The 6 Best Blogging Platforms in 2025: Our Top Picks
If you click to purchase a product or service based on our independent recommendations and impartial reviews, we may receive a commission. Learn more
Blogs are the most common form of information transmission on the web due to their high accessibility and endless variety – from food to the history of art, there’s a blog for everything!
But with a website builder you can you truly make a blog your own, since you can design it to suit your content, as well as market your site to wider audiences and monetize it. In fact, many website builders started as just blogging platforms, and over the years have added more and more features to keep bloggers happy.
Here, we’ve collected the top six blogging platforms in our research and organized them by blogging style. Which blogging platform is best for you will differ on what type of blog you intend to create, but from our research, we can confidently say that Wix is the best overall.
- 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?
Our Top 6 Blogging Website Builders:
- Wix – Our top choice for blogging
- Squarespace – For art blogs
- WordPress.org – For news blogs
- WordPress.com – For affiliate blogs
- Hostinger – For simple blogs
- Webflow – For business advice blogs
Short on time? Find the best platform for your art with our three-minute quiz.
Best Blog Website Builders: Comparison Table
Get a quick overview of our top six blogging platforms below. You can compare ratings, pricing, features, and more side-by-side to help you choose the best blog website builder for you.
BEST IN TEST | | | | | |
Wix | Squarespace | WordPress.org | WordPress.com | Hostinger | Webflow |
Overall Rating 4.9 | Overall Rating 4.8 | Overall Rating 4.1 | Overall Rating 4.1 | Overall Rating 3.5 | Overall Rating 3.5 |
Starting from | Starting from | Starting from $2.95 (for hosting) | Starting from $4 | Starting from
$2.99 + 3 months free (48-month term) | Starting from $14 |
Publish for free | Publish for free | Publish for free | Publish for free | Publish for free | Publish for free |
Storage space 2GB – Unlimited | Storage space Unlimited | Storage space 50GB – Unlimited | Storage space 3GB – 200GB | Storage space Unlimited | Storage space 1GB – 400GB |
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 4.4 | Ease of use 3.2 | Ease of use 2.7 | Ease of use 3.9 | Ease of use 2.1 |
View Wix | View Squarespace | Visit WordPress | Visit WordPress | View Hostinger | Visit Webflow |
1. Best for Monetizing Your Blog: Wix
- Starting price: $17 per month
- Read our full Wix Review
Wix
Our top choice for blogging
- Easy platform to use
- Publish on free plan
- Endless creative freedom
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $17 - $159 / month
Pros
- Create a whole website including a blog
- Beginner-friendly editor
- Advanced SEO support
Cons
- Can't switch template once site is live
- Premium plans start at $17 per month
- Lacks storage on cheap plans
Wix should be your top choice if you’re interested in generating revenue with your blog as soon as possible. Integrations with ecommerce, newsletter marketing, and Google AdSense mean you can hit the ground running and monetize your blog quickly.
Wix also stands out in our hands-on testing due to its professional blog management tools – like those found with WordPress.org – and easy-to-use interface. This makes it perfect for experts and beginners alike.
Wix is our 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.
To start, you need to activate the built-in Wix Blog integration to your site, which only takes a few clicks to complete. If you need Wix’s ecommerce functionality, you can also add Wix Stores to start selling online. However you want your blog to look and function, Wix can accommodate it.
Wix’s blogging features have nothing to be shy about either. You get a vast variety of design options from fonts to background colors and even images and video. There’s also a handy sidebar in the backend editor that lets you adjust each Wix post’s SEO setting and whether you want to monetize it with a subscription plan.
If you want to publish a lot of content quickly, then Wix’s AI Writer can help you create content at a much quicker pace. You can schedule up to 1,500 pieces of content on Wix’s cheapest plan for $17 per month (billed annually).
To top it off, Wix generates blog-specific reports that allow you to monitor different aspects of your post’s 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’s Wix’s Best Value Plan?
