The 5 Best Blogging Platforms in 2021

If you’ve ever wanted to turn your passion into a side hustle or even a full-blown career, blogging is the way to do it. 

Create a community of like-minded souls, write about something you love, and earn money while doing it. What more could you want, really?

There are various blogging stats and studies floating around the web. It’s a little complicated but they suggest that 60-80% of Internet users read blogs. Talk about reach, my friend!

So, if you want to get your voice heard for whatever reason, blogging is a good shout.

One of the first things you’ll need to do is get your blog up and running. You can’t blog without a blogging platform, ya silly sausage.

That’s why I’ve put together this list of the best blogging platforms to suit a range of people.

CONTENTS

Should I Start a Blog?

1. WordPress + Bluehost

2. Squarespace

3. Zyro

4. Weebly

5. Medium

How Do I Choose a Blogging Platform?

Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. So, if you choose to make a purchase using one of the links on this page I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Nevertheless, I will always share my genuine experiences and opinions on any tool I recommend.

Should I Start a Blog?

You ask me that question and I’ll throw one right back at you. What have you got to lose?

If you dig writing, are passionate about a subject, and/or have the entrepreneurial spirit, why not?

But, if you wanna get deep, let’s get deep:

Share Your Knowledge

Maybe I’m naive but I think most of us, deep down, just want to help people. 

And you can do that by sharing your know-how with others through your blog posts. Plus, if you manage to create a community of like-minded individuals with the same interests, that’s amazing.

It’s all extremely gratifying.

Make Money Blogging

So, we go from rainbows and butterflies to evil, evil capitalism. JK.

The truth is, you can do something that’s good and gratifying, and earn money from it. Who’s gonna knock you for that?

And some people will see creating blog posts as purely an entrepreneurial venture. The reason being, there’s a ton of ways to earn money blogging. For example, through affiliate marketing or sponsorship.

Many bloggers earn $$$. Some of the most successful earn hundreds of thousands of dollars every month. But even if you don’t get to the big bucks stage, you can at least diversify your income. 

Earn some cash through your blog, some through freelancing, some through selling your artwork, etc. I don’t know what your jush is.

It’s always a good idea to diversify your income streams to have a fall-back. And you can make a bloody good income as an all-around online entrepreneur.

Showcase Your Expertise

With a blog, you get to show other people in your industry and potential clients that you know your stuff.

My blog has helped me garner attention from other people in my industry. It’s given me the opportunity to network, feature on other people’s blogs as an expert, and so on.

This works for any kind of personal brand, freelancer or solopreneur.

Go out there, show that you’re an expert, raise your profile and get more people interested in you and what you do.

Now that I’ve poured my heart out to you and given you some food for thought, let’s get into what you came here for: The best blogging platforms.

1. WordPress + Bluehost: Best for Growth

The Low-Down

Pros:

• Free custom domain for one year 
• Instant WordPress installation
• Automatic updates and backups
• Super customizable
• 55,000+ plugins
• Rich in features
• Low fees
• Outstanding support

Cons:

• Not the easiest to set up
• There may be a learning curve involved

Who Is It For?

• You have some tech skills and want to do your own thing
• You want to be able to grow and scale your blog over time
• You want the flexibility to explore business and monetization opportunities

More on WordPress and Bluehost

WordPress.com is the most popular blogging platform on the market. 409 million people visit over 20 billion pages powered by WordPress every month.

Technically, WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS).

But this just means you need a hosting provider to use WordPress. And Bluehost is the choice for WordPress hosting. 

WordPress and Bluehost go together like Kenan and Kel, Romy and Michelle, or any other 90’s duo you like.

With Bluehost, you get a free domain for one year, plus instant WordPress installation, along with automated updates and backups. 

There’s a low monthly fee for the hosting. Right now you can start your blog for as little as $2.75/month. What a bargain!

This is the combo that I use and I’ll tell you why.

WordPress is the most customizable blogging platform, with over 55,000 plugins. These of course include some of the best SEO and marketing tools out there right now.

Where other blogging platforms are limited to certain themes, templates, and a few addons, you have total autonomy over the direction of your WordPress blog.

This kind of flexibility will help you grow and scale your blog over time. And you’ll be able to monetize it any way you please. 

Want to start selling your own products? There’s a plugin for that. Want to add a job board? There’s a plugin for that. Want to start a forum or community? There’s a plugin for that.

