WordPress vs. Blogger: Which is the Best Blogging Platform?

When you start a blog, the platform you’ll be using is a huge decision. There are two major options that you can choose from – WordPress or Blogger.

You may be wondering: Will my blog grow on this platform? Do I need to be good with computers to use them? How much will it cost? Can I make money from my blog?

These are big questions that can make choosing the right platform tough.

In this article, we’ll look closely at both WordPress and Blogger. We’ll discuss what each one offers and how they compare to one another on different metrics.

With this information, you’ll be able to pick the platform that’s best for your blogging journey. Let us help you choose the perfect home for your blog where it will continuously flourish.

WordPress vs. Blogger: Overview

Before anything else, let us give you an overview of each platform.

WordPress

WordPress is a highly popular content management system (CMS). Through the use of themes and plugins, WordPress is known for its flexibility and customization options.

It’s an open-source platform, meaning it’s free to download and use. The platform is suitable for a wide range of websites, from blogs and portfolios to e-commerce and business sites.

WordPress comes in two variations: WordPress.org (self-hosted) and WordPress.com (hosted). The self-hosted version offers more control to users but requires purchasing hosting and a domain name.

As a note, the WordPress we’re referring to in this article is the self-hosted one.

Blogger

Blogger, owned by Google, is a free blogging platform known for its simplicity and ease of use.

It’s particularly appealing to beginners or those looking for a straightforward blogging solution.

Blogger provides free hosting and a Blogspot domain name, though users can opt to purchase a custom domain. Overall, it’s a great option for those who want a no-cost, low-maintenance platform for blogging.

We’ve compared further the differences between WordPress and Blogger through specific metrics below. Read on to learn more.

Ease of Use

WordPress Installation

Installing WordPress when creating your blog site is relatively straightforward.

And if you use GreenGeeks as your hosting provider, you’ll have access to our Onboarding Wizard. It is a user-friendly tool that guides users through their WordPress installation process.

Watch the tutorial below to learn more.

For users who prefer more control, WordPress also offers a manual installation option. This method can be completed quickly with little technical knowledge.

A more detailed process of the manual setup is explained in our blog How to Install WordPress – The Complete Guide to WordPress Installation.

Blogger Set Up

The process is very straightforward for Blogger. Sign up, choose a blog title, pick an address, select a theme, and you’re done.

The interface is also user-friendly, making it a great option for beginners.

However, this simplicity comes with limitations, especially in terms of design customization. Customizing themes in Blogger requires HTML skills, which might be a challenge for some users.

Writing in WordPress

With WordPress 5.0, the Gutenberg block editor was introduced. This editor functions like a pseudo-page builder where each element of your content is a block.

These blocks can be paragraphs, images, videos, or other elements, and they can be arranged and styled individually. It is a significant change from the traditional WYSIWYG editor.

Even if you’re not a designer, Gutenberg’s intuitive interface lets you lay out your site and customize your theme effectively.

For more comprehensive site editing capabilities, consider using a theme or a page-builder plugin. Some tools, like Divi, offer the combined features of both a plugin and a theme.

Writing in Blogger

Blogger’s interface has evolved but remains user-friendly, especially for those familiar with Microsoft Word or Google Docs.

The post editor in Blogger is a classic WYSIWYG that makes it easy to create content. In Blogger, you can adjust various options like permalinks, post dates, labels (similar to WordPress tags), and comment settings.

However, the platform doesn’t offer as many customization options as WordPress.

The platform’s stability and intuitive design make it a reliable choice for bloggers who prioritize ease of use.

Winner for Ease of Use: Both.

WordPress and Blogger both have relatively easy setup and writing processes, especially for beginners.

Customization and Flexibility

WordPress Themes

WordPress stands out for its extensive range of themes. It has tens of thousands of free and paid customizable themes for users to choose from.

The customization process is facilitated by a built-in Theme Customizer. This allows users to adjust various aspects of their site’s design, including layout, color schemes, fonts, and more.

Its flexibility extends to the integration of custom CSS directly through the Theme Customizer. It offers further personalization options without needing to handle custom.css files.

The specific customizations available depend on the combination of theme and plugins chosen, but the potential for a unique and tailored blog design is significant with WordPress.

Blogger Templates

Blogger, on the other hand, offers a more limited selection of templates. Users can choose from a few basic designs, each with some color variations.

These templates are easy to install and offer some level of customization, such as adjusting menus, gadgets, colors, fonts, and content spacing.

However, the scope for personalization is much more restricted compared to WordPress.

Advanced users do have the option to add custom CSS or adjust the HTML of their chosen template.

