6 Best Blogging Platforms 2025: My Top Picks After Testing

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Blogs are the most common form of information transmission on the web due to their high accessibility and endless variety. A website builder can help you create the perfect blog no matter its purpose – from business promotion to hobbyist journaling. Plus, they have tools to help you market your site to wider audiences and monetize it.

We’ve spent over 300 hours testing the top 12 website builders, and have pulled together the six best options for bloggers. Which blogging platform is best for you will differ based on what type of blog you intend to create, but from our research, I can confidently say that Wix is the best all-rounder.

Best Blog Website Builders: Comparison Table

Compare ratings, pricing, and features for the top six blogging platforms side-by-side in the table below to help you choose the best blog website builder for you:

Swipe right to see more
0 out of 0

Wix

Squarespace

Hostinger

GoDaddy

Web.com

WordPress.org

Overall Rating
4.9
Overall Rating
4.5
Overall Rating
4.2
Overall Rating
4.0
Overall Rating
3.9
Overall Rating
4.1
Starting from
Starting from
Starting from

$11.99

$2.99 + 3 months free (48-month term)

Starting from

$9.99

Starting from

$4.99 per month

Starting from

$2.95 (for Bluehost hosting)

Free plan or free trial

Free plan

Free plan or free trial

14-day free trial

Free plan or free trial

7-day free trial

Free plan or free trial

Free plan

Free plan or free trial

30-day free trial

Free plan or free trial

Free to install

What We Dislike
  • Can’t switch template after publishing your site
  • Dashboard can be overwhelming due to large number of features
  • Editor speeds can be slow at times
What We Dislike
  • No centralized SEO dashboard
  • Smart grid in editor can limit you creatively
  • No autosave feature when designing
What We Dislike
  • Limited scalability and customization options
  • No app market and lack of built-in features
  • Renewal prices increase after introductory deal
What We Dislike
  • Limited and uninspiring design options
  • Features are too simple for complex businesses
  • No app market to add extra functionality with
What We Dislike

No categories, no blog-specific analytics

What We Dislike
  • Steep learning curve for beginners
  • Requires extras like hosting
  • Choice of apps & themes can be overwhelming
Storage space

2GB – Unlimited

Storage space

Unlimited

Storage space

Unlimited

Storage space

Unlimited

Storage space

40GB

Storage space

50GB – Unlimited

SEO

Outstanding

SEO

Outstanding

SEO

Above average

SEO

Basic

SEO

Above Average

SEO

Excellent

Blogging Capabilities

Writer profiles, blogging templates, analytics, post-scheduling, archive, comments, and search feature

Blogging Capabilities

Writer profiles, analytics, post-scheduling, archive and comments

Blogging Capabilities

Writer profiles, display categories, AI Blog writing and SEO support, and post-scheduling

Blogging Capabilities

Writer profiles, social sharing and scheduling posts

Blogging Capabilities

Writer profiles, Scheduling tool, archive, comments, and search feature

Blogging Capabilities

Completely customizable, high functionality with over 60,000 plugins

Comments
Comments
Comments
Comments
Comments
Comments
Search feature
Search feature
Search feature
Search feature
Search feature
Search feature
Ease of use
4.4
Ease of use
4.8
Ease of use
4.7
Ease of use
4.5
Ease of use
3.7
Ease of use
3.2
Recommended For

Small business blogs and monetizing content

Recommended For

Creative brands and art blogs

Recommended For

Beginners & side-hustlers who need fast, easy blogging

Recommended For

Personal brands

Recommended For

Bloggers on a budget

Recommended For

Complex and content-heavy blogs

View Wix View Squarespace View Hostinger View GoDaddy Visit Web.com Visit WordPress
Most blog websites fall under one of these three categories:
  • Persuasive blogs that convince the reader to do something, whether buying a product or signing up for a newsletter. They’re usually attached to an existing online store or business.
  • Informational blogs that provide valuable information to readers. They can have ads or affiliate links, but the primary goal is to inform.
  • Entertainment blogs that are written for fans of a specific type of entertainment, like films, games, or TV shows. These types of blogs are often more of a hobby than a job, but they can still be monetized.

