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9 Best Free Blogging Sites For 2023 (Top Blogging Platforms)

By Aquif Shaikh

Dec 5, 2022

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 and platforms.

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 sites.

Is It Advisable To Use Free Blogging Sites?

I usually don't advise my reader to go with free blogging sites if they are serious about blogging as a career. This is because most of the free blogging sites have their own set of limitations which makes them unsuitable for professional blogging.

However, free blogging sites are recommended in certain scenarios. So let us find out the pros and cons of each blogging site.

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 for your blog. You do not have to worry about the break-even cost. Whatever money you make from your 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 belongs to the Blogging site 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 free blogging sites will restrict you from using Third Party Ads. Although, I am a strong critic of using third-party ads as you have no control over the ads and you get pennies for your efforts.
  • 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 risk of losing your hard work.

Do I Recommend Free Blogging Sites?

Free blogging sites have a lot of cons as compared to pros. So, if you are planning to be a professional blogger, I DO NOT recommend free blogging sites. This is especially when you can start a self-hosted WordPress blog for just $35.4 (Price including Hosting For 1 Year, Free Domain For 1 Year, and Free Domain Privacy For 1 Year with Dreamhost

In fact, if you are a casual blogger, you can always get free hosting from 000WebHost to host your blog. However, as I said this hosting is recommended only for casual bloggers as their web hosting plans are heavily restricted for a professional blog.

What Are The Best Free Blogging Sites In 2023?

Below is the list of best and free blogging sites in 2023

1. WordPress.com: Best Free Blogging Site

WordPress.com is often confused with self-hosted WordPress.org. However, as against WordPress.org which requires you to buy a Hosting server and Domain name, WordPress.com is a free blogging site powered by the WordPress.Org blogging platform.

By registering with WordPress.com you get free hosting services along with a subdomain of the format example.wordpress.com. So, you don't have to buy a separate hosting and domain name as with WordPress.Org.

WordPress.com is considered to be the Best Blogging site among the free ones. This is mainly because of its ease to set up a blog.

It hardly takes 5-10 minutes to get started on 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 get started
  • 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 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

2. Strikingly: Best For Blogs With Dynamic Website

Strikingly is the new kid on the block having started operations as late as 2012. It is a free website builder that makes it easy to create and publish beautiful, professional-looking websites.

With Strikingly, you don't need any technical or design skills to get started. You can select from dozens of modern templates, customize the look and feel of your site with drag-and-drop features, add powerful features like an online store and blog, and share your site with the world.

Strikingly is the perfect platform for anyone looking to start a free blog and make their mark on the web. Whether you're looking for a personal website to showcase your work or an online store to generate sales, Strikingly can help you get started quickly and easily.

Pros And Cons Of Strikingly

Pros Of Strikingly 
  • Readymade templates to choose from
  • In-built website builder
  • Create responsive websites and blogs
  • Host up to 5 pages with the free plan
  • Unlimited Websites
  • Suitable for Affiliate Marketing
  • Free store to sell one product. Ideal for promoting your ebook.
  • In-built analytics for free
  • Android and iOS Apps
Cons Of Strikingly
  • The blog is very basic and not customizable
  • Pricing for paid plans is higher than competitors
  • Cannot use custom domain for free
Suitable For
  • Casual bloggers, Affiliate marketers and eBook sellers
  • Bloggers who are looking for simple blogging option

3. Blogger: Free Blogging Platform With Fewest Restrictions

Blogger, also known as Blogspot, is the oldest Blogging site that comes from the house of Google. It was started way back in 1999 by Pyra labs and was acquired by Google in 2003.

It is the only blogging platform that gives you access to source code as well as allows you to monetize your blog as you want. However, the freedom in monetization comes at a cost. Blogger is also the most difficult to customize the platform.

Yes, you get several readymade Blogger Templates. However, for any advanced features, you have to alter the source code.