Plugins and Add-ons

Aside from themes, WordPress also boasts a wide choice of plugins. These are extra tools with specific functionalities you can use on your site.

Plugins let you do all sorts of things, like making your blog show up better in Google searches, connecting with your email subscribers, or even starting an online store.

This means you can do a lot with your WordPress blog, adding almost any feature you can think of.

Blogger, however, doesn’t offer as many options for adding new stuff to your blog. It has a small set of “gadgets” that you can use. These are tools created by Google and other developers.

Gadgets let you add features to your site like Adsense ads, a post archive, and search functions. But, it’s important to note that Blogger only offers 26 gadgets, with some being default options.

Winner for Customization and Flexibility: WordPress.

WordPress is the clear winner with its vast array of themes and plugins allowing extensive personalization. It far surpasses Blogger’s more limited template options and gadget offerings.

Hosting and Domain

WordPress

Self-hosting Options

With WordPress, users can choose from a wide range of web hosting services that cater to various needs, from basic blogs to large-scale business websites.

This variety allows WordPress users to select a hosting plan that aligns with their website’s traffic, performance requirements, and budget.

Additionally, the freedom to choose a hosting provider also means that you can switch to a different host if your needs change over time.

Domain Integration

WordPress allows for full control over domain names.

Users can either purchase a new domain through various domain registrars or integrate an existing one.

This flexibility is particularly beneficial for branding and creating a professional online presence.

Blogger

The hosting on Blogger is managed entirely by Google. Users don’t need to worry about the technical aspects of hosting a blog. However, this convenience comes with limitations in terms of flexibility and control over the hosting environment.

When it comes to a domain, Blogger provides users with a free subdomain (yourblog.blogspot.com).

For personal branding, users can purchase a custom domain from a third-party registrar and forward it to their Blogger blog.

This feature enables Blogger users to have a more personalized domain name while enjoying the benefits of free hosting.

Winner for Hosting and Domain: WordPress

WordPress offers more flexibility with a variety of self-hosting options and full domain name control compared to Blogger.

Media Management

When it comes to handling images and videos, WordPress and Blogger each have their own way of doing things.

WordPress provides a comprehensive media management system. It allows users to easily upload, edit, and insert multimedia into posts and pages.

For more advanced media management, there are numerous plugins available that extend the capabilities of WordPress.

Plugins like NextGEN Gallery, Envira, and  Smush offer additional functionalities like advanced galleries, lightbox displays, media file optimization, and more.

Blogger, while supporting image and video uploads, offers more basic media management tools. Users can add images and videos to their posts, but the options for customization and management are not as extensive as in WordPress.

Winner for Media Management: WordPress

Blogger’s media handling is sufficient for basic blog posts. But for users looking for more advanced media integration and management features, WordPress is the better choice.

SEO Capabilities and Analytics

WordPress SEO and Analytics

If you’re a blogger who wants to dive deep into digital marketing and SEO strategies, WordPress is a great choice.

It comes with built-in SEO features like the ability to change visibility settings, use specific permalinks, and set meta descriptions and redirects.

Plus, WordPress has a whole bunch of plugins for marketing and SEO. Popular ones include Yoast SEO, AIOSEO, HubSpot, and Jetpack.

These plugins offer advanced tips and tools to make your blog more search-engine-friendly and to help it grow faster.

With WordPress, you get a lot of control and options to boost your blog’s presence online.

Blogger for Marketing and SEO

Blogger, while simpler, still has useful tools for SEO and tracking how your blog is doing.

It works well with Google Analytics, which is great for seeing how many people visit your blog and when they visit.

To set up your Google Tag, go to the main menu and select Settings. Click on the Basic section, and then Google Analytics Measurement ID. Enter your Google tag ID in the provided box. After entering the ID, click Save to apply the changes.

For SEO, Blogger is user-friendly and decent for those not too familiar with SEO. It allows you to use important focus keywords, meta titles, descriptions, and customize your permalinks.

Blogger also comes with features like email subscription links and social media sharing. This helps you promote your blog posts and connect with your audience.

Winner for SEO: WordPress

If you’re really into marketing and want lots of tools and options for SEO, WordPress is the better choice.

Monetization

For both WordPress and Blogger, there are common ways to monetize a user’s blog site.

One of which is through sponsored posts. This involves collaborating with brands to create content that promotes their products or services.

Affiliate marketing is another common monetization method. Bloggers on both platforms can earn commissions by promoting products and including affiliate links in their posts.

For eCommerce, WordPress offers more robust options through plugins like WooCommerce, allowing for a fully functional online store.

