Are you looking for a free platform to launch a website or blog? Then, you are in luck because we’ve got a list of free blogging platforms where you won’t be paying for your domain name and hosting space.
Note that, though these sites are free to use, you won’t have full control over your sites whereas in self-hosted sites you have to pay money for domain and site hosting (and you’ll have full control on your sites).
For someone starting out their blogging journey, here are five free blogging platforms for you.
1. Blogger
Blogger website platform is owned by Google and one of the earliest, most preferred and widely used free blogging platforms. It is not only free, but reliable and have themes that are beautiful, plain and simple. Blogger is by default, search engine friendly so you can increase your overall organic traffic just by using it. You can easily create blog posts, add images/videos and monetize your blog with monetization programs like Google Adsense, Amazon, etc.
The only limitation using Blogger is that you will have no control over your domain name and ultimately it’s just a sub-domain of .blogspot.com. This means your blog address will look like this: YourBlogName.blogspot.com. You can later buy a domain name (such as .com / .org) and assign it to your blog, if you like.
2. WordPress
Closely after Blogger.com, WordPress is the most reliable for content management . You can use WordPress for creating personal or professional websites. Most of its features are similar to that on Blogger.com and you have few monetization options.
Though you can use WordPress.com to create free blogs, but if you choose to start your blog on a self-hosted CMS, you can do that too using WordPress.org. You can use WordPress blogging software on your custom domain by downloading it from WordPress.org website and uploading it on your purchased web space.
3. Tumblr
Like Twitter and Facebook, Tumblr is a micro blogging website that is clutter free and mostly content-oriented. Tumblr actually looks like a combination of Facebook, Twitter and blogger. You can use Tumblr to create free blogs, visually-appealing images, and videos. Some of its unique feature include:
- Access hundreds of unique themes
- Post content directly from your Email box
- Track your blog visitors through Google Analytics
- Publish updates to your Facebook account
- Convert your posts into audio posts
- Use your own custom domain
- Automatically update latest posts on Twitter
4. Blog.com
Blog.com is available in free and premium versions. If you have some funds, you can use Blog.com premium features, you can have all of its premium features including a domain name.
Otherwise, you can use the free version and get facilities like integration with popular social media websites, tracking your blog stats through Google Analytics and selection of theme from its theme gallery.
5. Medium
Medium is a relatively new but fast-growing free blogging platform where you can create stories and own your personal space on the Internet. You can do this for free with either an e-mail address or a Twitter account. Your content is served by highly secure Medium servers and can reach an entirely different audience other than your typical target audience.
Even with its awesome features, it is almost impossible to redirect from Medium to WordPress. Also, you don’t have full control of the user experience.
We hope you found this helpful. Share your experience and your favorite from this list in the comments section.