When assessing each website builder, you should think about the kind of blog you want to create. Does the builder you’re interested in have the tools you need to accomodate your blog type?

Why You Can Trust Us💡

At Website Builder Expert, we don’t take our name lightly. All of our recommendations are driven by data collected by our fantastic research team – over 300 hours of it! I’ve also tested each builder myself, collecting first-hand pictures and honest opinions to help you decide.

1. Best for Monetizing Your Blog: Wix

Editor's Choice

Wix

Our top choice for blogging

Outstanding

4.9

out of 5
  • Easy platform to use
  • Publish on free plan
  • Endless creative freedom
dollar icon svg

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $17 - $159 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Beginner-friendly editor
  • icon yes svg Strong AI tools for text and images
  • icon yes svg Advanced SEO support

Cons

  • icon no svg Can't switch template once site is live
  • icon no svg Premium plans start at $17 per month
  • icon no svg Lacks storage on cheap plans
Wix Review

Wix should be your top choice if you’re interested in generating revenue with your blog as soon as possible.

Wix is my top choice for blogging because of how versatile it is as a website builder. You get to choose an expertly designed blogging template from across several industries, and then add any number of features you wish. However you want your blog to look and function, Wix can accommodate it.

After activating the built-in Wix Blog integration, I could see that Wix was a powerhouse optimized for monetization and efficiency. Firstly, its range of professional blog management tools – similarly to those you get with WordPress – made it easy to search, manage, and organize a large number of blog posts.

I also was impressed to see a range of pre-made templates for common blog posts, such as reviews and how-to guides. If you’re new to blogging or need help getting started, this extra level of guidance feels much less intimidating than using a builder like Web.com, which sets you up with a blank page.

If you need to churn out a high quantity of blog posts, Wix’s AI Writer can support at multiple levels, from generating initial blog post ideas to creating traffic-grabbing titles to writing fully fledged posts.

Wix blog post template with picture of woman using a mixing bowl
I could control the word count (up to 2,000), tone of voice, and even the number of images in my blog post. The advanced preferences allowed me to control the writing style, target audience, and keywords, which really gave me confidence in the accuracy of the AI generated content. Source: Website Builder Expert

In the back end, Wix’s sidebar has a whole area dedicated to blog monetization. It explains all the ways you can generate money from your blog, from Google AdSense and Wix ecommerce integrations to subscription and membership plans, alongside call to action buttons that mean you can hit the ground running and monetize your blog quickly.

6 tools to monetize wix blog
Wix outlined every monetization method and included YouTube videos and support articles for further guidance. Source: Website Builder Expert

To top it off, Wix generates blog-specific reports that allow you to monitor different aspects of your posts’ performance, even down to the times of day that receive the highest traffic. These analytics can help you understand which content styles and schedules your audience responds to best, which in turn can influence your approach to monetization.

What To Watch Out For

While Wix is a strong all-rounder, some of our testers found the level of choice and functionality to be overwhelming. If you’re looking to create a simple blog and monetization isn’t a requirement, you’ll find Squarespace’s editor much more straightforward to use.

Who Do I Recommend Wix For?

Wix is our top website builder, and its versatility makes it suitable for many types of blogs. If you’re wondering whether to use it to build your blog, here are my recommendations:

Suitable for... Not suitable for...
✔️Ecommerce stores that want to add a blog to promote their products and demonstrate industry expertise ❌Casual bloggers only needing basic functionality

2. Best Blogging Templates: Squarespace

Squarespace

For art blogs

Excellent

4.5

out of 5
  • Beautiful blog designs
  • Beginner-friendly builder
  • Save 10% with code WBE10
dollar icon svg

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $16 - $52 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Professionally-designed blog templates
  • icon yes svg Tons of creative freedom
  • icon yes svg High-quality blogging features

Cons

  • icon no svg No blog-specific analytics
  • icon no svg Need to upgrade to monetize your blog
  • icon no svg Slowest loading speed in our testing
Squarespace Review

Squarespace is my top choice for entertainment blogs due to its impeccably designed blog templates. Covering a range of industries, you should have no trouble finding one that suits the topic and tone of your blog. If not, the revamped Squarespace Blueprint feature can build you a unique template from scratch – all you need to do is answer a few questions.

