Top 9 Free Blogging Sites To Start A Blog in 2020

Blogging is getting immensely popular with every passing day. Some people prefer starting with a professional Self Hosted WordPress Blog while others prefer using Free Blogging Sites.

As against most people think, selecting a good blogging platform is very critical if you want to reach the right audience. This is the reason I thought of writing this post to help people choose the Best Free Blogging Platform.

Quick Navigation
Is It Advisable To Use Free Blogging Sites?
Pros And Cons Of Free Blogging Sites
Pros Of Free Blogging Sites
Cons Of Free Blogging Sites
Do We Recommend Free Blogging Sites?
Best Free Blogging Sites In 2020
1. WordPress.com
Pros And Cons Of WordPress.com
2. Blogger
Pros And Cons Of Blogger
3. Tumblr
Pros And Cons Of Tumblr
4. Medium
Pros And Cons Of Medium
5. Weebly
Pros And Cons Of Weebly
6. LinkedIn Pulse
Pros And Cons Of LinkedIn
7. Wix
Pros And Cons Of Wix
8. LiveJournal
Pros And Cons Of LiveJournal
9. Postach.io
Pros And Cons Of Postachio
Final Words

Is It Advisable To Use Free Blogging Sites?

The first question that should come to anyone's mind is, if you can start a blog for free then why pay for it? Well, the answer is simple. Most of the free blogging sites have their own set of limitations which makes them unsuitable for professional blogging.

So let us find out the pros and cons of each blogging sites.

Pros And Cons Of Free Blogging Sites

Below are the pros and cons of free blogging sites in general.

Pros Of Free Blogging Sites

  • The biggest advantage of a free blog is that you have no financial liability towards your blog. You do not have to worry about the breakeven cost. Whatever money you make at you blog goes to your profit account.
  • Some of the free blogging sites will have no restriction on the amount of Bandwidth and other resources used by your blog. This essentially means you do not have to worry about more traffic slowing down your blog.

Cons Of Free Blogging Sites

  • The biggest con of a free Blog is that you are not the owner of your blog, but just its contents. The subdomain and hosting server belong to the Blogging platform and if you happen to violate their Terms and Conditions, they can delete your blog without any prior intimation and all your hard work will be lost.
  • Since you are not the owner of the blog, you cannot legally sell it.
  • Most free blogging sites will provide you with limited customization options.
  • Most of the free blogging platforms restrict the use of Google Adsense and other Ad programs.
  • Free blogging sites usually do not rank high on search engines. This is because they are not SEO optimized. Also, Google gives them lesser importance as they are widely used by spammers.
  • In the past, free blogging sites like Posterous have decided to discontinue operations leaving their users with no options. So you are always at a risk of losing your hard work.

Do We Recommend Free Blogging Sites?

Free blogging sites have a lot of cons as compared to the pros. So, if you are planning to be a professional blogger, we DO NOT recommend free blogging platforms. This especially when you can start self-hosted WordPress blog for less than $60

However, if you are just a casual blogger or want to use free platforms as an additional source to create brand awareness, these free blogging sites can be a great option for you.

Start A Professional Blog

Best Free Blogging Sites In 2020

Below is the list of Top 9 Blogging Sites for you to start your free blog.

1. WordPress.com

WordPress.com is often confused with self-hosted WordPress.org. However as against WordPress.org which requires you to buy Hosting server and Domain name, WordPress.com is a free blogging platform. By registering with WordPress.com you get free hosting services along with a subdomain of the format example.wordpress.com.

WordPress.com is considered to be the Best Blogging platform among the free ones. This is mainly because of its ease to set up a blog. It hardly takes 5-10 minutes to start a blog at WordPress. It also offers a large number of high-quality themes which most other free blogging sites lack.

Pros And Cons Of WordPress.com

Pros Of WordPress.com 
  • Extremely easy to start a blog
  • Many free themes for you to customize your blog.
  • In-built basic traffic stats in WordPress.com dashboard.
Cons Of WordPress.com 
  • Cannot install custom plugins with the free plan.
  • Though you can change the theme, you cannot customize themes as per your need.
  • Cannot use Google Analytics with Free plan
  • Cannot monetize your blog with Google AdSense Ads
  • Cannot use custom domain for free
  • To customize your themes and use plugins of your choice you need to buy the premium plan 
Suitable For
  • Casual bloggers with no intentions of monetizing their blog.
  • Bloggers who are not particular about the look of their blog
Visit WordPress.com

2. Blogger

Blogger is the oldest Blogging site which comes from the house of Google. It was started way back in 1999 by Pyra labs and was acquired by Google in 2003. Since then it has emerged out to be one of the most popular blogging platform.