Here’s a full list of Wix’s pricing plans, all billed annually:
- Free: $0 per month
- Light: $17 per month
- Core: $29 per month (Basic ecommerce)
- Business: $36 per month (Standard ecommerce)
- Business Elite: $159 per month (Advanced ecommerce)
To get the full potential out of your blog, we recommend the basic ecommerce Core plan. With ecommerce included and 10 times the storage (20GB), it’s perfect for all your blog monetization goals.
Plus, if you want to get 10% off your purchase, use our exclusive code “TAKE10” at checkout.
Wix’s free plan may seem like the go-to, but be warned you’ll have to contend with limited features, a Wix domain, and banner ads all over your site. The Light plan will get you everything you need for basic blogging, but its lack of ecommerce and small storage space (2GB) means it isn’t very scalable.
Alternative: WordPress.com – For Affiliate Blogs
- Starting price: $4 per month
- Read our full WordPress.com Review
WordPress.com
For affiliate blogs
- Built purely for blogging
- More advanced platform
- Coding skills are helpful
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $4 - $45 / month
Pros
- Powerful built-in blogging tools
- Easier version of the CMS WordPress.org
- Cheapest starting price at $4/month
Cons
- Not user-friendly for beginners
- Not as powerful as WordPress.org
- No autosave function in editor
WordPress.com is the easier-to-use, website builder version of the CMS WordPress.org. It comes with advanced built-in blogging tools alongside an accessible editor and design tools that’s easier for beginners to get to grips with.
On top of its blogging tools, WordPress.com is also known for its plugin library. In fact, its users have access to over 60,000 free plugins, meaning a WordPress blog can technically have more features than Wix.
They won’t all be up to the same quality as Wix, but if you run an affiliate blog or are an influencer who wants to launch a sponsored newsletter, WordPress.com has a much greater selection of email marketing and monetization tools at its disposal.
Being built for blogging is reflected in WordPress’ blog themes, which are all meticulously designed. Editing them to exact specifications is still a little bit challenging if you have zero coding knowledge, and we still recommend total beginners stick to Wix and Squarespace for their ease of use.
Additionally, WordPress.com has no in-built SEO tools on either its free or cheapest plan. Having effective blog SEO in place is necessary if you want your site to be seen and visited by readers. While you can always use a plugin for your WordPress SEO, it’s still disappointing this feature is locked behind a paywall.
What’s WordPress.com’s Best Value Plan?
Here’s a quick look at WordPress.com’s price plans, all billed annually:
- Free plan: $0 per month
- Personal: $4 per month
- Premium: $8 per month
- Business: $25 per month
- Commerce: $45 per month
We recommend the Business plan for all affiliate bloggers wanting to monetize their WordPress blogs, because you will need access to WordPress.com’s plugin library. This will unlock email marketing features and Google AdSense (getting paid for having ads on your site), plus membership capabilities.
2. Best Blogging Templates: Squarespace
- Starting price: $16 per month
- Read our full Squarespace Review
Squarespace
For art blogs
- Beautiful blog designs
- Beginner-friendly builder
- Save 10% with code WBE10
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $16 - $52 / month
Pros
- Professionally-designed blog templates
- Tons of creative freedom
- High-quality blogging features
Cons
- No free plan
- Need to upgrade to monetize your blog
- No autosave when editing
Squarespace is our top choice for entertainment blogs due to its impeccably designed blog templates. Covering a range of industries, you will find 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.
In perfect synchronization with its templates is Squarespace’s editor – it’s the easiest we’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.
Like Wix, you can add whatever features you would like to your website, but we found Squarespace’s minimalist editor less overwhelming. Squarespace’s blog features are superb, and across all paid plans you get access to comments, RSS feeds, blog analytics, and scheduling.
There’s even an AI writer for letting you quickly generate blog posts or ideas, and in our own best AI website builder testing we found it gave you more freedom than Wix’s.
As a blog purely for entertainment, monetization isn’t a requirement, but if you want to you’ll need to upgrade to the Business plan for $23 per month.
