6 Best Free Blogging Sites to Start a Blog for Free in 2023

Blogging is one of the channels many people use to share their creative ideas, and some have turned it into a business opportunity. If you want to start a blog, the good news is that you can create a blog site within minutes.

In this article, I’ll present some of the best free blogging websites to start a blog for free. These free blog sites are a great platform to show your unique ideas and connect with similar people worldwide.

The sites have easy-to-use designs, multiple themes, SEO-friendly, blogging editors, mobile-friendly, analytics, good customer support, etc.

Keep Reading!

Things to Look for in a Good Free Blog Site

Here are a few essential parts to check when choosing the right blogging platform:

1. Ease of Use: The blogging platform should have an intuitive and user-friendly interface that makes it easy to create and manage your blog posts without requiring advanced technical or coding skills.
2. Customization Options: Look for free blogging sites that offer a range of customizable templates and themes, allowing you to personalize the appearance of your blog to match your style and branding. Also, it is better to use a free blog site that allows you to add header and footer custom HTML codes so that you can add widgets to your blog, such as live chat widgets and social media plugins, even when the blogging platform does not offer them.
3. Reliability and Uptime: Ensure that the blogging site has a strong track record of reliability and minimal downtime. A blog that frequently experiences technical issues can negatively impact your readers’ experience.
4. Responsive Design: With a growing number of users accessing content from mobile devices, your chosen platform should provide responsive design, ensuring that your blog looks and functions well on various screen sizes.
5. Community and Social Sharing: A good blogging site should provide options for readers to engage with your content through comments and social sharing buttons. Interaction with your audience is essential for building a loyal readership.
6. SEO Features: Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for attracting organic traffic to your blog. The platform should allow you to optimize your content for search engines by customizing meta tags, URLs, and other SEO elements. It is a bonus if a free blogging site includes a tool that provides content optimization tips.
7. Integration with Analytics: The ability to integrate your blog with analytics tools (like Google Analytics) is important for tracking your blog’s performance, understanding your audience, and making data-driven decisions.
8. Media Support: Ensure that the platform supports various media types, such as images, videos, and audio. Visual and multimedia content can enhance your blog posts and make them more engaging.
9. Monetization Options: If you plan to monetize your blog through ads, affiliate marketing, or other methods, check if the platform allows for these monetization strategies. Most free blog sites allow you to engage in affiliate marketing, while a few do not permit it.
10. Backup and Export Options: It’s essential to have the ability to back up your blog’s content and easily export it to another platform if you decide to switch in the future.
11. Ownership and Control: Some free blog platforms might place limitations on your control over your content. Make sure you retain ownership of your work and have the freedom to move it to a different platform if needed.
12. Support and Documentation: Look for platforms that offer reliable customer support and comprehensive documentation to help you troubleshoot issues and make the most of the platform’s features.
13. Security Features: The platform should prioritize security to protect your blog and user data from potential threats.
14. Ad Policy: If the platform displays its own ads on your blog, understand its ad policy to ensure that it aligns with your preferences and goals.
15. Scalability: While you might start with a free plan, consider whether the platform offers scalability options as your blog grows, such as upgrading to a premium plan with more features and storage.

Best Free Blogging Sites to Start a Blog for Free

Weebly

Weebly is among the best free blogging sites to start a blog for free. You can create a blog site with it and attract a good audience. The platform allows you to insert text, pictures, maps, and videos on your website by dragging and dropping them where you want. You can edit the text just like in a word processor. 

Features

Web Design Tools

The editor in Weebly is easy to understand and see. At the top, there’s a gray bar where you can manage pages and change things like your site’s name or categories.

On the editor’s left side is a dark gray bar with tools. You can drag these tools from the bar and put them in the editing area on your site. The bar changes when you pick function modes like Settings, Build, Apps, Pages, Theme, and Store from the menu at the top.

There’s a big orange button that tries to get you to upgrade from a free account to a paid one. And there’s a blue button to make the site you’re creating go live on the internet.

You can put all the usual elements on your site’s page, like maps, text boxes, spacers, pictures, and media. There are also elements for polls, forums, feeds, surveys, etc.

SEO

It is designed to work well with search engines and offers the opportunity to enhance its SEO even further. Weebly allows you to modify elements such as meta descriptions, URLs, and alt text. 

The Weebly App Center provides tools specifically for improving your SEO strategy. This includes tools to schedule when your blog posts go live and systems for people to comment on your posts.

Free Hosting Platform

You can enjoy outstanding website speed and dependability using Weebly’s free website hosting solution. 

