This one is a classic comparison. You may already be having a blog with Blogger and now are thinking of switching to WordPress. Or you are just getting started and need to decide as to which blogging platform you should choose. Whatever may be the case, we’ve been there, and we understand your confusion. Let’s clear this confusion for you now. Let’s find out which is better, WordPress or Blogger, with a detailed comparison.
Let’s first understand that we are comparing WordPress (the software that is available for free on WordPress.org) with Blogger. We are not discussing the WordPress.com blogging service. Before proceeding make sure you understand the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. Also, you can know more about WordPress and why it should matter to you.
Blogger is a popular blogging platform provided by the search engine giant Google. It has been well-received since its inception. Many blogs run on Blogger. In recent years, however, Blogger seems to be stalled. There is less and less support for Blogger with each upcoming year. It looks as if Google doesn’t care about keeping this service running. There haven’t been significant updates to Blogger in recent years.
WordPress began its journey in 2005. It started as a blogging platform. Today it stands as a Content Management System. Over the past few years, it has received consistent updates. WordPress has huge community support. Since it is open-source, anyone can contribute to it. There are thousands of developers who contribute to WordPress regularly. There is an entire ecosystem built around it.
But which one to choose for blogging? Let’s find out.
Which is Better?
It is difficult to compare Blogger and WordPress without some basic parameters. We are going to compare both these platforms on the following parameters:
Appearance: One of the main reasons to start a blog is its visual appeal. It isn’t just an online diary, it represents who you are. By appearance, we mean how your blog looks. This may involve a discussion about design, themes or templates.
Maintenance: When you keep on writing, who is going to maintain your blog? Everything in existence needs maintenance. How much will it cost you to maintain your blog? Will it take a significant amount of your time? We will discuss this in detail.
Customizations: How many changes are you allowed to make to your blog? What are the things that you can change and which ones you can’t? Let’s find out if Blogger and WordPress offer an ample number of customizations.
Ownership and Control: Who owns your content when you host it either with Blogger or WordPress? How much control do you have over your blog? We will explain this in detail.
Support: Where can I go if I need help? Which platform provides reliable support? You would love to host your blog on a platform that has awesome support. Which one is that? We will figure that out here.
Import/Export: Can I migrate from one domain to another? Can I change from one Platform to another without losing my data? Which import/export tools are supported? Let’s see what is the scenario in this situation.
Future: What is the future of the blogging platform that I am going to choose? Will it get periodic updates? Or its development will be discontinued? What will be the future of my blog? We will discuss it here.
Let’s get started.
1. Appearance
Blogger offers pretty decent designs. There a few standard templates you can choose from. You can edit HTML for each theme. Taking a theme as a base, you can customize your background, layout, colors, fonts among other things. However, options are limited when it comes to appearance.
WordPress has thousands of free and premium themes. This gives it a visual appeal that is unmatched. You can easily choose themes and apply them without knowing any code. Yet, you can edit HTML and CSS if you so choose. The huge library of professional and aesthetic themes that are designed for virtually every business makes WordPress a winner when it comes to appearance.
2. Maintenance
Hats off to blogger for its slick maintenance. With Blogger, you do not need to worry about the maintenance of your blog at all. Google takes care pretty much of everything. You do not need to worry about things like Security, Backup, Spam, etc. This makes blogging with Blogger almost effortless.
There is a lot to do when it comes to maintenance if you are using WordPress. Since you are hosting your blog on a web host, you need to maintain your WordPress yourself. This involves Security measures, backup and website maintenance. Plus, you have to periodically update your WordPress installation, plugins, and themes. This responsibility lies with you.
3. Customizations
With Blogger, there is a limit to the number of customizations you can have. You have to choose from the standard themes provided. You cannot install third-party add-ons to add some functionality to your site. Customizing also needs some coding knowledge.
WordPress, on the other hand, offers ample customizations. You can choose from thousands of themes. You can customize these easily without knowing any code. Even if you need to do advanced customizing, you just need HTML and CSS. There are thousands of plugins that can add any functionality to your website. Managing themes and plugins is very easy and can be done in the WordPress dashboard itself.
4. Ownership and Control
Blogger comes free. There is a catch though. Google holds the ownership of your blog. It may permanently shut down your blog or delete it any time it wants. You are bound to their Terms and Conditions. Many bloggers have faced the nightmare of not being able to access their blog after they reportedly violated some Google policy. Google is under no obligation to tell you which policies you violated when it decides to terminate your blog. There is little to no control here.
WordPress is also free. But you completely own it. The content you create is entirely yours. The only policies you need to be concerned about are of your web host. You can export your WordPress data to a new website you want. You can make backups of your WordPress site. Since you are the owner of your WordPress installation, you have ample control over your blog.
