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I've been a blogger since 2013, and for a while there I was off an on. However for the last 8 years I have been consistently posting. I have so much to say about blogging tools, and there are far more out there than you might imagine.
I remember the days that people were posting on Quora blogs, Facebook Notes, Medium, or Steemit. Platforms that are no longer viable or even around in a couple cases. There are so many options now though that you may not know where to start, this is why I created this post. Take my experience!
#10 - Wordpress
HIGHLY Overrated.
I can't stand WP anymore, and when I hear someone is on there I actively try to get them to move. It gave me hell at every turn. Never ever able to get my page speed up no matter what plugin or optimization I used. The interface is ancient, and actively kept me from writing. Especially since Wordpress and your dozen plugins you needed to keep the site running, they ALWAYS needed an update.
You can see a wordpress site from a mile away, and not just because they're slower. Its the styling from 2008 it never really grew out of really.
#9 - Beehiiv
Personally I am not a fan, but considering how much it has grown. The various features added, etc. I had to put it on here.
I have made a couple newsletter blogs with Beehiiv, including THIS ONE originally, but the writing experience was detrimental to my creative flow.
It also focused too much on the sales part of the process, rather than content creation, which is why Substack is higher on the list.
#8 - Buttondown
This unique newsletter platform I think is particularly interesting for Polymaths/Generalists, as it natively supports multiple newsletters. Which if you have many/multiple niches, then this would be a good tool to check out.
Another tool later in this list also supports multiple newsletters, but this was one of the first, and if you're more keen on the email side of things to blogging. Then maybe this one is worth a look.
#7 - Wix
While not a great blogging platform. For some people it would actually be really good for a creative portfolio, and it might be a decent alternative to wordpress for someone wanting to move.
#6 - Paragraph
Not a huge fan of some of the updates in my opinion, and the progress has been relatively slow. However the team is really cool, and the concept of a blockchain based alternative to Substack I think has a lot of potential. It seems to be doing better than the other blockchain based tools out there as well.
I had my gaming website on here until they did a massive change the the front and back end interfaces.
#5 - LinkedIn Pulse/Articles
One of the only social media platforms I've seen actually stick to making blogs/newsletters for an extended time. I've heard of a number of linkedin creators really grow exponentially on the platform.
While I never took it very seriously, as I only really put my "social blogs", a simple blog if you will, on there. I still have a couple hundred subscribers surprisingly.
#4 - Bear Blog / Mataroa
"A privacy-first, no-nonsense, super-fast blogging platform"
I see this or Mataroa blog as like the defacto two minimalist tools. They're very similar in concept. If you are just a developer who needs to have a blog, this might be your cup of tea.
#3 - WebStudio/WebFlow/Framer
I've made it clear in other posts, including the website builders post, that I am not the biggest fan of these. Simply because depending on your theme the site can be slow, and moreover for bloggers like us the CMS in these tools leave a lot to be desired.
I couldn't even tag a post with more than one tag in Framer, like what?
If you have a need for a more complex site, and you don't have the coding skills to make it yourself on Ghost or something. Then I could see this fitting the bill.
#2 - Substack
There is a reason why I keep finding myself coming back to the platform.
Firstly, the minimalism is clean, and the site builder is nice and simple for anyone to use. Secondly, the ability to create multiple publications, or at the very least multiple sections on one is great for polymathic creators. Keeping it all consolidated.
One thing that I think most people don't realize is that Substack offers Video posts, Audio posts, and livestreaming.
I'm not a fan of the lives, it is far too featureless, but the other two features are really interesting. You can create a video/audio post, and it will automatically take the audio (even cut it out of the video), and turn it into a real podcast on audio platforms like Spotify. It also creates somewhat decent video clips too.
BONUS: Beamly
Sort of a newer contender on the market. It was podcastpageio before, and it was focused on podcasters. However it expanded to be for creators of all kinds, and it is quite literally one of the only "all in one" creator site builders. Written/audio/video.
#1 - Ghost CMS
By far the best blogging platform. I've been using it ever since 2019 without fail. Any issue I've had has been because of AWS, or my host. After many years of Ghost PRO, and trying out Digitalpress (which broke my 2nd site). I moved over to MagicPages, which has been fantastic btw.
Ghost is a javascript based CMS, and thus it is made on a significantly newer technology than wordpress' ancient php. I know some people say that php CAN be fast, but in practice it just doesn't compare.
Moreover than that the interface has never stopped me from writing, and I feel like Ghost has the best markdown experience for typing out your thoughts. Substack still catches me a lot trying to add links for example. Never have any issue like that in Ghost. I'm writing this post on Ghost, and I've even written super long form 7-8000+ word posts without any issue.
Shoutout to MagicPages for Ghost CMS hosting!
Find the right tool for YOU:
Dustin Miller | PolyInnovator
This is a link to a page that has the database within, and you can sort by tag for blogging tools if you need to look around!
