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Blogging FAQs: 7 Key WordPress Alternatives That You Can Use

May 20, 2019

Last Updated on May 4, 2024 by Nadim Alamuddin

This is a popular question that is asked on Google and some forums in the blogging niche. In this blog post, I will list 7 Key WordPress Alternatives, even though, in my opinion, a self-hosted WordPress site is the most user-friendly and flexible platform.

Table of Contents

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org

Before we start, we need to distinguish between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com is a software as a service product, where you register on the site and can immediately start blogging on it. There’s no need for you to buy a hosting account or install WordPress on your computer. The downside of WordPress.com is that it’s not a flexible platform: you cannot change the structure of your website, you are limited in functionality you can use, and you cannot monetize your site.

WordPress.org, on the other hand, is self-hosted. This means you will need to get a hosting account and install the software. With that, you own your content, you have full flexibility in designing your site as you wish, and you can monetize it. The hosting services cost nominal monthly fees (as low as $2.95/month). WordPress itself is free.

Platform Classification

If we were to look at key WordPress alternatives, we need to make a few distinctions, based on the main features of these platforms. The three main categories are:

Basic Blogging Platforms – these are basic blogging platforms where you can register and start blogging. They’re only for people who only want to blog simple posts, without needing to customize or monetize their site. Because they’re fully hosted, if their parent company decides to change or shut down the site, there goes your work!
Website Builders – these are systems that are hosted by the companies that sell them. This means you don’t have to install the software on your website. They provide functionality for you to build your website using drag & drop means and some extra tools. Like the basic blogging platforms above, because these sites are fully hosted, you have no control over what you publish.
Content Management Systems (CMS) – these standalone systems have the ability for you to store / upload all your media and content onto the platform. They are self-hosted, meaning that your hosting provider (of your choice) manages them (updates, security, backup, etc.). This also means that you own your content, you have customization flexibility and you can monetize your site.

Here Are 7 Key WordPress Alternatives

Key WordPress Alternatives - Brickwall with people holding cell phones displaying Joomla, Wix, Blogger and Shopify — Key WordPress Alternatives – Joomla, Blogger, Wix, Shopify, to name a few

Two Basic Blogging Platforms That Are Key WordPress Alternatives:

Blogger: Blogger provides all the basic functionality you need to blog. However, Google owns it and your content. Blogger is free for basic blogging. Paid plans start at $8.25/month, paid yearly.
Medium: Medium is another basic blogging platform for those who just want to blog and publish their content. Users on medium can share your content. Medium has a great editor built in, which inspired WordPress to build their new block editor with similar features. Medium offers free and paid plans starting at $5/month)

Three Website Builders That Are Key WordPress Alternatives:

Wix: This is a very easy to use, completely hosted platform, with limited functionality. It offers free and paid plans. Paid plans start at $4.50/month.
Gator: This is a website builder by the hosting provider HostGator. You can get a free domain upon registering for a hosting account with HostGator and use Gator as a website builder. Gator comes with a variety of themes you can customize using their drag & drop features. Subscriptions start at less than $4/month.
Shopify: This is a platform made only for e-commerce. It is a competitor to WordPress’ WooCommerce plugin. You can use your own domain name, but Shopify is fully hosted. Shopify subscription starts at $29/month.

Two Content Management Systems That Are Key WordPress Alternatives:

Joomla!: This is a self-hosted CMS that is the second most popular self-hosted platform compared to WordPress. Two huge advantages that Joomla has over WordPress are that it’s multilingual out of the box and that it provides superior access management system. This makes it more suitable for international sites and/or enterprises. While Joomla is free, you will need to pay for hosting it (as low at $2.95/month)
Ghost: This is purely a blogging platform. Think of it as a light version of WordPress. You can use Ghost as a self-hosted or fully hosted solution. The fully hosted Ghost provides more flexibility than WordPress.com in that you can upload your own themes and content. Subscriptions start at $29/month.

Your Turn…

What are your queries about blogging, which may be frequently asked questions? Please leave me a reply at the bottom of the post and let me know! Thanks a lot for stopping by!

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