5. Support
Blogger used to have vibrant support in the early days, now it is not the case. The support is limited to documentation and user forums. The community isn’t much active. It becomes difficult to quickly get solutions to your problems.
WordPress is widely supported by its thriving community. There are hundreds of websites that offer tutorials and support for WordPress users. Vibrant community forums are great places to get your questions answered quickly. There are WordPress community meetups all around the world through WordCamps. WordPress continues to enjoy the reliable support of its community.
6. Import/Export
On Blogger, you can import your blog content. You can backup your existing data and import it to another site. However, moving your data to a different blogging platform is cumbersome. You may lose your subscribers, followers and even your SEO during the move.
WordPress makes import/export quite easy with the help of plugins. There are plugins available to import your content from Blogger to WordPress. Exporting is also easy. You can export when you change your web host, domain name, or choose a different content management system. WordPress is the winner here.
7. Future
Though Blogger started out grand, over the years it has plateaued. It seems that it has come to a halt. There haven’t been many recent upgrades to Blogger in recent years and no major changes are seen. Google has shut down some of its popular services like Google Reader, Orkut in the last few years. Even recently, their decision to shut down Google Plus came as a surprise to many. Some users speculate that even Blogger will be discontinued in the near future.
WordPress is growing stronger by the day. There are millions of community members who are contributing to the WordPress ecosystem every day. So many businesses use WordPress for their online presence, these include many Fortune 500 companies. There are so many stakeholders involved in the existence of WordPress. There is little doubt that WordPress will stand the test of time. WordPress is a stable blogging platform that is going to be around for the next couple of years.
Now that we have compared Blogger and WordPress on these basic parameters, let’s have a look at the Pros and Cons of each one.
Pros and Cons of Blogger
Pros:
- Getting started is very easy with Blogger. You just need to have a Google Account and within a few clicks, your blog is up and running.
- You get a free subdomain and SSL certificate that comes pre-installed
- You can have a custom domain and point it to your blog on Blogger
- There are no setup fees
- It has a very simple editor
- There are no ads unless you activate Google Ads (optional)
- Blogger is straightforward and very easy to use
- Blogger handles speed, security, and hosting issues so that you can focus on blogging
- You can change simple things in a theme such as the background, layout, font, colors, etc.
- The browser interface allows changes through HTML
- It has a couple of helpful gadgets that you can use in sidebar and footer
- It easily integrates with Google Ads so that you can monetize your blog.
- It also integrates with Google Analytics and Google Search Console
Cons:
- It is not suitable for Professional sites
- Support is limited and the future of Blogger is uncertain.
- You don’t own your content on Blogger.
- There are limited choices for design templates
- Import/Export is cumbersome with Blogger
- There is no support contact for Blogger
- Blogger sticks to traditional blogging. You cannot have a homepage or landing page with it.
Pros and Cons of WordPress
Pros:
- You own and control all the data on your WordPress site
- You can move your content to any host/platform you want
- There is an extensive collection of plugins, themes, extensions, etc. (both free and paid)
- Customization to a large extent is possible
- You are in charge of your site
- A large number of third-party tools have integration with WordPress
- It is easy to navigate through posts, pages, and content
- You can create SEO friendly content
- You can create an e-commerce store
- You can create membership sites, forums, social platforms, etc, basically any type of website.
- It is a good and powerful blogging platform
- You can create landing pages, opt-in forms, contact forms, parallax effects, etc.
- There are regular updates for WordPress installation, Themes, and plugins.
- WordPress is mobile friendly.
Cons:
- The constant updates make it necessary to upgrade your WordPress site at regular intervals
- There is a medium learning curve for WordPress. You need to figure some things out before you can start a full-fledged site.
- You need to take security measures for the safety of your data. There are many security plugins available that deal with this issue.
- Backups are your responsibility. You can use WordPress backup plugins to help you out with this. Check out this list of 12 Best WordPress backup plugins.
- The vast number of choices available make it difficult to figure out which one is right for you.
- WordPress Hosting can turn out to be quite expensive than you thought. Domain name cost, hosting cost, premium theme cost, premium plugins cost, and others add up to an overall cost that may not be so pocket-friendly
I hope these pros and cons of both platforms give you some perspective. Admirers of both platforms have their own reasons to love their choice. Fans of Blogger love the ease of use and focus on blogging that is offered by Blogger. At the same time, WordPress enthusiasts are happy with the control and customizations offered by WordPress. There is no doubt that it isn’t easy to choose from these platforms. However, a clear choice has to be made as the future of your blog depends on it. We hope this article gave you some perspective regarding the comparison between WordPress and Blogger. Which is your favorite blogging platform? And Why? Let us know in the comments.
