Sharing your thoughts and showing off your work is now easier than ever, thanks to the many free blog sites available. The best free blog platform can help you get your work seen by more people without the costs and hassles of a full-fledged website. You don’t even need to know how to code. A blog or website on a free platform can easily compete with those made on paid platforms if the person who made it is creative and smart.
We carefully tried and reviewed each of the free blogging platforms below, looking at how easy they are to use, how flexible they are, how well they work, and how nice they look. We also asked creative people who have used these sites for comments on how well they work in the long run.Â
Read our guide on how to start a blog if you’re new to writing blogs. Our guide to the best website tools will also help you if you want to make a more complete site.
Guide to the Best Website Builders For Free Blog Sites:
1. Wix: The Best Free Blog Website Overall
If you want to start a blog quickly and easily, Wix is the best free tool for most people. It gives people a lot of style choices, so they can start using it immediately.
Design and Usability:
Wix’s easy-to-use drag-and-drop system makes creating a blog or any other kind of website simple. With over 900 blog templates, it’s easy to get started, as we pointed out in our study. Extras like AI planning tools and SEO optimization can improve your site and attract more people. It gives users 500 MB of free online storage and 1 GB of free speed, which makes it a good choice for artists and designers.
Pricing:
The free plan only lets you do some things, as it comes with Wix ads and a Wix domain name. You’ll need to pay for a plan to get rid of these and access more advanced features like Google Analytics and an online shop. Since these plans aren’t too expensive, start with the free version and move up as your blog grows.
02. Weebly: The Best Free Blog Website for Simplicity
If the thought of building a blog seems overwhelming, with its myriad tools, menus, and settings, Weebly might be the perfect solution for you. During our study, Weebly was even easier to use than Wix, which is at the top of our list.
Design and Usability:
A drag-and-drop method makes it easy to create a website with different layouts and templates. Weebly and Wix both have many of the same features. It’s simple to add photo albums and SEO and create them simultaneously for both laptop and mobile. Based on our tests, Weebly has fewer editing choices than Wix, but this works in its favor. It is an excellent choice for a free blogging site because the layout is less crowded and easier to use.
Pricing:
The free Weebly plan comes with a custom domain name and a Weebly ad on your page. Even so, you still get access to templates you can change, free themes, and tools for sharing on social networks. When you pay for a plan, the ads go away, you get your name, and you can change more things about it. This gives you more freedom as your writing needs grow.
03. Substack: The Best Free Blog Website Platform for Newsletter Writers
Platforms like Wix and Weebly are mainly made for making business websites with good blogging websites. Substack, on the other hand, takes a different approach. This tool is perfect for people who want to use newsletters to build an audience and profit from their material. With Substack, all the content you write for your emails is automatically added to your free blog sites. This helps you get more visitors and subscribers and make money from your content. As a free writing site, it’s become popular with creators and artists who want to make money.
Design and Usability:
Substack prioritizes email content, so its design options are limited if you want a unique-looking blog. However, it has a simple CMS that lets you style text and add pictures, videos, and other web material. We set up a newsletter/blog on Substack for our study, and we found its design very easy to use. The version history tool, which makes it easy to see older versions of your posts, really stood out. In addition, the lightweight interface worked well even when the cell connection was weak. To learn more, read our full review of Substack.
Pricing:
You can use Substack for free if everyone can read your emails and posts. Substack takes a cut of your money when you charge for payments.
04. WordPress.org: The Best Free Blog Website Platform for Professional Bloggers
If you want to blog professionally, you need to be able to control how it looks and works. Many platforms give you a few ways to change things, but WordPress.org is the best free platform for getting a professional look and fine-tuning your design.
Design and Usability:
WordPress.org is an open-source program for creating websites that offer many options for your blog. Unlike other platforms, it allows you to change how your site looks and works, giving you full power over its design and usefulness. However, being flexible means you have to learn how to use it. It takes time and work to learn how to use WordPress.org, but it’s worth it if you want to make a living writing.
According to our study, you need to know a bit about web design and development to use WordPress.org. If you want to make a blog in one day, this platform isn’t the best choice because you must set up servers and find your way around without dedicated customer support. Even so, the large community of writers who work with WordPress.org has created a lot of plug-ins, themes, and other items that can improve your site.