Blogger, on the other hand, is less suited for eCommerce. While it offers basic eCommerce functions, its features are limited compared to using WordPress. In the long run, it will be difficult to scale an online store through Blogger.

WordPress Monetization Options

Now let’s take a deeper look at how you can monetize your WordPress blog.

Display Ads

A common way to earn money through WordPress is by placing display ads on your website. These can be static displays, popups, or native ads.

You might even choose a WordPress theme specifically designed for ad placement.

The payment for these ads typically follows either a pay-per-click (PPC) or pay-per-impression (PPI) model. Google AdSense is a popular choice for WordPress users due to its ease of use and wide range of targeted ads.

However, other networks offer different benefits, like higher payouts or less stringent content requirements.

While ads are a good passive income source, they require significant traffic to be lucrative. Also, too many ads can be off-putting to readers.

Exclusive Content

Experienced bloggers often monetize their expertise by selling premium content.

This could include exclusive blog posts, printable versions of your posts, ebooks, or even full online courses. The content should offer more in-depth insights than your regular posts.

Writing an ebook from existing blog content or developing a course are popular options. Remember, before selling paid content, it’s essential to establish value through your free offerings.

Membership Subscription

Creating a membership site on WordPress allows you to offer gated content to members. This could include access to a community forum or exclusive updates.

Membership sites generate recurring revenue but require a significant commitment to maintain and update premium content regularly.

Before starting a membership site, you should have a strong following and a strategy for regularly delivering valuable content to your members.

Blogger Monetization Options

While Blogger has limited monetization options, you can still generate income through this blogging platform.

Blogger integrates with Google AdSense. This allows you to display ads on your blog easily.

To get started, you need to set up an AdSense account, decide where on your blog the ads will appear, and make the spaces available for these ads.

However, it’s important to note that not all blogs are eligible for AdSense; your content must comply with Google’s terms of service.

While Blogger doesn’t provide a built-in tool for managing affiliate links or tracking earnings from these sources, you can manually add affiliate links to your blog posts or collaborate with brands for sponsored content.

This method requires a bit more effort since you’ll be managing these aspects yourself, but it can be a valuable source of income for your blog.

Winner for Monetization: WordPress

If you’re planning to generate income through your blog, WordPress offers a broader range of options to monetize your site.

Security and Support

WordPress Security Measures

When it comes to security, WordPress offers a flexible but complex approach. It allows you to enhance your site’s security through various measures.

Since WordPress is open-source, it’s crucial to manage your site’s security actively. This includes regular updates of the core software, themes, and plugins to protect against vulnerabilities.

WordPress users often rely on popular security plugins like Wordfence, Sucuri, and Solid Security. These plugins help in guarding against common threats like hacking and malware.

Additionally, the choice of your hosting provider plays a significant role in your WordPress site’s security. Some hosting services offer specialized WordPress hosting plans that include additional security measures.

Blogger’s Security is Managed by Google

In contrast, Blogger, being a Google-owned platform, provides a more streamlined approach to security.

Google manages the security for Blogger, which means as a user, you don’t have to worry much about the technicalities of keeping your blog safe.

This managed security includes protection against common threats and regular updates.

However, this simplified approach to security also means less flexibility in terms of custom security configurations compared to WordPress.

For instance, if Blogger experiences downtime, your blog will be unavailable too, just like all other blogs hosted on the platform. In such a scenario, you can do nothing to regain access to your blog until Blogger itself is back up and running.

Winner for Security and Support: WordPress

It may cost you more, but WordPress provides a more secure environment for your blogging website. This will eventually pay off in the long term.

Performance and Speed

WordPress

The speed of a WordPress site can vary a lot. It depends on the hosting service you choose, the themes and plugins you use, and how well you optimize the site.

While WordPress gives you more control to make your site faster, it also means you need to put in more effort.

The themes and plugins on WordPress play a big role in how fast your site loads. Some themes are made to be fast and light, but others might slow your site down, especially if they have lots of graphics or aren’t coded well.

Also, having too many plugins or ones that aren’t written well can make your site slower.

Keeping your WordPress site fast means regularly updating your themes and plugins and using tools to help your site load quicker, like caching solutions.

Blogger

Blogger is a Google product, so it’s set up to load fast and not have much downtime.

Unlike WordPress, you can’t customize Blogger as much with themes or plugins. This might seem limiting, but it also means Blogger sites usually load faster and more consistently.

Overall, Blogger is really user-friendly and efficient, especially if you’re not that into the technical side of making websites fast.

Winner for Performance and Speed: Both

If you’re into tweaking and optimizing your site for the best performance, WordPress gives you the tools to do it.

