Do you have a blog online (whether its personal, business, etc…) or are you planning on making one? A common question bloggers ask is, “What platform should I use?” Dozens of great hosting solutions are available like TypePad and Blog.com.
The two most popular free services are Blogger (from Pyra Labs acquired by Google) and WordPress (from Automattic). These two are free hosted solutions. There are many others available, including the self-hosted WordPress.org (more on that later).
So how do Blogger and WordPress match up to each other?
Blogger (Blogspot):
Blogger was founded in 1999 by Pyra Labs which was co-founded by Twitter creator Evan Williams and was later acquired by Google in 2003. It is one of the pioneers of blogging platforms. Blogger is a common choice for newbie bloggers because of its freedom and ease of setup.
All blogs are hosted on a subdomain of blogspot.com (with a free option to post onto your own domain) and you can create as many blogs as you want. All users receive 1 GB of storage for images (powered by Picasa Web Albums). There doesn’t seem to be a limit for videos.
Pros:
- Full control over template design as well as upload new ones
- Freely use any CSS or Javascript (such as Google Analytics)
- Easily integrate Google Adsense
- Easily redirect feeds to FeedBurner (also acquired by Google)
- Map to your own domain for free
Cons:
- Not a very wide built in theme collection
- Customizing the theme may be difficult to most users. Everything is cluttered into one file.
- By default, a Blogger NavBar is added to the top of all themes. It gives you a search function, flag function, sign in button, and a link to go to a random Blogger blog. Most users (bloggers and visitors) don’t find this useful and the Next Blog link could go to a spammy blog or one containing adult content. To hide it, go to Settings –> Layout –> Edit HTML and insert the following CSS into your theme’s <head> section to hide the NavBar.
#navbar-iframe { display: none; } - Limited number of plugins and widgets available.
- No built in contact form. Most users either use third party ones, embed a Google Docs form, or just display their email address.
- No static pages. Most users that want to post static pages like a Privacy Policy often hide the page in the archive by setting the publish date.
Update: Blogger now supports up to 10 static pages. Learn more here.
- Commenting System isn’t as powerful as WordPress.
- No interface to view images without signing up for Picasa Web Albums
You can learn more about Blogger here.
WordPress
The hosted WordPress was launched in 2005, two years after the release of the self-hosted WordPress blogging script in 2003. It is a simple and elegant solution that is preferred by many authors and professionals.
WordPress has many paid upgrades available, including the ability to edit CSS, extra storage, etc… All WordPress.com blogs receive 3 GB of storage for their files, including images, music, and other files. Blogs are hosted on a wordpress.com subdomain and you can create as many as you want per account.
WordPress also offers VIP Hosting for high traffic websites, which is used by names such as CNN.
Pros:
- Large number of themes and widgets
- Easily add a contact form. Simply add [contact-form] to your page. Messages here are filtered through Akismet, the popular anti-spam service (also from Automattic).
- Akismet Anti Spam Service
- Built in trackback and pingback system
- Easy create static pages
- Integration with PollDaddy (also from Automattic)
- Built in media browser
- Integrated stats system
- More powerful commenting system than Blogger
Cons:
- Users cannot modify the theme’s CSS stylesheet for free ($14.97 per year)
- Cannot modify theme files
- Cannot upload custom themes
- No Javascript allowed, therefore, tracking scripts are not allowed such as Google Analytics. The built in stats system is usually more than enough for most users.
- No advertisements allowed
- WordPress occasionally shows Google text ads on your blog to pay for server costs. This can be removed with an upgrade for $29.97 per year.
- Embedding videos require the VideoPress upgrade ($59.97 per year).
- Cannot map a custom domain for free ($9.97 per year or $14.97 with domain registration).
You can learn more about WordPress here.
With the self hosted WordPress version, you can edit your theme files, upload plugins, and much more however, it requires that you find your own web host and it comes with more responsibility. Please note that the information in this article is about WordPress.com not WordPress.org.
There are also rumors that because Google owns Blogger, you are more likely to get a higher Google rank. There is no evidence to prove this.
Both have their advantages and disadvantages and its all based on personal preference.
Which one do you prefer? Blogger or WordPress? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
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Nice review, I myself like blogger due to the fact it is very easy. I’ve become comfortable with it.
Hi Connie. I also became very comfortable with Blogger (I’ve used it for many months), however Tech Airlines currently runs on WordPress.org and it took me a while to get used to it, but I guess now I’m more comfortable with the WordPress style interface.
Hi.
DD
I prefer Blogger. WordPress is a bit too simple for me. No me gusta the fonts.
Idk though, I’m not an avid blogger.
Hi Kaleena. I basically like both Blogger and WordPress.com, though I have a lot more experience with Blogger. Currently, I’m using WordPress.org (self hosted version) for Tech Airlines and I have to say I prefer this over both Blogger and WordPress.com due to its high flexibility.
I notice its more colorful. Gotta adjust the themes a little bit now and then
Hello Daisy. Thanks for visiting. Yep, I started with Blogger because I wanted to be able to adjust the themes and make use of extra Javascript but I guess its all based on personal preferences.
due to the fees I would have to pay for in WP before I got what I wanted, and that these features are FREE in Blogger, I decided to go back to Blogger today, and happy with my decision.
these are -
1. mapping my custom domain to my blog
2. customising my blog elements with css
Hi lavezarez,
Yep, that’s the reason why I never used WordPress.com for very long. I like to customize my blog’s theme and that wasn’t possible in WordPress.com, even with a paid upgrade (only CSS is allowed).
Now, I’m happy with a self-hosted version of WordPress.org.
Thanks for commenting and enjoy your week,
Brian
blogger beats wordpress at alexa fight
http://www.alexafight.com/?site1=wordpress.org&site2=blogger.com
This article compares WordPress.COM (not .org) and Blogger.com. Blogger.com still beats WordPress.com there but the difference is much less.
http://www.alexafight.com/?site1=wordpress.com&site2=blogger.com