The hosting infrastructure is cloud-based and has data center redundancy. It guarantees top-notch performance. This creates a seamless online experience for people reading articles on your website.

Mobile Responsive 

Every design option in Weebly automatically adjusts to different mobile devices and appears attractive. You can easily make a mobile-friendly website that gives visitors a good experience. It’s also possible to create a mobile site using Weebly’s apps on Android and iOS devices.

Free Blog Themes

Weebly offers a smaller selection of themes than Wix, with around 50 options. You can switch between them whenever you want. 

The positive aspect is that Weebly’s themes come in various styles, even though they focus on grid layouts and large image backgrounds. This gives a nice appearance on desktop computers, but the experience is less smooth on mobile devices.

The good news is that you have tools for customizing each template extensively. You can easily alter the font, header, color scheme, and all the major design elements. These customizable features give you endless possibilities for designing your website.

App Center

Inside the App Center, you can discover a wide range of apps that cover shipping, marketing, increasing website visitors, and menu integrations. New tools are added daily.

You’ll find apps like FAQ tools, H1 Tag helpers, Simple Table tools, and more if you’re a blogger. When you locate the app that suits your needs, installing it and showcasing it directly in the Editor is simple.

Free Subdomain

Weebly allows you to have a free subdomain. If you’re not prepared to buy or bring in a complete domain, this choice lets you quickly and smoothly put your website online. 

In the future, if you choose to move to a new domain, all visitors will be sent automatically to your new domain.

Weebly’s domain import tool helps you to connect new domains to your site that you’ve bought from another place. Plus, it provides clear instructions for transferring domains from other well-known domain name registrars.

Website Statistics

You can monitor the number of visitors to your website. It allows you to check the pages they looked at, the keywords they used to find your site, and the websites that sent people to your site directly from the Weebly dashboard. 

Weebly also simplifies including Google Analytics code for more detailed tracking of your website’s performance.

Hosting and Security

Weebly handles the hosting of your website, so there’s no need to search for or pay for hosting separately – it’s all part of your Weebly plan. This applies to security as well. 

This platform protects its websites from DDoS attacks by offering advanced protection against cyber attacks. You can also easily enable an SSL certificate for your site. This encrypts any passwords and payment details between you and your visitors.

Knowledge Base and Support

Weebly has committed to customer support. It offers support through support tickets, live chat, and phone support. Phone support is accessible during business hours, but you can receive email support anytime.

If you have inquiries about specific features, Weebly provides a comprehensive knowledge base with useful solutions. You shouldn’t have a reason to contact customer support unless you encounter a technical issue, especially considering the availability of the knowledge base.

Pros & Cons

Weebly Pricing

• The Personal Plan offers the option to link to your custom domain for $10 per month (billed annually) or $13 monthly on a month-to-month basis.
• The Professional Plan allows you to link your domain and enhance customization for a fee of $12 per month (billed annually) or $16 monthly on a month-to-month basis.
• The Performance Plan enables you to incorporate growth-oriented features and oversee operations for $26 per month ( billed annually) or $29 monthly on a month-to-month basis.

Click here to try Weebly.

Wix

If you’re a blogger seeking an easy-to-use and adaptable platform to establish and control your online existence, you might find Wix worth exploring. 

Wix is a well-liked platform that empowers you to design and maintain your website without coding. You can create your posts and schedule them to post whenever you wish. 

It allows you to give access to your blog platform to several writers and editors. This permits them to assist in the management of your content. In addition, it has features that can help your blog rank in Google searches. 

Features

Wix templates

Wix provides a collection of more than 900 templates that serve as the initial designs for your website. This is much larger than what their main rivals, Squarespace (149 templates) or Shopify (12 templates), offer. These templates from Wix are all available at no cost.

The templates have a polished and attractive appearance that you can use to create a blog. So, if you populate them with content, it will appear to be made by a  professional. Moreover, the templates use spacing and fonts well to make a strong impression. 

Drag-and-Drop

Another significant advantage of using Wix is the simplicity of the editor’s drag-and-drop function. You can quickly move and place various elements on your website, including images, text boxes, videos, menus, sections, pages, etc.

Wix users highly appreciate this capability because it removes the uncertainty of building a website. It lets you place whatever content you desire on your site quickly. Furthermore, you can insert extra code, like HTML text blocks, to enhance the appearance of your site.

Wix ADI

Wix ADI is an editor that uses artificial intelligence designed to build a website. You’ll be prompted to respond to a few questions about the type of site you want to make. After answering all the questions, a website will be generated for them in just a few minutes.

