If you are looking to start a new blog and don’t know which platform is best between Blogger vs WordPress then you are at right place.
I started many blogs some on WordPress and some of them on Blogger.
I have experienced both and want to tell you how both are different from each other.
These two platforms are the most popular blogging platforms and have their own advantages/disadvantages.
You may be confused which platform will be the best for blogging. In this article I will compare Blogger vs WordPress on many factors including ease of use, pricing, control, SEO and security.
I will help you decide which platform you should use if you are a beginner, if you want to shift from one platform or if you just want to test blogging.
First of all let’s understand what are blogger and wordpress. Here keep in mind that I will talk about self hosted wordpress and not wordpress.com.
WordPress vs Blogger: An Overview
The comparison between Blogger vs WordPress is completely one sided if you are experienced blogger.
As self hosted WordPress blog is too popular as compared to Blogger. There are plenty of reasons behind that and will see them further in this article.
As I told you wordpress will the best choice if you are experienced blogger.
But If you are new to blogging then blogger can be your choice. I have seen many event bloggers recommending blogger.
Because as a new blogger, it is very difficult to invest in premium hosting and for event blogging you get traffic for a limited time but very high in numbers.
So, at that time blogger which is google’s own product giving you its own hosting. And mind it, Google can handle hell lot of traffic.
Now as you get experience in blogging and want to test new things there are many limitations on blogger.
If I tell you my personal experience, I started first blog on WordPress, then I started another blog on Blogger.
When I start getting some traffic on blogger blog, I shifted my blog from blogger to wordpress.
Let’s deep dive more in to why choose blogger or WordPress.
How Blogger is different from WordPress
Blogger is a platform by Google to start a blog. If you just want to write blogs and not thinking about building authority and making money.
Then blogger is ideal choice for you. But if want to make money from your blog in long run then blogger is not the best choice.
If you start with blogger then you can start blog with zero cost. It means blogger provide hosting for your blog and give you web space.
You can opt for custom domain if you don’t want your website name like this: www.yourwebsitename.blogspot.com
So, blogger with a custom domain is win-win situation. On blogger you may lack some features which are available on WordPress.
Starting a blog on blogger is very simple and all you need is a Gmail address.
If you want to know in detail you can read here about how to start blog on Blogger or WordPress.
How WordPress is different from Blogger
WordPress is very popular today and more than 38% of all website on internet use WordPress.
It is a content management system (CMS), which is open source software and you can use it free for any number of websites.
But wordpress will not host your website. To host your website you need a hosting and domain name.
After buying hosting you can install wordpress and start your blog. There are lot of tutorials available on BloggingIdol and on youtube but if you feel you need help you can use our free blog setup service by simply mailing us at robin at bloggingidol.com
WordPress give you lot more control than blogger and you can do almost anything by using wordpress plugins.
So if you want to start bog and earn money and not want to do it just as hobby then WordPress will be the right choice for you.
You may have to deal with website security, website speed and many things but all those are part of most successful bloggers too.
Check out some more factors to decide whether blogger or wordpress is the right choice for you.
Blogger vs WordPress: Detailed Comparison
Let’s compare WordPress vs Blogger in detail to know which would be the best fit for you.
- Search Engine Optimization
- Ease of Use
- Authority
- Control
- Pricing
- Future & Portability
Search Engine Optimization
If you haven’t started blog then it may seem a foreign concept to you. SEO is the technique to bring organic traffic (from google or bing) to your website.
Whether you have blog on WordPress or blogger you need traffic form Google (free traffic).
Here if you think or heard that Blogger is a Google product so you will have more traffic from Google.
That’s simply not true.
So which platform has more options to optimize your blog. If you ask me WordPress has many specialized SEO plugins from All in One SEO, Yoast SEO to RankMath.
Using these plugins you will have complete list of tasks to be performed while writing SEO optimized post.
Unfortunately, you are going to miss all those on Blogger.
In terms of On Page SEO you can’t underestimate the power of those plugins while for off page SEO both works almost in same manner.
Winner – WordPress
Ease of Use
As I told you previously starting a blog on blogger is very easy. You just need a Gmail id and you are ready to go.
Just go to https://www.blogger.com sign in with your email id and select a name for your blog.
If that name is available your work is done.
Congratulations!!
You have a blog like www.name.blogspot.com
Here if you want a custom domain you can simply buy your preferred domain and link it to blogger.