After choosing a template, my experience using Squarespace’s editor was just as smooth – it’s the easiest I’ve tested! Even if you have limited web design experience, you can drag and drop your site’s elements wherever you like, and customize them without much effort.

green blog post about rose geranium facial serum
I had complete control over the formatting and colors of each individual blog post, even down to choosing whether to show the author name, profile, and publish date. Source: Website Builder Expert

The blog management tools found in the “Blog settings” area are also very powerful and user-friendly – the category merge tool will be particularly useful as your blog grows and you may want to change its organizational structure.

Squarespace is a great choice if you’re looking to grow an engaged audience for your blog, since it supports comments and even “Simple likes,” meaning users can show their support of your blog post without needing to log into an account.

And when it comes to expanding, Squarespace’s SEO tools give you control over the meta title and description for individual posts. Meanwhile, with its email marketing tools, you’re able to automatically create an email campaign from your blog post to boost visibility.

Squarespace email template editor using a blog post
When I turned my blog post into an email, I made use of the “Quickly match your site” feature, which gave the email an attractive design that matched my website theme. Source: Website Builder Expert

What To Watch Out For

Squarespace doesn’t provide blog-specific analytics like Wix does. This makes it hard to measure how well your posts are doing and the effectiveness of any new blog marketing tactics, which can make it difficult to refine your overall growth strategy.

The SEO guidance Squarespace offers isn’t very beginner friendly. And, since our last round of testing, Squarespace has removed its dedicated SEO dashboard, and our most recent testers experienced difficulty finding the tools they needed. This makes it very easy to neglect important SEO tasks and limit your visibility online – one of the most common blogging mistakes.

On top of this, our tests found Squarespace to have the slowest loading speed of all these blogging platforms. This is something to keep in mind if you’re planning to create lengthy blog posts with lots of media – especially if you’re aiming to monetize your posts, since loading speed has a direct impact on ecommerce sales.

Who Do I Recommend Squarespace For?

Squarespace’s array of templates and design capabilities make it a great choice for bloggers wanting a high level of control over their designs. That said, it has some noticeable drawbacks:

Suitable for… Not suitable for…
✔️Creative or design focused blogs
✔️Blog posts to support your art business
❌Users who want to add a blog to a complex or content-heavy site, due to site speed performance issues
❌Users who’ll want to get user support over the phone

3. Best for AI Enhanced Blogging: Hostinger

Hostinger

Best for AI enhanced blogging

Very Good

4.2

out of 5
  • A single paid plan
  • Best for short-term blogs
  • Get online quickly
dollar icon svg

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $2.99 - $3.99 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Drag-and-drop editor
  • icon yes svg AI support in builder, blog, and SEO
  • icon yes svg Simple to use

Cons

  • icon no svg Lacks social media marketing tools
  • icon no svg Limited control over SEO
  • icon no svg Not scalable
Hostinger Review

Hostinger’s AI assistance runs through every area of its website builder, from initial setup to crafting a logo, which makes it my top choice for blogging novices looking for additional support and guidance.

In terms of your blog, Hostinger’s AI generates posts of up to 2,000 words, splitting them up with images and headings. You can also generate your own AI images directly in the blog editor, which is perfect if you struggle to source original imagery for your posts, although you do have to purchase credits to make use of this feature.

The AI support also streamlines SEO, providing in-depth guidance and checklists on best practices, suggesting primary keywords to target, and giving a preview of your post’s appearance in the search results – helping you to increase your visibility, even as a beginner.

Hosinger's blog seo tips with yellow and green checklists
Hostinger’s AI SEO tips held my hand through creating each piece of meta data. Source: Website Builder Expert

One of my favorite features is the ability to create QR codes, which instantly open up the blog post it’s linked to when scanned on a mobile device. Once you have your QR code, you can share it on social media or print it to be scanned in a brick-and-mortar store. For local businesses, placing QR codes in public locations is also a great way to create brand awareness and attract new customers. Blog-specific analytics complement this feature, showing your website’s traffic and helping you to understand where it’s coming from.