Squarespace’s SEO tools are also great, giving you SEO settings for individual posts, automatic sitemaps, and Google My Business listing integration. All of this can be managed via Squarespace’s dedicated SEO panel which you can find in the backend.
What’s Squarespace’s Best Value Plan?
Here’s a quick look at all of Squarespace’s pricing plans, billed annually:
- Personal: $16 per month
- Business: $23 per month
- Commerce Basic: $28 per month
- Commerce Advanced: $52 per month
For entertainment bloggers, we recommend the Personal plan, because it gives you all the design and blogging tools you need. But if you want to monetize, you’ll need to upgrade to the Business plan.
Though Squarespace doesn’t come with a free plan, you can access a 14-day free trial so you can test it out yourself risk-free. Plus, if you want 10% off at checkout, you can use our exclusive code “WBE10”.
More Information:
- We interviewed Marijana Čuvalo about her experience building a blog with Squarespace
Alternative: Hostinger – For Simple Blogs
- Starting price: $2.99 per month + some months free (if you opt for the 48-month plan; promo varies so confirm at checkout)
- Read our full Hostinger Review
Hostinger
Best for simple blogs
- A single paid plan
- Best for short-term blogs
- Get online quickly
Paid Plans: $2.99 - $109.99 / month
Pros
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Affordable plan
- Simple to use
Cons
- Underdeveloped blogging features
- Lacks advanced SEO tools
- Limited scalability
Hostinger’s blogging features used to be quite limited. However, since our last round of testing, Hostinger has added features like post scheduling, a search feature, comments, an archive, and analytics to rack your blog’s growth. While its blogging capabilities are strong, it’s weaker in other areas, like SEO, and can feel less developed compared to builders like Wix.
What is it good for then? Well, with its starting plan costing just $2.99 per month (billed annually), Hostinger is perfect for simple blogs, particularly hobby blogs.
If you want a blog to post your reviews of music, films, toys, mustard, etc., and have little ambition for scaling it into a full-time career, then Hostinger is the perfect blog website for you.
If you are a fan of AI features, then Hostinger may also be the builder for you. Hostinger’s AI Blog Writer can generate written content and images for your blog.
This feature saves a lot of time when coming up with headlines, but we wouldn’t recommend writing your entire blog post with it. Google can tell when you’re using AI and won’t rank it highly in search, plus the AI Imager Generator needs some work – a lot of the images are still a bit…weird.
There is also an AI Logo Maker, an AI Heatmap for seeing which parts of your site get the most attention, and an AI Assistant if you encounter trouble and need some support.
What’s Hostinger’s Best Value Plan?
Hostinger’s pricing includes its website builder with its hosting plans, but you can also choose one of its dedicated website builder plans:
- Premium Website Builder – $2.99 per month, billed annually
- Business Website Builder – $3.99 per month, billed annually
We recommend the annual $2.99/month Premium plan for all hobby bloggers. The affordable price and simplistic editing will serve your goals better than a feature-loaded and expensive builder like Wix.
Do note that these prices are for a 12-month plan. However, if you’d like to extend your billing period, you can access some additional perks. For instance, on the 48-month plan, you can get an additional three months for free.
Also, Hostinger’s pricing does increase at renewal, rising to $7.99 per month on the Premium plan and $8.99 per month on the Business plan.
3. Best for Content-Heavy Blogs: WordPress.org
- Starting price: from $1.99 per month (for hosting & setup via Bluehost)
- Read our full WordPress.org Review
WordPress.org
For news blogs
- Famous for blogging
- Limitless customizations
- Requires separate hosting
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $2.95 - $5.45 / month
Pros
- 60,000+ plugins to customize your blog
- Build from scratch with total control
- Add whatever blogging tools you need
Cons
- Steep learning curve for beginners
- You manage security, hosting, updates
- No in-house support team or resources
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 instead is a CMS (content management system) 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.
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. Everything from design, integrations, marketing, monetization, and storage is all able to be changed by you… as long as you know how. And if you don’t, you’ll need to install extra plugins to make your life easier, 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.
