Of the hundreds of free and paid blogging sites available today, half a dozen are popular. Among them, Blogger and Wordpress remain the best platforms because they have so many features. But both do not suit everybody. This article answers all questions relating to their strengths and weaknesses and helps you to choose the right blogging platform for your needs.

BLOGGER VS WORDPRESS: WHICH IS BETTER?

This question has been asked thousands of times and answered as many times. Yet, unless you look closely at their special features and also weaknesses, you do not get the right answer. In fact, there is no right answer because some find Wordpress better and some, Blogger. I will show these features and weaknesses to you so that you can decide which one is better for you.

Wordpress is the daddy of website/ blog creation: more than 30 percent of the world wide web is supposed to consist of websites and blogs created using this great software, and it is totally free. Mind it,

In the above paragraph, I used the word software, not platform. Wordpress software is NOT the Wordpress free blogging platform but the Wordpress CMS (=content management system) that is so much popular on the web. You can create beautiful blogs or websites with this software but you have to separately buy a domain name for the website/ blog and host it on the web. This software or CMS is available at Wordpress.org.

The free blogging platform from the same organization is Wordpress.com, which is in competition with Blogger (=blogspot) platform. Wordpress.com is similar to Wordpress.org CMS in feel and is simpler to operate.

Let's compare similar products: Wordpress and Blogger FREE BLOGGING PLATFORMS. They are the biggest such platforms and there are other smaller ones such as Tumblr, LiveJournal and Medium. In addition, there are many blogging platforms and website platforms that are not free.

If you want to have a modern blog or website with many functionalities and earning streams, I will recommend Wordpress CMS. Before deciding on that, you may like to compare it with alternatives like Joomla, Wix and Google Sites. Once you have created the blog/ website through any of these CMSs, you will need to buy a domain name and host the website/ blog on a web host. Both will need to be renewed year after year on payment of domain/ hosting charges.

Let's come back to the two top free blogging platforms. Both these blogging platforms suit personal or hobby blogging well. On both, you can create a blog with just a few clicks. You can give your blog a name that you like and post as per your will (with some limitations, of course). You don't have to pay a penny to create and run the blog. As you will see below, Blogger allows you to customize the blog's looks and make money from the blog, free of cost - which Wordpress does not.

Let us see how they compare and which one you should go for:

WORDPRESS VS BLOGGER: the two major free blogging platforms compared

Advantages of Wordpress (free blogging platform)

Is simple to learn. Needs no technical knowledge.
A user can open many free blogs.
Gives clean and modern looks to the blog.
Is highly secure.
Has enough space for normal blogging.
Allows HTML tags in posts.
You can upgrade free plan to have more features.
Migration to Wordpress CMS is easy and smooth.
Since free Wordpress platform does not allow advertising, blogs are clean and more content-oriented.
Wordpress has introduced block-based editing (called Gutenberg editor), which makes it easy to format a part of post/ page.

Advantages of Blogger

The Blogger platform is very simple to learn and needs no technical knowledge at all.
A user can open many free blogs.
Has many free themes - some new ones are comparable to Wordpress, while some old ones are very simple.
Is highly secure.
Has enormous space available.
Mapping to an independent domain is free.
Allows the blogger to tweak with the help of HTML/ CSS coding of posts as well as the core of the blog.
Integrates well with other Google utilities.

Wordpress free blogging platform: limitations

You cannot play with the code of the blog except some HTML in posts.
Space in the free plan is limited.
Free plan does not allow posting of videos.
Free or lower-end plans cannot have advertisements.
Though there are many plugins available (some are free) for additional functions and there are many more themes available on the web (many are free), these cannot be applied in the free or low-end plans.
Mapping to independent domain is not free and one has to pay fee annually to keep the mapping going.
It is not possible to create very high-end blog even with premium plans.
The free blog has a subordinate identity because its URL comes with .wordpress.com suffix. (However, you can go for an independent name, with paid plan/ paid mapping.)
Blog needs to follow the content, privacy and other policies of the platform.

Blogger free blogging site: limitations

Old themes look plain vanilla, which are not liked by many bloggers.
It is not possible to create a very high-end blog (e.g. with ecommerce facilities).
The free blog has a subordinate identity because its URL comes with .blogspot.com suffix. (However, you can map it to an independent name, for free.)
Blog needs to follow the content, privacy and other policies of the platform.

WHICH IS THE BETTER BLOGGING PLATFORM out of Wordpress and Blogger?

You should have realized that both the platforms are equally good if you are OK with posting content, and don't bother about other frills. Both have a number of free widgets through which you can display many items such as popular posts, contact form, social buttons, categories of posts, feed, etc.

Blogger allows more flexibility than Wordpress, and you can customize the blog to a great extent if you know a bit of HTML and CSS - not very difficult web languages. You can post videos and even give your blog an independent domain name at no cost! There is another great advantage of Blogger over Wordpress is that you can put ads on the blog and that makes Blogger the best free blogging platform to make money. Personally I like Blogger over Wordpress if I have to choose a blogging site for personal blog. I can even earn money from blogging on this platform.

Blogger and Wordpress have their own advantages.

However, many bloggers go for Wordpress as they fall in love with its subdued but pleasing basic themes. There is not much on offer in the free plan, but once a blogger is at ease with the free blog and later wants to go for an independent blog built on Wordpress CMS, he finds it easy to migrate. That is one big reason why people using Wordpress CMS recommend Wordpress as a blogging platform.

To be fair to Wordpress.com, it gives you a lot more features if you are prepared to shell out some money, because then you are allowed to use third-party themes and plugins. Plugins are bits of additional code and can bring in a range of functionalities to the blog.

Final answer to 'Which blogging site should I choose?'

- For personal blogging, both are equally good. Both also are good for beginners who do not know much about blogging. Open blogs on both, test them and stick with the one that you like. Remember that you will not be able to post videos (as of now) and advertisements on free Wordpress blog. Also note that if you want to make money from blogging but want to open a blog on a FREE blogging platform, you will have to choose Blogger.

- For low-level professional blogging (e.g. opening a blog on which you would write only about photography, accounts, legal aspects, etc), and if you think it may become a big blog over time, you can think of both. Test them and stick to the one that you like. However, I would recommend Wordpress.org, i.e. Wordpress CMS.

- For high-end professional blogging or business blogging, don't go for a free platform. Create a blog/ website using Wordpress.org CMS (or choose any other CMS or website builder if you want the website to look like standard websites and not like a blog).

But why stop at blogger vs wordpress? There are many other blogging platforms, and one of them might suit your needs or taste better. Look here: Best blogging platforms compared