Finally, Hostinger has the fastest loading speed of all the builders we tested, which means that it will be a reliable option for even the most content-heavy site, such as a small ecommerce store.

What To Watch Out For

If you’re looking to scale your audience with social media, there’s a limit to what you’ll achieve with Hostinger. It has no built-in social media advertising integrations or marketing tools, and you won’t be able to schedule your blog posts to go live on social media. If social media is, or is expected to be, a large part of your online presence, GoDaddy’s integrated social media tools make it a better option.

Also, Hostinger’s SEO features might be user friendly, but we found them to be lacking schema makeup and canonical tags – features you do get with both Wix and Squarespace. These help search engines to understand the content of your blog posts better and improve your chances of appearing in results pages.

Who Do I Recommend Hostinger For?

Hostinger has unique features that make it usable for bloggers of all abilities. However, it may not be the right option for you. Here are my recommendations:

Suitable for… Not suitable for…
✔️Novice bloggers who need a simple user experience
✔️Side-hustlers needing time-saving AI tools
❌Those wanting to seriously scale their audience
❌Blogs attached to large ecommerce stores or bookings website

4. Best for Quick and Easy Blogging: GoDaddy

GoDaddy

Best for personal blogs

Very Good

4

out of 5
  • Beginner-friendly choice
  • Quick AI setup
  • Share on socials
dollar icon svg

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $9.99 - $20.99 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Strong marketing features
  • icon yes svg User-friendly interface
  • icon yes svg Social scheduling tools

Cons

  • icon no svg Generic templates
  • icon no svg No writer profiles
  • icon no svg No AI in blog editor
GoDaddy Review

GoDaddy is a great choice for anyone looking to set a blog up quickly. It has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to add text, images, and links, and format your post.

If you’re looking to ramp up your social presence, the social media calendar and post planner will let you create and schedule emails, blog, and social media posts, and give a clear overview of your upcoming schedule. You can also organize your posts with categories.

GoDaddy’s blog has quick buttons to share your posts on social media and Google, and from the settings, you can add share buttons for X and Facebook, and a button to email your post automatically to subscribers.

What To Watch Out For

Unfortunately, GoDaddy’s AI writer doesn’t extend to blog posts. If you’re looking for AI blogging support, Wix and Hostinger provide the best tools.

On top of that, GoDaddy is limited for businesses that want to build brand awareness with their blog, since it doesn’t offer any blog-specific SEO. In fact, our research found it to have the weakest SEO out of all the builders on this list, lacking pretty standard tools, such as multilingual support and robots.txt file editing.

And I also couldn’t add writer profiles or enable comments, which is a shame considering that the social calendar is set up for brand growth.

GoDaddy’s also the only blogging platform on this list with no search feature in the back end, which will make managing a large quantity of blog posts challenging.

GoDaddy blog editor
I was completely left to my own devices when writing a blog post on GoDaddy. Without templates or AI support, I found it difficult to begin writing. Source: Website Builder Expert

Who Do I Recommend GoDaddy For?

GoDaddy is one of my top choices for blogs because of its user-friendly interface and social media integrations. If you’re wondering whether it’s a good choice for you, read on:

Suitable for… Not suitable for…
✔️Users wanting to create a small, simple blog quickly
✔️Users wanting a blog to complement their social media presence
❌Regularly updated blogs with multiple staff writers that aim to grow an engaged blogging audience
❌Bloggers catering to an international audience

5. Best for Budget Blogging: Web.com

Web.com

For multimedia blogs

Good

3.9

out of 5
  • Cheapest entry-level blog
  • Tools to help you grow

Paid Plans: $4.99 - $9.99 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg All the basic blogging functionality
  • icon yes svg Affordable price
  • icon yes svg SEO blog posts in 12 languages

Cons

  • icon no svg AI Writer lacks complexity
  • icon no svg Can't monetize blog posts
  • icon no svg Blog posts can't be categorized
Web.com Review

Web.com is the best value for money website builder on this list. If you’re a blogger on a budget, you can start for $4.99 per month, when billed annually.