Pros And Cons Of Blogger

Pros Of Blogger 
  • Easy to start a blog. If you have Gmail account, it is as good as having a Blogger account.
  • Ability to use a custom domain without any extra charges.
  • You can monetize the blog with Google AdSense and other 3rd party Ad programs.
  • Unrestricted access to HTML and CSS.
Cons Of Blogger 
  • Very few official themes, that too of low quality. Third party themes are decent, but few.
  • Only 15GB free storage which is shared with Gmail, Google Photos, and Google docs.
  • Very difficult to implement On Page SEO.
  • You will often end up fiddling with codes for adding functionalities.
Suitable For
  • Bloggers who want to start with a free platform and then move to self-hosted WordPress.
  • Occasional bloggers looking for a free platform to monetize their blog.
Visit Blogger

3. Tumblr

Tumblr is another very popular blogging site owned by Automattic, the same company that owns WordPress.com. It is considered as the best blogging platform for Microblogging.

Though Tumblr does not have any word restrictions, most Tumblr bloggers keep their posts between 100-500 words which makes it an ideal option for Personal Blogging.

It can be considered a bridge between a conventional blog and Social Media Platform. I say so because, like Facebook and Twitter, at Tumblr you can share pictures and quotes, follow people and like their content. Tumblr's "Reblog" feature works very similar to "Retweet" feature of Twitter and you will find many people "Reblogging" your content which can often make your content go viral.

However, unlike social media, at Tumblr, you write and create original content which is more like blogging. One more feature that separates it from social media is the ability to have multiple authors for a blog.

Pros And Cons Of Tumblr

Pros Of Tumblr 
  • Except for some premium themes, all its features are free.
  • Ability to use a custom domain without any extra cost.
  • You can also customize your theme as Tumblr gives access to your Blog's HTML and CSS
  • You can use Google AdSense to make money
Cons Of Tumblr
  • It's interface is extremely confusing for a newbie and may require a learning curve.
  • You cannot use your Affiliate Links on your Tumblr account. Tumblr may take down your blog if you do so.
  • Managing your On Page SEO is extremely difficult.
Suitable For
  • Personal Bloggers who prefer short and frequent posts
Visit Tumblr

4. Medium

Medium is a blogging site founded by Twitter's co-founder Evan Williams. It was created with the intention of providing a platform for users which provides more than just 140 characters of Twitter.

Unlike Blogger or WordPress, Medium displays your blog posts on its home page with most recent and popular posts making it to the top. This makes sure your blog post gets a lot of exposure. Because of this reason, a lot of small businesses prefer using Medium as their blogging platform.

Pros And Cons Of Medium

Pros Of Medium
  • Easy to set up a blog.
  • You can use a custom domain without any extra costs
  • Medium may promote your blog post to other medium users and drive traffic to your blog.
  • Like Twitter, at Medium, you can tag other bloggers using @ mention so that they get notified about it.
  • It gives out do-follow backlinks.
Cons Of Medium
  • Very limited customization options.
  • Cannot monetize your blog using Google AdSense
  • As with other free blogs, very little scope for On Page SEO optimization
  • Though Medium is very lenient towards affiliate links, it's Terms and Conditions does prohibit writing articles just for affiliate marketing
Suitable For
  • Small businesses who want to develop their brand
  • Casual bloggers
Visit Medium

5. Weebly

Weebly is a more of a Drag and Drop website builder than a blogging platform. Nevertheless, it does allow you to create a blog along with some free blog themes. It offers free as well as premium services. Free services do come with Weebly branding and some usage restrictions.

Pros And Cons Of Weebly

Pros Of Weebly
  • The drag and drop page builder is very easy to use
  • Lot's of free themes available for you to edit with the page builder
Cons Of Weebly
  • Weebly being more of a drag and drop website builder, it has no CMS and hence limited blogging features
  • You cannot use a custom domain with the free plan
  • Premium plans are costlier than Cost For Starting A Self-Hosted WordPress Blog
  • It is extremely difficult to transfer your blog to Self-Hosted WordPress
Suitable For
  • People who are just looking for a landing page for collecting emails or for promoting their E-book
Visit Weebly

6. LinkedIn Pulse

LinkedIn is world's largest professional network. I am sure everyone knows about it. LinkedIn Pulse is not a full-fledged blogging site but it does allow you to share your articles with fellow LinkedIn users.

Since LinkedIn is a professional network, it is a great platform for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs who are into the B2B sector to get more exposure.

Pros And Cons Of LinkedIn

Pros Of LinkedIn
  • Anyone LinkedIn user can create a blog post on LinkedIn Pulse
  • It is one the best option if you trying to promote your brand
  • It's free for life without any commitments
  • It's easier to gain followers on Quora than any other blog
Cons Of LinkedIn
  • No option to use Custom Domain
  • No customization options whatsoever
  • Affiliate Marketing is prohibited and using affiliate links can get you banned on Quora
  • LinkedIn being a social platform, apart from your connections, your blog post is also made available to Millions of users outside your network.
Suitable For
  • B2B business Owners who want to promote their brand.
  • Job seekers who want to show their knowledge to likely employers
Visit LinkedIn

7. Wix

Wix is a freemium website builder and is very similar to Weebly. It was founded in 2006 and is considered to be among the top website builders.

