Updated: October 2020

We keep surfing the web, sometimes more often than a common blogger because we are in the 'business' of bringing blogging tips and tricks to new bloggers and compiling blog directories.

Features you look for in blogging platforms.

When you search on Google for 'how to start a blog', you get 1.39 billion webpages. Search for 'Wordpress vs Blogger', and you still get 141 million results! Show, how much has been written already on starting a blog and comparing the two most popular free blogging platforms.

We checked dozens of pages that came at the top, when searching for 'Wordpress vs Blogger'. In most of these, we found Wordpress being recommended as compared to Blogger.

But in most cases, the comparisons are misplaced, as we'll discuss later in this article.

While we are well conversant with Wordpress, we use Blogger for our blogs, becasue we know its advantages over the free Wordpress platform for a common blogger. Look at the following ten situations; you should also choose Blogger if your needs and blogging goals align with these.

Blogger vs Wordpress: Blogger scores in these 10 situations

1. When you are new to blogging.

Why not learn the process of blogging free and intuitively? It does not cost any money, nor much time to be familiar with how posts are created, how a picture is added, how posts are arranged, and so on. And, it is damn simple! (as this post on starting a Blogger blog would reveal.) Wordpress is slighly difficult. It now comes with 'block editing', which is a fantastic feature but makes learning a bit more difficult if you are yet starting your first blog.

2. When you want to experiment before going for a final decision where to host the blog.

Why not do all types of experiments with a test blog before you take bigger decisions about blogging? You can open a number of free blogs on Blogger and experiment with its features. Experimentation can include playing with themes, layout and design, colors and backgrounds, fonts, widgets, link-building, commenting, adding AdSense ads and what not. You can do these on free Wordpress platform also but the choices are rather limited.

3. When you do not know tech or are averse to learning tech.

Ah! If you hate HTML and such other stuff, Blogger is one of the best platforms for beginner as well as established bloggers. We see some big blogs with .blogspot.com - the bloggers have not even cared to redirect (or map) this URL to a standalone site name! Most common actions are possible with a click of the mouse, and you need not know the HTML, CSS, JavaScriptt etc - the languages and codes that go behind these actions.

4. When you do not want to spend money on themes etc.

Wordpress has many themes but not many are available in the free plan. You need to pay for customization and premium themes. Not so in Blogger. You can select the available base themes and do numerous customizations through 'advance' option (Template > Customize > Advanced).

5. When by choice you do not want anything but writing.

If you are a blogger who just wants to showcase his content and will not spend time on other aspects such as optimization and sprucing up its looks, a simple blog on Blogger is what you want.

6. When you know tech and want to experiment with it.

If you are familiar with coding or even have some familiarity with HTML and CSS, you can add many new features on the blog - you can change its looks to a large extent, add new codes, add JavaScript, automate many functions, and so on. In fact, you can make the blog look like a static website with just a few clicks! On Wordpress free, the options are limited.

7. When you want to put videos on the blog.

Wordpress.com does not allow videos on the blog except by way of embedding a link from other sites such as YouTube. For videos, it asks you to go for a premium plan. You can put videos on Blogger pages as well as posts free of charge.

8. When you do not want to be asked, irritatingly, to pay even if you want one small favor.

Wordpress.com is free only in its plain vanilla version. If you want the blog to be ad free, it will ask for upgradation to a paid plan; if you want to map another URL, it will ask for payment; if you want to change code, it will want an upgrade; if you want to put ads and make some money, it will need a bigger payment. Just the barely customizable blog with 3GB space and hosting - only this much comes free from Wordpress.com.

9. When you want robust security for the blog that can be an issue with a self hosted blog.

When you host your blog or website on a web host, security is a concern. Well, reputed hosts come with security but their hosting charges can be high. Google provides that security and upgrades. All Blogger blogs come with https 'safe browsing' security. This feature is also there on Wordpress.com.

10. When you want to make money from the blog.

That's great, isn't it? For making money from a blog, Blogger is the only choice and other free blogging platforms including Wordpres.com do not allow any form of monetization. Wordpress allows that, but only on premium plan, which costs about $300 a year at present. Blogger allows you to put AdSense ads as well as other types of ads through widgets.

Please visit this post if you are interested in comparison among all main blogging platforms.

Blogger versus Wordpress: Why many prefer Wordpress?

That is a very pertinent question; when people compare Wordpress and Blogger, they give the judgement that Wordpress is far superior to Blogger - why?

One big reason is that many established bloggers, especially those familiar with technology, have developed their blogs on Wordpress.org, which is a content management system (CMS) and is different from the free blogging platform Wordpress.com which is comparable to Blogger.

Wordpress.org (CMS) based blogs or websites are not available on the web unless the blogger hosts them on a web host, on a payment. Such blogs are called self-hosted blogs because the blogs lie not in Blogger or Wordpress or Medium servers but in servers on which the blogger has full control. Definitely, such blogs / websites are better than free blogs in many respects.

In addition, many Wordpress bloggers have made transition from a Wordpress.com (free) blog to the Wordpress based self-hosted blog. Both having the same look and feel, the transition is smooth. This experience also heavily weighs on their minds when they compare Wordpress.com with Blogger. The themes and plugins and SEO friendliness that make Wordpress.org blogs full of features are NOT available on free Wordpress.com blogs. As mentioned earlier, you cannot even put AdSense or other advertisements on free Wordpress blogs.

Another reason is that some of the themes available on free Wordpress.com look sober and professional as compared to many experimental, brightly colored themes on Blogger. In recent years, Blogger has also introduced nice looking themes.

Blogger vs Wordpress free blogging platforms: a self hosted blog is better than both

The above discussion should settle any doubt on Wordpress vs Blogger. When you compare the two platforms, you must compare their free versions.

The next step, maybe after you have decided to add e-commerce or expand the blog greatly or get full control over the blog, would be to have a self-hosted blog. If and when you decide to have a self-hosted blog, you may choose Wordpress.org - one of the best content management systems available free. (There are hosting charges, etc: more details on this post: Why VPS hosting is so good for bloggers.) There are many other CMSs and website builders but none is as simple yet as powerful. Google has a free website making option but that too is nowhere near Wordpress.org.