For this price, Web.com offers a solid range of features to support a basic blog, such as the ability to add multiple authors and scheduled posts. Marketing is another strength – you’ll find a scheduling calendar similar, albeit simpler, to GoDaddy’s, which will help you create an organized schedule to grow your blog online.

Web.com’s AI Writer can help you create SEO-friendly blog posts. When testing it, I had control over the keywords I wanted to target, and was able to choose from 12 languages – particularly useful if you’re targeting a global audience.

What To Watch Out For

As is to be expected with such a low price point, Web.com comes with limitations. Firstly, it doesn’t support blog categorization, meaning your posts can quickly get disorganized as they begin to grow in number, and your site visitors may struggle to locate them.

Since Web.com lacks paywall and advertising integrations, you also won’t be able to monetize your blog posts. If you’re looking to make money by blogging, you’re better off investing in Wix’s more expensive plan, since you may be able to earn the difference back.

Web.com markets itself as an AI powered website builder, but our testers found its AI Writer lacked the complexity of Wix’s, as it didn’t provide as many customization options or supporting images. I was intrigued at the prospect of layering multiple tones of voice together, but the outcome was unnatural and inaccurate, and made me question how deeply it understood my requests.

white page with black blog post writing on
After generating an AI blog post using the professional and friendly tones of voice, the title generated included the phrase “for a professional and friendly boost.” Source: Website Builder Expert

Who Do I Recommend Web.com For?

Web.com’s low price point makes it an attractive option for many bloggers, but it comes with considerable limitations.

6. Best for Content-Heavy Blogs: WordPress.org

WordPress.org

For content-heavy blogs

Good

4.1

out of 5
  • Famous for blogging
  • Limitless customizations
  • Requires separate hosting
dollar icon svg

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $2.95 - $5.45 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg 60,000+ plugins to customize your blog
  • icon yes svg Build from scratch with total control
  • icon yes svg Add whatever blogging tools you need

Cons

  • icon no svg Steep learning curve for beginners
  • icon no svg You manage security, hosting, updates
  • icon no svg No in-house support team or resources
WordPress.org Review

The most popular platform on the web for blogging, WordPress.org is not like the other website builders on this list. Rather than having a drag-and-drop editor for building a website, WordPress.org is a CMS (content management system) instead, and functions entirely around the creation and posting of content. This allows for limitless customization of your blogs – albeit with the caveat that you know how to code HTML.

a menu of tools with icons next to a blank editor
WordPress.org let me create templates so all my posts can be structured the same. It also has a large list of embeds. Source: Website Builder Expert

WordPress.org is open-source, meaning that anyone can download and edit it for free. This means that when you start your WordPress blog, your website will be endlessly moddable.

a dashboard, with a charcoal side menu and blog posts with blue text
This was the first sight that greeted me in WordPress.org. It can look confusing at first, but it's been designed for blogging. Source: Website Builder Expert

Once you’re over the learning curve, WordPress.org can be rewarding, especially for news and other informational blogs. The content management system lets you grant access to multiple authors to create and schedule hundreds of blog posts at a time, and set up RSS feeds.

Better yet, through its plugin library, you can add powerful SEO tools like Yoast and monetize your blog through affiliate marketing programs. While using WordPress.org is certainly more work than, say, Wix, it can yield powerful results for bloggers who want to produce lots of informational content with consistent upload schedules.

What To Watch Out For

With WordPress.org, everything from design, integrations, marketing, monetization, and storage is all editable by you, either manually, or by installing extra plugins, such as drag-and-drop plugin Elementor.

Whereas other builders take care of things like hosting and security, you will have to organize that yourself too. WordPress.org itself recommends the web host Bluehost for this, and so do we, because of how well it performed in our WordPress hosting research.

Who Do I Recommend WordPress.org For?

WordPress.org is the original and most well-known blogging platform for a reason. Its levels of customization are unmatched, and it’s extremely powerful – if you know how to use it.