Though Wix, is essentially designed for creating a static website, it does have some blog templates which you can use to start your own blog. For non-blogging templates too, it provides an option in website builder to add a blog. You can also integrate your Tumblr blog feeds within Wix, which can be edited both from Wix as well as Tumblr.

Pros And Cons Of Wix

Pros Of Wix
  • Simple to use for people with less technical knowledge
  • High-quality website templates
  • It has an App market from which you can get Newsletter tools, Live chat tools etc
Cons Of Wix
  • After selecting a template, you cannot change it
  • You cannot use multiple templates for the same website
  • Cannot add custom domain with the free account
  • You can neither move your website pages nor blog out of Wix. Though blog posts can be moved using RSS importer
  • Wix advertisements cannot be removed in the free plan.
  • Paid plans are super costly, starting at $29/month
Suitable For
  • Casual bloggers and email list builders.
Visit Wix

8. LiveJournal

LiveJournal is one of the oldest blogging sites which was launched in the year 1999. Apart from the blogging feature, it does provide you updates and news from various Journals around the world.

LiveJournal allows you to blog anonymously. So if you want to stay anonymous, Livejournal is the option you can consider.

Pros And Cons Of LiveJournal

Pros Of LiveJournal
  • LiveJournal allows customization
  • It is easy to create a blog post
  • Available in various languages
  • Ability to blog anonymously
Cons Of LiveJournal
  • Though creating a post is easy, formatting it is a bit difficult
  • No professional themes
  • Ads in the free version
Suitable For
  • Personal bloggers, as well as bloggers who want to blog anonymously
Visit LiveJournal

9. Postach.io

If you are someone who uses Evernote extensively, Postachio can be a great option for you to start a free blog. Postachio allows you to turn your Evernote notebook into a blog by just tagging the post as "Published"

It is a freemium blogging site which offers limited functionalities with their free plan. 

Pros And Cons Of Postachio

Pros Of Postachio
  • Creating a blog is extremely easy as you just have to create an account and link it to your Evernote Account
  • Publish existing Evernote notes to your blog by just tagging it as "Published"
  • Connect Google Analytics And Social Media Sharing
Cons Of Postachio
  • Using custom domain is not possible with the free
  • Only a few themes are available for use
  • Theme customization is not available with the free plan.
  • No control over SEO
Suitable For
  • Evernote users who are looking for an easy way to publish their Evernote Notes.
Visit Postachio

Final Words

Each of the free blogging sites has their own pros and cons. Most of them offer limited functionality with free plans. The paid version do offer some professional functionalities but they are costlier than hosting your own website on a quality server.  Therefore, free blogging sites are never recommended for professional blogging.

I have made sure to include the best blogging platforms which are free to use. Do you know any good free blogging site which I might have skipped? If yes, then do share it with us through the comments below.

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Aquif Shaikh
 

Aquif Shaikh is a Blogger and Web Hosting Expert from Mumbai. He loves writing, traveling, and sharing his knowledge and ideas with the world. At Blogging Ocean, he writes about blogging tips, web hosting tips, content marketing, and SEO.

Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 4 comments
matheikal - May 8, 2016

Found it very informative.

Reply
Shehraz Khan - May 27, 2017

Hello Mr. Aquif Sir, thanks for sharing this, these sites are so important for me, Please keep continue. Thanks a lot

Reply
Aadarsh Roy - March 7, 2020

Hey Aquif Shaikh ,

Great post with effective blogging platform. Thanks for letting us know and making us aware about these great blogging platforms.

Blogging is an art that boost our skills, knowledge and provide better ideas. writing blogs are not so easy, as it requires in-depth knowledge and hard-works. Blog writing can be a tricky task if we don’t have proper knowledge and guidance. Blog writing
allows us to express our views, ideas, feeling and opinion with an entire world.But to start a blog writing we must have a perfect blogging platforms.

WordPress is a great blogging platform used by many people, as it is easy to set-up and offers varieties of high quality themes. Tumblr is also a popular blogging platform that allows us to write original content. Quora is also an amazing question & answer
platform used by several people.

Your each of the suggested blogging platforms are effective, offers helpful features but i truly like an idea of using WordPress, Wix, Tumblr, Quora, Medium, Weebly, Live journal and Pen.io. The pros and cons of each blogging platform are also great.

As this post will help several people, readers and especially the bloggers to choose the best blogging platform.

Truly helpful post and thanks for sharing.

Reply

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