This ability to grow as you go is perfect for new bloggers and budding entrepreneurs.

I have to be honest with you though. With WordPress, there may be a learning curve when you set up your blog. And there are indeed other platforms you can use to start a blog quicker and more easily.

But in my experience, you can build your WordPress skills up over time. Start with one of WordPress’s huge range of templates and themes. You can also use a drag-and-drop website builder plugin to simplify things.

And Bluehost will help you with any techy stuff you can’t wrap your head around. It’s pretty mind-blowing how helpful the live chat support is.

I’m not going to lie, I effed things up with my website a couple of times. But the fabulous people at Bluehost went in and fixed things for me.

Well, that’s my love letter to Bluehost, done… Lol.

2. Squarespace – Best for Design

The Low Down

Pros:

• Easy to use interface
• Get started quickly
• Stunning designs
• In-built marketing and blog management tools

Cons:

• Not cheap
• V. limited third-party add-ons

Who’s It For?

• Less tech-savvy people who want to get their blog started quickly
• Solo entrepreneurs

More on Squarespace

Squarespace is a super easy-to-use drag-and-drop website builder. This means you can get your blog up and running in next to no time.

To create a blog simply pick a template, add a blog page, customize it to meet your needs and you’re away. What makes Squarespace stand out though are the stunning minimalist designs.

The platform was created for small business owners. So, it would be great to use as a solo entrepreneur, personal brand, or for anyone who wishes to use their blog to promote something.

It has a suite of marketing tools built-in, which you can use to promote your blog. There are also handy blog management tools you can use to monitor analytics, schedule posts, add new contributors, and so on.

However, Squarespace is limited to its own tools and a small number of third-party extensions.

Another downside is the cost associated with Squarespace. It’s generally more expensive than other blogging platforms.

All Squarespace plans come with a free custom domain. But its cheapest plan, the Personal plan, has limited features compared to the Business and Commerce plans.

Currently, the Personal plan is $16/month and the Business plan is $26/month. But you can get 25% off by paying annually.

So, essentially, there’s a pay-off here. 

If you want a blogging platform with ready-made, gorgeous designs that’s also easy to use, you have to pay a little extra. You can always give the free trial a go to see if it’s worth it for you.

3. Zyro – Best for Branding

The Low Down

Pros:

• Beginner-friendly
• Useful AI-driven business tools
• Scalable
• V. cheap offers
• Excellent uptime

Cons:

• Limited customization options
• Limited integrations

Who’s It For?

• Personal brands, freelancers, those who need a portfolio
• You’re a complete beginner who needs to start from scratch
• You’re looking for an alternative to the big names

More on Zyro

Zyro is a beginner-friendly drag-and-drop website builder and a unique alternative to some of the big-name blogging sites.

There are some beaut templates you can use to start your blog. Naturally, there are blogging, publishing, SEO, reporting, and marketing tools for you to make use of, too.

But what’s really interesting about Zyro are the AI-driven business and branding tools. These include a logo maker, heat mapping tool, blog title generator, and more. It even has a bloody business name generator if you need it. So, it really is wicked for starting from scratch.

Plus, these tools make it a fantastic option if you want to use your blog to grow your personal brand.  To me, Zyro would be great for a portfolio-cum-blog or similar.

It may be a small fry, but Zyro guarantees 99.9% uptime, dedicated customer service, and security features. So, you don’t have to worry about missing out on those things just because you’re not choosing a big-name blogging platform.

Zyro’s offers are fabulous. At the time of writing, plans start at just $1.89/month. So you may wish to snap up an offer when you see it. 

The blogging platform uses automated scaling. So, you can begin with a Personal plan and as your needs grow, you’ll get more bandwidth, storage, and so on. This could be an issue, though as you may need to watch out for increasing fees.

Zyro has some good integrations, such as Hotjar and Facebook Messenger Live. However, as with Squarespace, integrations are very limited. Furthermore, in terms of website customization, there aren’t a lot of features. 

You need to bear these things in mind. Perhaps you want to customize the hell out of your site. You can’t really do that with Zyro. 

But, on the other hand, maybe you want to keep things real simple. And if so, Zyro is a fantastic choice

4. Weebly – Best for Simplicity

The Low Down

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Customizable with 360 add-ons
• Clear package structure
• Reasonably-priced
• Integrated tools for SEO, analytics and forms

Cons:

• Few templates
• Limited free plan

Who’s It For?