Suitable for… Not suitable for…
✔️Experienced bloggers with a specific set of needs and requirements
✔️Bloggers looking to organize and keep track of a high quantity of posts spanning multiple categories
❌New bloggers expecting a quick and easy setup with guidance
❌Bloggers on a budget, since plugin subscriptions can quickly add up

How To Choose Your Blog’s Website Builder

Still need some help choosing the right blogging website builder? Think about your needs first. The platform you choose will depend on your blog’s content and style, and the direction you want to take it in. These four key questions should help you come to a final decision:

  1. Is the website builder suitable for my blog style? Remember to assess a builder’s template selection and customization options to make sure you can achieve your desired look.
  2. Do the built-in tools allow me to build my blog how I want to? Go through all of the features you’re looking for in a blog builder, be it scheduling tools, commenting, or private membership areas for gated content.
  3. Are there any marketing features to help me grow my blog’s audience? Check to see whether there are any marketing tools to help you reach more people, such as email marketing or social media integrations.
  4. Can I access key ways to monetize my blog? Make sure the website builder plan you’re interested in allows you to accept payments or make money from your site, if that’s your goal.

Short on time? Find the best platform for your art with our three-minute quiz.

What type of blog do you want?

Find Your Builder

How We Test

To find the best blogging website builder, we conducted rigorous hands-on testing first. We tested our builders in five areas, which enabled us to make an accurate assessment of each platform and make sure that our recommendations can really accommodate bloggers’ needs.

We then weighted each of our testing categories uniquely to reflect the key priorities for blogging:

  • Website functionality: 35% – AI, SEO, marketing, and blogging tools
  • Design Features: 20% – the quality of the AI builder and templates
  • Help and Support: 10% – the support options available
  • Reputation: 5% – how popular the builder is and its online reviews
  • Pricing: 15% – the pricing, value for money, and jump between plans
  • User experience: 15% – how easy the builder is to use, tested by people like you

Website functionality is our heaviest weighted area, where we look into specific blogging features, such as blog monetization, engagement functions, and blog-specific SEO and analytics. This section also looks into areas outside the blog, such as SEO, apps, marketing, and storage space to decide how suitable the builder is for fitting unique user needs and growing and maintaining an audience.

The 6 Best Blogging Platforms: Summary

There you have it – my top blogging platforms. We’ve collected over 200 hours of data, and as a result, I can confidently say that Wix is the best all-rounder for blogging. It’s a great overall builder, offering tons of built-in blog features and powerful SEO tools to help you promote your content online.

That said, you might not need all the powerful features Wix has to offer. If you’re looking for a quick and easy setup, Hostinger’s AI features provide support throughout the whole process. For those who are on a budget and aren’t looking to generate revenue from their blog, Web.com is a great choice. And if you’re on the other end of the spectrum and want control over every aspect of your site, WordPress.org is your best bet.

Now ready to start your blog? If so, check out our guide to how to write a blog post to get going.

Written by:
Annie Angus is a Writer for Website Builder Expert with a passion for shaping jargon-heavy research into digestible content. She has previously researched and written about industries ranging from tech to fashion, and now, after testing our top website builders such as Wix and Squarespace, she is enthusiastic to share her findings with our readers. With first-hand experience in utilizing social media and online marketplaces to grow a small handmade clothing business, Annie understands the priorities and concerns held by SME owners, and knows precisely what they look for in a website builder. She combines this unique perspective with her knowledge of website builders to produce engaging content spanning all areas of the small business journey, from creating a strong website to growing and maintaining an audience.
Researched by:
Headshot of Ollie Simpson
Oliver Simpson is a Senior Research Executive at Website Builder Expert, providing objective, in-depth research and ratings on website builders and ecommerce platforms that underpins the recommendations we make across the website. Every website builder review and recommendation you read on Website Builder Expert has been informed using Oliver’s unique research methodology. Whether running first-hand testing with writers or conducting in-depth research into audience needs, industry trends, and product features, Oliver is driven by a relentless pursuit of improvement and results.

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