Free Hosting and Domain

You’ll get free hosting services with 500MB of cloud storage and 500MB of bandwidth. 

Wix stores your website on a network of secure servers called a global Content Delivery Network. This helps your website load quickly for visitors because they are directed to the nearest server.

Apart from free Hosting, you can receive a free domain name for one year if you go for a Premium plan. 

SEO Wiz

It has an SEO Wiz tool that allows server-side rendering and creating customizable URLs and meta tags. Wix handles the creation and upkeep of your XML sitemap. It helps update all the information about your site’s pages and their connection. 

Another benefit is that SEO Wiz will optimize your images by making them smaller, resizing them, and changing them to a format that loads quickly called WebP. This makes your pages load faster.

Wix Analytics

Just like Weebly, Wix has an analytics dashboard where you can collect statistics on your site’s performance. You can use this data to help you decide what topics your reader loves and which parts of your website you can use to attract more visitors.

Wix App Market

The Wix App Market enables incorporating extra features and capabilities into your website. With over 500 apps available, these include marketing, selling online, media and content, design elements, and communication utilities. 

This assortment comprises both apps developed by Wix and third-party tools like Mailchimp and Google AdSense.

Monetize Your Blog

You can generate income from your website through the following strategies: Incorporate services such as Google AdSense to display advertisements on your site, earning revenue for each click.

Integrate a store into your website, utilizing their comprehensive eCommerce platform to vend branded products. Provide visitors with privileged content through subscription models that renew automatically.

Wix safety and security 

Every Wix plan includes an SSL certificate and Anti-DoS protection, protecting sensitive information on your website, including IDs, passwords, and credit card details. Also, implementing two-factor authentication (2FA) further reduces the risk of fraudulent payments.

Mobile App

Wix provides a mobile application that enables you to handle your website while you’re on the move. Through this app, you can generate and release fresh content and access site analytics. The application is accessible for both iOS and Android gadgets.

Pros & Cons

Wix Pricing

The free plan offers various benefits, such as a complimentary domain, 500MB storage, 500MB bandwidth, and Wix advertisements. As a blogger, you might need extensive features that will lead you to upgrade to a paid plan.

Website Plans:

• Connect Domain ($4.50 per month) 
• Combo ($8.50 per month) 
• Unlimited ($12.50 per month)
• VIP ($24.50 per month)

Click here to try Wix.

Related: Wix vs Google Sites: Two Free Site Builders Compared

Blogger

Blogger is a free American online content management system established in 1999 that allows you to create blogs featuring time-stamped entries. Google serves as the host for these blogs, accessible through a subdomain under blogspot.com. Learn more in Blogger review.

You also have the option to access your blogs through a custom domain (e.g., www.example.com) by configuring DNS settings to direct the domain to Google’s servers. However, each user account can accommodate up to 100 blogs or websites.

We have compiled a step-by-step guide on How to start a free blog on Blogger and things to do to grow it and make money. Check it for more in-depth guidance.

Features

Easy Customization

The process of creating fresh content on Blogger is straightforward. Within the Blogger administrative interface, a prominent orange button in the top left corner is labeled “New Post.” Clicking this button directs you to a form dedicated to crafting your post.

At the form’s beginning, there’s an area designated for inputting the post’s title. This title will be showcased at the post’s header and on your blog’s front page.

The primary content input area is a word processor, allowing you to type your text and apply various formatting options using buttons. 

These buttons enable making text bold, italicizing, changing colors, inserting hyperlinks, creating bullet-point lists, and more. Additionally, you have the option to insert a jump break.

Above this break, the content will be visible on the front page, while the remainder will only become visible when someone navigates to that specific post.

This alternative is also provided if you prefer HTML for formatting directly.

HTML editor is helpful when you want to add HTML widgets to blog pages of Blogger or even customize existing code (e.g.: add inline CSS and custom JavaScript codes).

Furthermore, you can seamlessly switch between the HTML and WYSIWYG editors.

The procedure for incorporating pages into a Blogger blog closely resembles that of adding a post. The “Pages” link is located within the administrative panel on the left side. This link grants access to the existing pages list and an “Add New Page” button.

Multiple Author

First, you need to make the blog using your primary Google account. Then, go to the “Settings” part and choose “Basic.” The “Permissions” section has a choice to “Add Authors.”

To do this, put in the email addresses of the authors you want to add. They need to have Google accounts.

Next, you decide how much control the other authors should have. If you choose administrators, they can do everything with the blog. This includes changing settings, designing, adding, or removing authors (along with writing and editing posts). Authors who aren’t administrators can still create and edit their posts.

