A bit harder for beginners to get started compared with other CMSs' which are way easier.
- Setting up and managing your website could come up with a little bit of learning.
- You'd have to do the managing and backing up data and security on your own.
Pricing of WordPress.org:
The WordPress software is totally free, but you will need to purchase a domain name and hosting that supports WordPress ( I don't know of any that comes up without WordPress).
There are tons of services that offer domain names and website hosting. I personally recommend Bluehost. You can get started with Bluehost for as cheap as $2.75 per month with a free domain.
For a complete guide on how to get started with WordPress.org, see this guide.
Wix.com
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| Wix lets you create an amazing website within minutes |
Wix is another popular website builder. Wix has built-in hosting which doesn't require purchasing domain names and hosting from third-party providers.
Wix is really simple to use. Its drag-and-drop feature lets you create and design your website professionally within a few minutes!
Jointly co-founded by Avishai Abrahami, Giora Kaplan, and Nadav Abrahami in 2006, Wix's website builder offers an efficient and easy solution for small businesses to get online.
Wix's goal is to let anyone create a stunning website without any sort of coding skills required. Wix currently is powering more than 111 million users across the globe.
Pros of Wix.com:
- Setup is easy, no third-party hosting is required.
- Super easy to use, and no coding or website-related knowledge is required.
- The drag-and-drop feature lets you easily design your website within minutes.
- The option of customizing your website through dozens of third-party themes and apps.
Cons of Wix.com:
- A limited number of third-party themes and apps.
- Free third-party apps and tools are limited.
- Once you choose a specific template, it's not further changeable.
- E-commerce features are not available in the free plan, they are limited to the paid plans, even those are not efficient enough.
Pricing of Wix.com:
There's a basic Wix website builder which is free. Via a free Wix account, you would be provided with a free subdomain that looks like https://username.wixsite.com.
To add a custom domain, ie., www.yourwebsite.com, you'd have to pay $4.50 per month. Wix's premium plans range from $8.50/month up to $24.50/month.
Blogger.com
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| Blogger is a trademark of Google LLC |
Blogger is a completely free blogging service from Google. It is mostly suitable for non-tech-savvy users who want to create a blog for free without having to know much about blogging itself.
Blogger can be a great place to start your blogging career. Blogger was founded in 1999 by Pyra Labs, which makes it one of the earliest blogging platforms in existence. However, in 2003 Blogger was acquired by Google. Since then, Google has made some adjustments to the platform making it what it is today.
If you're thinking of starting a blog without any investments just for fun or for the experience, Blogger is the answer for you. It provides you with a subdomain that looks like https://username.blogspot.com.
You can add a custom domain in Blogger without having to pay anything. You won't have to buy any third-party hosting either. In fact, Blogger doesn't charge you for "literally" anything. It's totally has been free, and will be in the future, as Google says.
This blog is also hosted in Blogger. As you can see the domain extension (.blogspot.com) after Fadewblogs. Once my blog started to grow in the later part of 2017, I thought of switching to other platforms (WordPress.org to be specific), but since it was already pretty much well established and well ranked in search engines, and on top of these, I also started making money off of it via monetization through Google AdSense, I thought just let it be as it is. And ever since it has paid off.
Pros of Blogger.com:
- Completely free, forever!
- It's super easy to run without any sort of technical or coding skills and knowledge.
- Has Google's own robust stability, reliability, and advantage of a secured platform
- Blogger has dozens of third-party both free and premium templates.
- Free SSL certificate included.
Cons of Blogger.com:
- Your blog will be limited to only a handful of basic blogging tools, which sometimes might seem obsolete.
- Built-in templates are super limited and stiff with design and structural options & features.
- Third-party templates are often of low quality and do not offer as many features as you might expect.
- Google has the power to suspend your blog at any moment, and can also cancel the Blogger service. Remember, Google is notorious for killing its services and abandoning projects. They already canceled one service related to Blogger, Feedburner.
Some users might start up with Blogger cause it's free and does not require any sort of blogging knowledge, but eventually end up switching to other platforms to get more features and authority over their website, as their experiment with blogging finishes.
Pricing of Blogger.com:
As I mentioned earlier, Blogger is free and comes up with a .blogspot subdomain. To add a custom domain, you'd need to buy it from third-party domain registers.
Constant Contact Website Builder
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| Constant Contact Website Builder is an A.I.-powered CMS |
Constant Contact Website Builder is an Artificial Intelligence-powered website builder that you can create a free blog, business website, or, online store within minutes.
They have a large collection of stunning templates, that you can design and customize your website with very easily. Like Wix.com, they also have a super easy-to-use drag-and-drop customization feature.
Pros of Constant Contact Website Builder:
- Super easy-to-use drag-and-drop website builder.
- No technical skills or coding knowledge is required.
- Free SSL certificate included with paid plans.
- Access to some additional tools such as custom logo maker, online store, and professional image library of their own that has over 550,000+ stock images.
- Free 60-day trial that lets you try out the service, and even create an online store before buying it.
- 24/7 phone-based support, unlike any other platform.
Cons of Constant Contact Website Builder:
- Limited ways of integration with third-party services and tools.
- Small developer ecosystem.
- Migration from or to another site is difficult, unlike WordPress.
- Pricing.
Pricing of Constant Contact Website Builder:
You can upgrade to a $10/month plan for a custom domain, free SSL certificate, and other useful features.
If you are a small business or want to create a blog for which you want to make a passive income, then Constant Contact Website Builder is the next best choice after WordPress.org.
Gator by HostGator
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| Gator Website Builder is a CMS by HostGator |
Gator is an efficient website builder and blogging platform by HostGator. Many popular websites and companies ie., WP Beginner use Gator for hosting their websites.
Gator lets you create any type of website such as a blog, online store, online magazine, or company website, with its easy-to-use and very efficient drag-and-drop customization features.
Don't get confused between Gator and Hostgator website hosting. Gator is a website builder and Hostgator is a website hosting provider that you can use to start a WordPress.org website.
Gator can be the best option for a non-WordPress all-in-one blogging platform, and also a hosting solution.
Pros of Gator by HostGator:
- Super easy and efficient drag-and-drop website builder.
- The quick and easy setup, no super-technical knowledge required.
- The free domain name and SSL certificate are included in all plans.
- Additional support for e-commerce websites.
- Faster server response, performance, and security, all due to HostGator.
- 45-day money-back guarantee.
- 24/7 support via multiple mediums including phone and text.
Cons of Gator by HostGator:
- No free plans.
- E-commerce supports are limited to higher plans only.
- A limited number of tools, apps/plugins, and extensions.
Pricing of Gator by HostGator
Paid plans range from $3.84/month starter plan up to $9.22/month.
Conclusion
I believe that all the other blogging platforms are outperformed by WordPress.org. There are many reasons why WordPress.org is the go-to choice for literally anyone who wants to create any type of website.
I hope this article helps you with choosing the best blogging platform to go to in 2021 as a beginner.
Founder, Fadewblogs
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