If you take the time to learn the method, you will have more power over your blog than ever before. You can pick your website name, and the ads on your blog will be the ones you’ve chosen. This gives it a more professional and personalized look.
Pricing:
You won’t have to pay anything to use WordPress.org, which is free and open source. However, you will have to pay for web space and a domain name to make your blog live online.
05. WordPress.com: The Best Free Blog Platform for Simplified WordPress Experience
WordPress.com and WordPress.org are both websites, but they are different. WordPress.org is a powerful web design tool, but it takes a while to learn and costs extra for hosting and domain names. WordPress.com, however, comes with hosting and a domain name, making it much easier to use.
Design and Usability
WordPress.com is an excellent option for people who like things to be simple. You can use it immediately if you want to avoid reading many instructions or spending time learning how to make websites. Our study found that WordPress.com had many themes that could be used for different kinds of blogs, and setting it up was more accessible than WordPress.org. However, the layout is trickier than on Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace, all free blog platforms.
Pricing
WordPress.com gives you free hosting, 1GB of storage, and a domain name that ends in.wordpress.com with the free plan. This plan does have some downsides, such as limited customizable choices and ads from outside sources. You’ll need to pay at least $4/£3 a month for the Start plan to eliminate these ads and use your domain name.
06. Joomla: The Best Free Blog Website Platform for Coders
We’ve mostly talked about systems that let you make a blog without knowing how to code, but Joomla is a great free blogging platform for people who know how to code.
Design and Usability:
Joomla is great because you don’t have to start from scratch when you build your site, but you can still make many changes through code. It comes with hundreds of themes and many add-ons that you can use to make your blog look exactly how you want it to. Joomla may have fewer templates and add-ons than WordPress.org, but it is excellent for people who know how to code because it gives them more control and freedom, which makes it perfect for creating more significant, more complicated sites. Joomla has a solution that can be expanded to fit your needs if you want your blog to grow into a big project that might make you money.
During our study, we found that Joomla has excellent tools right out of the box and an extensive library of plugins that let you make significant changes to your site’s look and functionality. It’s important to note that Joomla works best for people who know how to code or work with computers.
Pricing:
You can build a website with Joomla, which is free and open-source software, but you’ll need to pay for a domain name and storage. Joomla works with SiteGround to provide the launch.joomla.org service, which comes with free hosting and Joomla’s basic features for people who would rather not pay for hosting at first. This free choice has fewer features and might need more for a complex website immediately, but it’s a great place to start. You can later turn any free blog sites you make here into a full-fledged website with your server.
FAQ:
1. What are the first steps to start blogging for free?
Ans:Start your blog for free with a tool like Wix or WordPress.com. Make an account, pick a good template, and change it to fit your needs. Start by making your first post. Then, use the platform’s tools to organize and post it. As you get better at blogging, try out extra features like tools and plugins to improve it.
2. Which free blog sites offer the most features and flexibility?
Ans:Many say WordPress.com is the best free blog sites because it has the most features and options. It has a lot of templates and tools, many ways to customize it, and a strong community behind it. With its drag-and-drop layout and design choices, Wix is also very flexible, which makes it a strong competitor based on your needs.
3. Is purchasing web hosting and a domain necessary for free blogging?
Ans:No, purchasing web hosting and a domain is not necessary for free blogging. Free blog platforms typically provide a subdomain (e.g., yourblog.wordpress.com) and host your blog for free. However, if you want a custom domain name (e.g., yourblog.com) and additional features, upgrading to a paid plan or purchasing separate hosting and a domain is recommended.
4. How frequently should you post new content on your blog?
Ans:How often you post can change based on your viewers and goals. Aim to post at least once a week to keep people interested and boost your SEO. It’s essential to be consistent. Whether you post once a week or twice a week, regular updates will help keep your blog alive and bring back viewers.
5. What strategies are best for promoting a new blog effectively?
Ans:Use social media to share blog posts and interact with your audience to get the word out about your new blog. Use SEO to your advantage by making your material search engine-friendly. Connect with other writers and join online groups related to your blog. You could reach possible fans by guest writing on well-known blogs and using email marketing.
