WordPress vs Blogger – Which Platform Is Best To Start Your Blog?
In this article, we will be going through a WordPress vs Blogger comparison to helps you to decide what’s best for you and your website.
After reading this post, I am sure that you will have a crystal clear idea in choosing the best platform.
Blogger VS WordPress :
Do you want to know what’s the best blogging platform?.
Sometimes you just wanna Start a blog straight away without all the daunting and time-consuming task. But first, you need to choose a blogging platform that will suit your needs and your goals for your blogging career.
It’s also likely that you’ve heard of both Blogger and WordPress.
And the most often asked question by new users is which one of them should you use to start your blog.
And it’s an entirely valid question with so many blogging platforms available out there.
But sometimes what suits and features for one person, won’t suit for the other.
So, by the end of this article, you should be having a clear and much better understanding and positioned to decide which is the best for your needs.
Let’s get started.
Note
Please understand that this comparison is ONLY between the self-hosted WordPress.org and Blogger and NOT between free platform WordPress.com vs Blogger.
About WordPress — a quick introduction
WordPress is a full-featured Content Management System (CMS) for building not only blogs but also different types of websites ranging from a simple blog to complicated forum sites or e-commerce sites.
While Blogger is created just for blogs, WordPress, on the other hand, is a full Content Management System (CMS) meaning with WordPress you can practically build any sort of content and website.
WordPress also began its life just meant for blogging. WordPress like Blogger is also free, there is just one twist.
They will not host your website. So, you’ll need to buy a hosting plan and pick out a domain name too.
After you have installed and set up your WordPress site, you’ll be able to access your WordPress admin dashboard.
Simply type in the URL: yourdomain.com/wp-admin/
Enter your Username and your password and it will lead you to your dashboard.
About Blogger — a quick introduction
Blogger is a very simple platform and a service which will enable you to create a blog and publish it online right immediately.
It’s quick fast, super simple and easy to use.
History
Blogger was founded in the year 1999 by the Pyra Labs and it was later on acquired by Google in the year 2003.
And by 2006, all of the accounts were moved and hosted on Google’s servers. Thus, it makes the platform a lot safer and reliable too.
And before we go any further into the article, I just wanna make a quick clarification about this very confusing question about the term Blogger and BlogSpot.
If you didn’t already know BlogSpot is just a free domain service provider while on the other hand, Blogger is a free publishing platform.
Basically, in simple terms, Google hosts your website or blog with a default BlogSpot domain on its Blogger platform.
Setting up your blog
Unlike WordPress, it’s very easy and simple to create your blog. By the way, You’ll need a Gmail or a Google account to use their service. Create a new account one if you haven’t had it yet.
Here is how it works:
Step 1- Enter a name for your blog.
Step 2- Choose a Blog Address (URL) – After you type in the domain name, Blogger will automatically confirm whether your chosen blog address is available or not.
They also offer you a chance to buy the custom domain of your website from them. For example, if your current domain name is xyz.blogspot.com, you will be given the option to buy xyz.com.
However, this is an optional step, and you can always change it later.
You can also buy your domain from another provider like Godaddy and Namecheap and then point it to your account too.
But having a custom domain name makes it more professional too.
Step 3- Pick a Theme – Blogger has a bunch of free templates and themes. Even the paid ones are also there.
You can browse more and customize your blog later on.
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Ownership of the Website
In WordPress, you are using your hosting provider to host your own websites. So, basically, that means as long as you pay for the hosting, your site will be up and running and shut it down at your will too.
You also own all of your website data, backup and files and control what to do with your info.
You can even backup and restore your website files on other domain or share your information with any third party.
On the other hand, Blogger is just simply a blogging platform and it is a service provided by Google which is a tech giant.
Yes, it is free, safe and reliable at most time, and also quite storage enough for your blog to publish your content.
But the real drawback here is that you do not own your content. Since the tech giant Google runs the platform, they have every right to shut you and your site down, or shutdown your access to your website at any time for any reason they see seem fit for it.
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Control of your site
As we have discussed before that WordPress is an open content management system, and you can also extend it to add even new features.
You can add your design, customization, create your own theme and plugins to fits your needs.
Even if you don’t know how to create one, there are basically a hundred and even thousands of WordPress plugins for every reason and details which will allow you to modify your site.
You can add customizations to your blog, forum site, e-commerce store, photography, portfolio, etc.
If you are going to run a business site, WordPress is going to be hands down the best platform and even for a long-term solution for any of you serious business owner or blogger.