You can read more about starting a blogger blog here.
Now you can create posts, pages and edit your layout. There are lot of blogger templates free or paid available online.
However, customizing a blogger blog is not that easy. For advance level customization either you need coding skills or you may have to hire a developer.
On WordPress starting a blog may take some time but that is not so difficult.
All you need hosting and install wordpress. There are plenty of videos/blogs available on WordPress blog. You can read our detailed guide on how to start wordpress blog here.
Now after starting a blog you can install wordpress theme and make your website beautiful.
Blogger may be limited in terms of templates but WordPress has plenty of free and paid themes.
Creating posts, pages on WordPress is very similar to blogger. But on WordPress you have the ability to add page builders. Page builders are very powerful drag and drop tools to customize everything.
WordPress blocks also made customization easy if you don’t want to use heavy page builders.
So, in long run customization on WordPress is easy and advanced.
Winner – Tie
Authority
Authority is another factor which you should consider while choosing blogging platform.
How a blog with .blogspot extension looks like?
It seems like you are not serious about your blog.
And if something is completely free lot of spammers use that for spammy tectics.
In the same way blogger platform used for Blackhat SEO, for creation of web 2.0 properties and spammy websites.
In that case readers of blog may underestimate your skills and knowledge.
You may be failed to make the better first impression.
On the other hand, for using WordPress you have to pay a fee every year for your blog. Your readers will take you seriously as you are spending money for your blog.
Winner – WordPress
Control
When you host your blog on blogger, you are on the mercy of Google.
If Google think of shutting down blogger platform without any warning.
In that case your blog will be lost forever.
However, it will never happen and Google will notify you to shift your blog to another platform or take a backup of your blog.
By the way Google has history of shutting down projects like Google+ and Google link shortener etc.
Another thing which may be scary is that if you violate any policy of blogger, in that case too Google can delete blogger blog.
Blogger is very similar to Facebook, Twitch or Twitter which can suspend your account if you violate their terms.
If you host your blog using WordPress and paid hosting. You have control over blog until you paid for the hosting.
No one can simply remove your blog unless you are hacked.
You got more control over blog with self-hosted blog.
Winner – WordPress
Pricing
Pricing may be the biggest challenge for a new blogger. The cost of self-hosted blog is not too much but uncertainty may stop you from taking risks.
If price is a concern for you then blogger blog may be your first choice.
As you know, you can start your blog with zero cost. I would recommend you to start with custom domain at least.
Because you may observe online how many blogs with .blogspot extension appear on first page while searching on google.
The number are very less.
If you have made up your mind and want to earn money from blog, self-hosted blog is the best choice.
WordPress recommends Bluehost, you can start your blog in just $2.75 per month.
On WordPress you can use free themes and plugins but if you want to use premium themes you have to pay accordingly.
Now if you want to start a blog on WordPress and thinking about other costs involved like premium theme then you may get one free by contact us at robin at bloggingidol.com.
Winner – Blogger
Future & Portability
It depends on you how you shape your blog in future. A platform may play crucial role in determining the future of your blog.
WordPress is being updated very frequently and adding new features with every update.
WordPress is the most widely used CMS and used by thousand of businesses.
But as far as blogger is concerned, they update less frequently and do not bring major changes.
You can check latest blogger updates on https://blogger.googleblog.com/
Portability is another concern related to WordPress and Blogger. I started blog a blog on blogger but after some time I shifted it to WordPress.
I found it very difficult to transfer blog from blogger to WordPress. I copied all articles from blogger blog and pasted on WordPress blog.
It may happen with you also, after some time if you want to transfer blog from blogger to wordpress then you have to be very careful during this task.
Transferring blog from blogger to WordPress is a tedious task and you may lose all your traffic.
However, transferring blog from WordPress to new hosting or new domain or to another CMS is easy.
Winner – Tie
Conclusion
As we have seen both WordPress and Blogger are popular for blogging.
It depends on you, what goal you have in mind for your blog in next few years.
Either you want to make your blog a business and looking for an earning for a better life.
Or you just want to test your writing skills and want to spread your message.
WordPress gives you lot of opportunities with the help of plugins like adding a shop, creating a membership website and lot of other things.
Blogger has limited functionality as compared to WordPress.
I think this WordPress vs Blogger comparison helped you making a decision about which platform is the best for your needs.
What your choice for blog, WordPress or Blogger do let me know in the comments below.
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