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, 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 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’s WordPress.org’s Best Value Plan?
Because WordPress.org is free, it doesn’t have traditional pricing plans. However, its recommended hosting provider Bluehost’s pricing plans are as follows:
- Basic: $1.99 per month
- Choice Plus: $3.99 per month
- Online Store: $7.45 per month
- Pro: $9.99 per month
We recommend the Basic plan. Not only is it a fantastic price at only $1.99 per month (billed annually), but you also get 10GB of storage with it.
Additionally, Bluehost offers Managed WordPress on the Basic plan, which means Bluehost will take over the management of your site. This is useful support to have, especially as WordPress.org offers no help or support guides itself.
Just be warned that these are introductory prices, and after the initial term, the discounts will be replaced with the standard fee. For example, the Basic plan rises to $11.99 per month following the first year.
Alternative: Webflow – For Business Advice Blogs
- Starting price: $14 per month
- Read our full Webflow Review
Webflow
For business advice blogs
- Advanced customization
- Dependable support
- CMS-powered templates
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $14 / month
Pros
- No ads on free plan
- Ideal for experienced builders
- 2,000+ templates
Cons
- SEO features not available on free plan
- No drag-and-drop editor
- Not very easy to use
Similarly to WordPress.org, Webflow requires code to use and there can be a steep learning curve for beginners. However, Webflow isn’t a CMS, but a website builder with a technical editor that’s ideal for bloggers that have web design software skills.
If you’re less experienced, you can simply download a user-made template for free from Webflow’s community marketplace.
While Webflow isn’t a true CMS like WordPress.org, it does have CMS-powered templates. This makes it well-suited for informational blogs, letting you schedule up to 50 CMS items and 50 form submissions even on its free plan.
Combining this with its advanced design tools and editor, Webflow is great for online business blogs, as you can show your expertise through both the quality of your written content and your site’s design – if you know how.
Zero web design or coding knowledge may hold you back with Webflow, and you might be more suited to Wix or Squarespace’s more accessible editors instead.
Webflow has a free plan, but this doesn’t provide CMS blogging features or any SEO tools, meaning you will need to upgrade. Compared to Wix, these SEO tools aren’t as good as you do not get access to personalized SEO tips or SEO settings for every blog post.
Unlike WordPress, there is no plugin library to make up for this lack of features. This also affects what monetization you can have with Webflow, though you will still have access to Google AdSense (through code) and ecommerce (if you choose an ecommerce plan).
What’s the Best Value Plan?
Here’s a look at Webflow’s price plans (billed annually):
- Free: $0 per month
- Basic: $14 per month
- CMS: $23 per month
- Business: $39 per month
For blogging, we’d recommend the CMS plan. The free plan and Basic plan don’t come with CMS functions, making them pretty useless for blogging. The CMS plan gives you 200GB of storage, 2,000 CMS items, site search, and user accounts for three content editors.
More Information:
- See which of these website builders wins the battle of design in our Squarespace vs Webflow head-to-head
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, style, and direction you want to take it in. These four key questions should help you come to a final decision:
- 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.
- 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.
- Are there any marketing features to help me grow my blog’s audience? Check to see if there are any marketing tools to help you reach more people, such as email marketing or social media integrations.
- Can I access key ways to monetize my blog? Make sure the website builder plan you’re interested in allows you to accept payments from your site.
How We Test
To find the best blogging website builder, we conducted hands-on testing first. This enabled us to make an accurate assessment of each platform and make sure that our recommendations can really accomodate your needs.
During testing, we identified the most importance aspects of blogging website builders and weighted them based on importance:
- Blogging Features – 50%
- Website Features – 35%
- SEO – 10%
- Overall score – 5%
For instance, when it came to blogging features, we looked into important tools such as RSS feeds and archiving, using our findings to influence our final rankings.
The 6 Best Blogging Platforms: Summary
There you have it – our list of the best blogging platforms! Based on hours of research, Wix is our top choice 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.
Now ready to start your blog? If so, check out our guide on how to write a blog post to get going.
31 comments