But that doesn’t mean Blogger is trash, Blogger is still a very customizable platform but not to the level of what WordPress can do.
Compared to WordPress, you are most of the time limited to what you wanna do and there is no way you can extend them to meet a need.
Portability
Llet’s say you wanna move your site away from your WordPress site, cool you can move your site anywhere you want in just a few moments.
You can move your website to a completely new domain or even a website hosting.
Not satisfied with Bluehost? Move to Siteground very easily
However, you can lose some web rankings and can affect your SEO if you do it wrong. But you can minimize if you do it the right way.
But not with Blogger. Yes, you can move your website from Blogger to another completely different platform, however, it’s a very complicated task and super risky with your SEO and that you will lose it especially if your site is well established and have already high rankings in the search engine results page (SERPs)]
Even subscribers, and followers too during the move.
Blogger(Unlike Wix) may allow you to export your content, but however, your data will still stay on Google’s servers for a very very long time.
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Appearance
You can customize the look of your site to anything you want. There are literally hundreds and thousands of WordPress themes ranging from free to premium themes and templates which will allow you to create very professional looking blogs or websites.
Even if you are a business, new, fashion, portfolio or whatever website you are building, there is always a template for just about every kind of website. You will find plenty of high-quality themes which are easy to modify and customizable.
Blogger on the other hand also has a handful of templates not up to the level of what WordPress provides. By default Blogger only provides a limited set of templates to use from and it also allows you to modify the layout and the colors of these templates using the built-in tools.
The layout is fixed, you cannot create your own layouts or make modifications to the already existing layout.
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Security
The best part about blogger is security. Since it is hosted by Google server it would be one hell of a task trying to crack it.
If you are using Blogger, you don’t need to worry about managing your server’s resources. Your blog will be secured. Your backups are also created too which is a big deal when it comes to WordPress.
Because although WordPress is quite secure since it is just a self-hosted solution, you have to create your own backups and security too.
WordPress sites are also very easily prone to hacking. But there are a ton of features, tools, and plugins to help encounter that problem.
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Support
WordPress is one of the most active community with over thousands of questions and interaction going on in the forum and groups.
There is even online documentation, community forums, and IRC chatrooms where you will be able to get help from the experienced WordPress developers and users.
Also, Apart from the official WordPress community support, there are also tons of freelancers and companies that are offering premium support for all of your WordPress problems.
With Blogger, There is a very limited support system available as to none.
The setup and documentation are also very basic and not very active user’s forum. In terms of support, your choices are also super limited too.
Final Words
Blogger
Pros
Blogger is very attractive to the first-time and majority of the novice bloggers since it is free of cost to start and there are no expenses other than buying the domain name which is also an option not a mandatory.
Also, bloggers are very easy to set up, easy to use and have step-by-step instructions. The site also hosts a plethora of free templates, so bloggers can customize according to their viewers’ experience and create a visual presence that keeps their brand consistent.
The platform is also extremely reliable and the site is also rarely down for maintenance too. All the Google products such as Google Analytics and Adsense are also connected for seamless tracking.
Cons
Yes, Blogger offers many basic amazing features and a user-friendly interface for the newbie and novice users. But as you grow and get to know more and started advancing, Bloggers really do not offer a lot of options for more advanced bloggers.
There is a lot of complaint about losing their template customizations which is not a good thing. Imagine editing working on your theme and losing it.
The UI and the theme may look professional and attractive to novice bloggers but form many professional and advanced bloggers, it doesn’t have the best looks and it also lacks high-end features and more advanced options.
The features are also very super limited, the post editing options and minimal comments options are also limited too.
WordPress-
Pros
Since it is a self-hosted website, it will give you a lot more control over the website with its looks, feel and content you can publish on your blog.
You can also choose how to monetize with your blog and what service to use too such as advertising and affiliate marketing platforms schemes.
You also have your own professional custom domain name which will make your site look more authentic than a website with a blogspot.com sub-domain which you can get for free from blogger.
Cons
Sometimes it can be a little bit overwhelming with all the technical details and installation and set up of your site.
For a complete novice blogger, it can be a nightmare. But there are a lot of tutorials and set up guides to help you through it.
You will also need to pay for your hosting plan but it isn’t gonna empty your bank account. You can get it for as cheap as a 5$ per month.
We really hope this WordPress vs Blogger comparison guide will help you to understand better the pros and cons of each and will help you to make the right decision for your blog or websites.
If you have any questions, the don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments section below.