Even though Blogger is from Google, it is not an SEO-friendly Blogging Platform

Pros And Cons Of Blogger

Pros Of Blogger 
  • Easy to get started. If you have Gmail account, it is as good as having a Blogger account.
  • Ability to use a custom domain without any extra charges.
  • 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.
  • Blogger is one of the few free blogging sites that allow AdSense. However, as I said earlier, I am a strong critic of using 3rd party ads as a monetization method. 
  • 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 blogging platform and then move to self-hosted WordPress.
  • Occasional bloggers looking for a free option with monetization capabilties.

4. Tumblr

Tumblr is another very popular blogging site owned by Automattic, the same company that owns WordPress.com. It is considered the best blogging site 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 the "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, on 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
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

5. 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.

Users can find any kind of article on Medium, ranging from personal stories to business advice and everything in between. There are also a variety of features available with Medium including the ability to follow other users, highlight portions of articles, comment on posts, promote posts, and more.

Medium is especially suitable for small businesses that want to get their Brand and products in front of a strong audience.

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.
  • 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

6. Weebly

Weebly is a Drag and Drop builder that makes it simple to get create a blog as well as a website. It provides a wide range of website templates and tools so that users can create their own websites quickly and easily.

Weebly also offers the ability to customize the design and layout of blogs, as well as add powerful features like online stores, forums, and more. Weebly is good for both beginners and experienced webmasters who are looking to create beautiful, professional-looking sites with minimal effort.

Weebly 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 of web hosting and domain name for starting 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

7. LinkedIn Pulse

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network. LinkedIn Pulse is the company's dedicated blogging platform which allows users to share their knowledge and experience with their LinkedIn followers.

Since LinkedIn is probably the only social platform that does not restrict organic reach, businesses can leverage their LinkedIn network to effectively reach their target audience.

Of course, LinkedIn Pulse is heavily restricted when it comes to its SEO capabilities, customizations, and even monetization methods which restricts its use as a full-fledged blogging platform.

However, on the positive side, despite limited control over SEO, LinkedIn is only next to Medium and Blogger when it comes to its ranking capabilities on 

Pros And Cons Of LinkedIn

Pros Of LinkedIn
  • Any 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

8. LiveJournal

LiveJournal is one of the oldest free blogging sites which was launched in the year 1999. LiveJournal is a great site for bloggers who are looking to express themselves in an informal and fun way.

LiveJournal provides features like polls, user profiles, comment systems, tags, etc which can be used to interact with the readers. Although LiveJournal may not be suitable for professional blogging or business blogs, it is still a great platform for personal blogs. 

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

9. Postach.io

If you are someone who uses Evernote extensively, Postachio can be a great blogging platform for you. 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
  • Getting started 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.

How To Choose A Free Blogging Site And Platform

Since there are a number of different free blogging sites available, it can be tough to decide which one is right for you. Here are a few factors to consider while selecting a free blogging site.

1. Ease of Use

One of the most important factors to consider while choosing a blogging site is how easy it is to use. If you're not comfortable with technology, you'll want to choose a platform that is user-friendly and easy to navigate.

2. Features

Another factor to consider is what features are offered by the blogging site. Some blogging sites offer more features than others, so be sure to choose one that offers the features you need.

3. Flexibility

The level of flexibility offered by the blogging site is also an important factor to consider. Some sites offer more flexibility than others, so be sure to choose one that offers the level of flexibility you need.

4. Support

The level of support offered by the blogging site is also an important factor to consider. Some platforms offer more support than others, so be sure to choose one that offers the level of support you need.

5. Community

The size and activity of the community surrounding the blogging site are also important factors to consider. Choose a blogging site that has a large and active community so you can get help and feedback from other users.

6. Security

The security offered by the free blogging site is also an important factor to consider. Be sure to choose a site that offers the level of security you need.

7. Reliability

The reliability of the free blogging platform is also an important factor to consider. Some platforms are more reliable than others, so be sure to choose one that is reliable and has a good reputation.

8. Overall Satisfaction

The overall satisfaction with the blogging site is also an important factor to consider. Choose a site that has a high satisfaction rating from users.

These are just a few factors to consider while choosing a free blogging site. Be sure to consider all of these factors before making a decision. 

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 sites in 2023 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.

About 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, online business, and SEO.