SEO

Blogger is one of the best free blogging sites when it comes to SEO features. You can use a custom domain name, change the permalink of blog posts & static pages, use custom header tags, edit the Robots.txt file, and add custom meta tags for posts.

Also, you can add a custom page for Not Found (e.g.: 404 error) and utilize custom redirects to redirect broken links to the right pages, which are important parts of technical SEO.

Learn more in the ultimate guide to Blogger SEO.

Earnings Tab

The Blogger admin page has a section to the left labeled “Earnings.” This section enables you to connect your blog with your Google AdSense account. 

AdSense automatically identifies your blog posts’ main topic and shows readers suitable advertisements. As a result, you can make a small amount of money (usually a few cents) for each click or view of an ad.

You can personalize the placement of AdSense ads on your blog. After signing up, once your ads have been active for a few days, you can view statistics.

Furthermore, you can absolutely monetize a Blogspot blog via other means, such as affiliate marketing and selling digital products such as PLR courses and MRR software and plugins.

Stats Tab

Blogger simplifies the process of finding out how many people are visiting your blog. You don’t have to set up any tracking codes or add-ons, even though you can integrate a third-party live website visitor tracking service.

Go to the “Stats” section to discover the number of page views for today, yesterday, and the past month. You can also explore the traffic for each post and see where your visitors are coming from.

You can dig deeper into the statistics if you want more specific details. For instance, you can find out which country most of your readers are located in or even learn about the browsers and operating systems they use. 

Mobile Blogger App

Blogger has an application for Android and iPhone OS. You can make changes to your blogs from anywhere using the app. It allows you to publish posts or keep them as drafts.

Pros & Cons

Click here to try Blogger.

WordPress

WordPress is among the popular website builders. Because of its rich features, you can use it to create your free blog. This free blogging platform uses a programming language called PHP that works with a database called MySQL or MariaDB. 

Features

User-Friendly Interface

WordPress has an intuitive dashboard that makes creating, editing, and publishing content easy.

Its visual editor enables you to create posts using a block-based system. This simplifies how you structure your content with paragraphs, headings, videos, images, and more.

Customization and Themes

WordPress has over 11,000 themes that you can choose from. These themes range from simple and elegant designs to more complex layouts. bloggers can create a unique online identity that reflects their brand or niche by tweaking colors, fonts, and layouts.

However, designing a website with WordPress is quite challenging. Its “drag-and-drop” feature is not as simple as the one for Wix or Weebly. 

SEO Optimization

WordPress is naturally good for SEO. You can customize meta tags, URLs, titles, alt images, etc. The site map is made and updated automatically whenever you make changes to the site. Besides, you can integrate Google Search Console and Google Analytics to monitor the performance of SEO.

Plugins 

WordPress has over 59,000 plugins, which provide additional functionality to your website. Some of the plugins you’ll meet that will help create a blog are Elementor, Yoast SEO, Rank Math, JetPack, etc. 

Domain Name

You can select from over 350 domain extensions, including .com and .blog, when you subscribe to a paid plan on WordPress.com. Transferring your current domain to WordPress.com is easy.

Social Media Integration

WordPress seamlessly merges social networks like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. Your social media profiles will update users about new posts on your website.

Content Management

This platform has remarkable content management that can help you to organize your content. You can put your articles under Categories and tags sessions to allow readers to find them easily. 

Its built-in media will assist you in managing images, videos, and other media assets. You can add multiple authors or contributors and assign them roles and permissions on the site. 

Scheduled Publishing

This feature permits you to schedule posts for future publication. Plus, it maintains a steady content stream without manually publishing each post. 

Regular Updates and Security

WordPress is committed to keeping your website secure and up to date. Regular updates address vulnerabilities and introduce new features, ensuring your blog remains functional and safe from potential threats.

Monetizations

These are ways in which you can monetize your site: You can put Google AdSense ads on your WordPress site to make money. 

Another way is to write reviews about products for affiliate marketing. Start selling exclusive content like special blog posts, downloadable articles, membership, and digital books.

Pros & Cons

WordPress Pricing

• Personal Plan is $4 per month ($48 billed annually)
• Premium Plan is $8 per month ($96 billed annually)
• Business Plan is $25 per month ($300 billed annually)
• Commerce Plan is $45 per month ($540 billed annually)
• Enterprise Plan Starts at US$25,000 yearly

Click here to try WordPress.

Medium

Medium is a versatile blogging platform covering a wide range of subjects, and it’s open to anyone with an account who wants to create content. 