But if you want something simpler and don’t want to worry about all the technical stuff, Blogger’s fast and steady performance might be what you need.

Integration with Other Tools and Services

When it comes to adding extra features like email marketing tools, CRM systems, social media, and e-commerce solutions, WordPress and Blogger offer different experiences.

WordPress

WordPress is really great at working with lots of different tools and services from outside.

You can find a plugin for pretty much anything you need in WordPress.

For example, you can connect your site to HubSpot, link MailChimp with WooCommerce, or sync your WordPress posts with Zapier without any hassle.

Also, many WordPress themes, like Divi, let you easily add codes for things like Facebook pixels, AdSense, or site verification. With WordPress, you don’t have to deal with complicated PHP files.

Since WordPress is open-source, you can use almost any app or integration you want with it. Some of these might cost you extra, but WordPress itself doesn’t limit your options at all.

Blogger

Blogger, on the other hand, has some limitations here. It does have some built-in ways to connect with other tools, but not as many as WordPress.

While you can do some basic integrations, like linking your blog to your social media or using Google’s own tools, you won’t find as many options as you do in WordPress.

This makes Blogger simpler to use. However, it might not be enough if you’re looking to add a lot of different features to your blog.

But if you’re okay with simpler, more basic integrations, Blogger could work well for you.

Winner for Integration: WordPress

For a blog site that requires you to do a lot of different things with other tools and services, WordPress is probably the better choice.

Future Scalability and Growth Potential

WordPress

WordPress offers robust scalability options. It’s designed to handle increased traffic, more content, and growing user interactions without performance issues.

The platform’s scalability includes hosting environment, caching, performance optimization, database optimization, and Content Delivery Network (CDN) integration.

For small businesses, WordPress is handy. It can deal with sudden increases in visitors and lets you add new things without having to redo your entire site.

Important parts of WordPress’s growth potential include choosing the right hosting (like dedicated or cloud hosting), using caching plugins (such as WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache), keeping your site’s data organized, and using a CDN.

Blogger

Blogger, however, has significant limitations in scalability. It’s not ideally suited for professional bloggers or those aiming to monetize their blogs extensively.

First, it doesn’t let you change your blog’s design as much as WordPress. This can make it hard to make your blog look unique or add special features.

Blogger also hasn’t had big updates for a while. In the digital space where innovation happens really fast, Blogger hasn’t upgraded its features at all.

Finally, Google controls Blogger’s future. This means they can shut it down if they choose to. So, the future of your blog on Blogger depends on Google’s decisions.

Winner for Future Scalability and Growth Potential: WordPress

With the abundance of features available, WordPress gives your blog site more room to grow compared to Blogger.

Pricing

Whether you use WordPress or Blogger, there are associated costs for each platform to some extent.

WordPress

WordPress is a platform that anyone can download for free and use for all kinds of websites. But, even though WordPress itself is free, using it still costs you some money.

These costs come from things like hosting, buying a domain name, the design of your site, and any extra features (like plugins or apps) you might want.

For example, the typical price range for a domain name is $15 annually. For web hosting, GreenGeeks’ plans start at $2.95/month and that already includes a free domain name for the first year.

If you’re on a budget, you can still make a good WordPress site for less than $100.

Blogger

Blogger as a blogging platform is totally free. You don’t have to pay anything to sign up or use it. You can even have up to 100 different blogs under one account.

The platform gives you a free SSL certificate, web hosting, and a BlogSpot domain name for free.

Everything you need to start and keep your blog going, even making money from it, is included for free.

But if you want your own special domain name, you’ll need to buy that separately. Apart from that, using Blogger won’t cost you anything.

Of course, there are also third-party widgets and tools that you can install to your Blogger site that charge a fee.

Winner for Pricing: Blogger

Building a blogging site using Blogger is free, unlike in WordPress. However, more than the price, you have to take into consideration a lot of factors as well.

The price you pay now using WordPress may be well worth it in the end.

WordPress vs Blogger: Summary of Pros and Cons

Here, we’ve summarized the advantages and disadvantages of each blogging platform.

WordPress

Blogger

FAQs About WordPress vs Blogger

Final Thoughts

Both WordPress and Blogger have their own special features.

WordPress gives you lots of options and is great for growing your blog. It’s perfect if you want to get creative and don’t mind learning new things or spending some money.

Blogger, on the other hand, is super easy to use and totally free. It’s a good choice if you’re just starting out or if you want a simple blog without any fuss.

Now it’s up to you to choose. Whether it’s WordPress or Blogger, your blogging adventure is just starting. Go ahead and pick the one that fits your style and start sharing your stories with the world.

Happy blogging!