• You’re a beginner who need an easy-to-use website builder
• You want to leave your monetization options open

More on Weebly

Weebly is a website builder for blogs, personal websites, small businesses, and online stores.

It’s another easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor. This functionality also applies to content so you can create blog posts that are as good-looking as Priyanka Chopra.

But, what sets Weebly apart from some of the other drag-and-drops is the fact that there are currently 360 paid and free add-ons. This even includes third-party integrations. You can use these to customize your site to meet your needs. 

The blogging platform is so reasonably priced and straightforward about what you get with each package. The best package is the Professional package at $12/month if billed annually or $16 month-to-month. 

With this package, you get a free custom domain and $100 worth of Google Ads credit, which is a sweet extra. 

You can also accept payments via Square or another third-party provider with this package, so there’s an opportunity to monetize your blog or sell stuff through your blog if you want to.

The Pro package comes with integrated tools for SEO, analytics, plus lead capture and contact forms. There’s also an app you can use to manage your site on the go.

Clearly, Weebly has a lot of boss-ass tools and features.

One of the downsides of Weebly, however, is that there are very few templates to work off of. Though, you can customize them any way you please.

There’s a free plan if you want to create a blog as just a hobby. But, features are extremely limited compared to the paid plans and it comes with Weebly ads.

So, if you’re serious about starting a blog, I’d suggest going for the Professional package.

5. Medium – Best for Writing

The Low Down

Pros:

• Easy to use and easy setup
• Free blog
• Great sense of community
• Focus on writing
• Wide reach

Cons:

• No customization
• Hardly any integrations
• Basic

Who’s It For?

• Beginners, hobbyists
• Writers who need a platform

More on Medium

Medium is one of the best free blogging platforms. There are no bells and whistles with Medium. You just set up your profile and start writing. Plus, the overall design is totally minimalist.

All of this means that it’s super easy to use and that the focus, above all, is on the writing.

Medium is more like a blogging community than the other platforms on this list. You can gain followers and likes from readers, similar to how you would on social media.

And there’s great reach. The blogging site has almost 100 million monthly readers. So, you really do have the opportunity to gain a following.

There are many niches that people blog about on Medium. But, in my experience as a reader and publisher, Medium is particularly great for tech, entrepreneurship, and other B2B topics.

Medium isn’t for people who want to build their own unique website. It’s an established platform that you can use, but it’s not yours.

As such, there are hardly any opportunities for customization or integrations. 

So, if your focus is on the writing and you have no intention to grow and expand your own website, then Medium is the best blogging site for you.

Btw, it is possible to earn money from your Medium blog by joining their Partner Program. However, it must be noted that only a small percentage of partners earn over $100 per month on Medium.

So, it’s not going to be your big money maker. But, it’s better than a poke in the eye, I suppose.

How Do I Choose a Blogging Platform?

As you can see, each blogging platform has its pros and cons. And different platforms suit the needs of different bloggers-to-be.

So, if you’re still struggling to decide…

Here are some steps you can take to help you choose the right blogging platform for you:

1. Think About the Purpose of Your Blog

Consider why you want to create a blog in the first place. Then choose the platform that’ll help you meet your goals.

For example, if you just want to blog as a hobby, you might choose Medium. If you want to grow over time, add to your site, and/or monetize your blog then WordPress would be a better option.

2. Know Your Skillset

If you’re a total newbie, then you probs want to choose a blogging site that’s super easy to set up. For this reason, you may want to go with one of the easier drag-and-drop platforms, like Squarespace.

But, if you think you can get to grips with WordPress, perhaps with a little help or a few YouTube tutorials, then you should absolutely opt for WordPress with Bluehost. As you know by now, it’s my number one choice for the best blogging platform.

3. Consider What Extras You’ll Need

If you’re serious about blogging, you need a platform with solid tools for things like SEO, analytics, social sharing, capturing email addresses and so on.

Look at whether the platform has the integrations, plugins, addons, or whatever you want to call them, that you need. WordPress and Weebly have extensions for most of the things you could imagine.

Other blogging platforms, like Zyro and Squarespace, have the fundamentals. So, it really comes down to what you personally need from a blogging platform.

I guess all that’s left to say is happy blogging! May the odds be ever in your favor.