Unlike other free blogging websites, Medium has a substantial user base of over 60 million monthly readers. When you write your article, there’s a possibility it will reach a larger audience. All you need is to sign up and start writing.

All the articles you write will be stored on Medium’s servers. In addition to that, you don’t possess complete ownership rights over your written material. Medium enforces a set of terms of service that you must adhere to maintain its presence on the platform. 

Features

Customization

Medium focuses on simplicity and high-quality content. It allows you to add logos, links, and image headings to their content and adjust text formatting. 

Nevertheless, customization choices are restricted. Unlike WordPress, there is no option to employ themes and plugins for enhancing visual appeal and adding extra features to your blog.

This site provides an opportunity to modify your profile page. Within Medium’s editing interface, you can personalize the header of your homepage, alter fonts, backgrounds, and accent colors, and display a list of recommended blogs.

SEO

The website draws more than 100 million monthly visits. It boasts substantial domain authority, enhancing the visibility of your articles on search engines. 

Medium offers conventional on-page SEO options that allow you to personalize your post’s title, meta description, subheadings, URL, and image alt text. 

Monetization

Medium presents a Partner Program that enables you to generate income through your written work. The level of engagement toward your stories determines members’ compensation from Medium. 

Factors such as the duration readers spend consuming Medium’s content and their monthly reading habits contribute to the remuneration structure.

Given Medium’s extensive user base, your writing on the platform can also open up opportunities for freelance opportunities.

Pros & Cons

Medium Pricing

Publishing content on Medium comes at no cost. There’s no requirement to invest in web hosting or a domain, and there’s no need to procure plugins or themes. Your options are limited to the provided built-in customizations and features.

Medium extends a subscription option to users, allowing them to become members for a monthly charge of $5 or a yearly fee of $50.

You can access “exclusive content, audio narrations of popular stories, and an enhanced bookmark section by holding a Medium membership.”

Click here to try Medium.

Tumblr

Tumblr is a platform combining traditional blogging and microblogging elements. It allows users to share concise posts containing multimedia elements like images, text, audio, and video. These posts are shorter than typical blog entries but more extensive than Twitter updates.

Your content can be re-shared in the Tumblr community on other users’ Tumblelogs or quickly posted to Twitter. The user-friendly Tumblr dashboard simplifies navigation, making it effortless to locate desired features.

Crafting posts of various media formats is swift, using the top strip on the webpage. On the right sidebar, you receive recommendations for blogs to follow. You can also discover content worthy of reblogging.

The central column displays a feed from the blogs you follow, interspersed with some suggested content. You can easily access design options, messaging features, and settings, allowing you to blog.

Features

Customized Design and Themes

Tumblr has over 1000 themes you can pick from and customize your Tumblelog. You can access HTML code to modify your Tumblelog theme according to your preferences.

The ability to install third-party themes, add custom CSS and JavaScript, use Tumblr widgets such as Tumblr feeds widgets, and reblog capabilities in Tumblr make it one of the best free blogging sites.

Publishing

You can post a range of content types, such as text, high-resolution images, videos, audio clips,  links, slideshows, and various other formats, to your Tumblelog. Tumblr provides excellent publishing tools that simplify sharing diverse content on your Tumblelog.

Collaboration

You can extend invitations to several individuals to contribute to a shared Tumblelog. They can easily submit their posts, which you can assess and authorize before publication. 

This collaborative feature provided by Tumblr makes collaborating with business associates, colleagues, and friends effortlessly. By granting everyone access to your blog, they can post on Tumblr just as you do.

Search Engine Optimization

Tumblr possesses inherent SEO features similar to the Medium platform. It provides users with the ability to track other users’ blogs and to re-share content from them. 

With substantial interaction rates, Tumblr boasts a sizable user community, exceeding 550 million monthly active users.

Check our ultimate guide to Tumblr SEO to find out the capabilities of the Tumblr free blog site to optimize a site for search engines.

Social Media Integration

Tumblr integrates with popular social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Feedburner. This integration allows you to share your Tumblr posts on social media. 

Furthermore, inviting individuals to subscribe to your blog’s RSS feed is made simple, and you can keep track of subscription analytics due to Tumblr’s integration with Feedburner.

Pros & Cons

Final Words on Best Free Blogging Sites

Blogging has many opportunities for you to share your thoughts or expertise with the world. These free blogging sites have made aspiring bloggers kick start their online journey without paying any coin. 

However, each platform comes with different features and capabilities, and it’s upon you to know which free blogging platforms suit your demands.