Monetize Your Passion: The Best Blogging Platforms to Make Money

Choosing the right blogging platform is crucial if you want to turn your passion for writing into a profitable venture.

With nearly 600 million blogs among the two billion websites worldwide and over three billion posts published annually, blogging is a popular and potentially lucrative pursuit.  

In this article, we’ll guide you through the best blogging platforms for making money. From free options to premium services, we’ll compare features, costs, and customization possibilities to help you find the ideal platform for your goals.

What is a Blogging Platform?

A blogging platform is a tool or service that helps you publish and manage content, like articles and photos, online. These platforms come with features for creating, editing, and organizing your posts.

They often include easy-to-use builders, design templates, and options to make money through ads and affiliate marketing.

Some platforms let you fully customize your website and use your own domain name, while others keep you within their system but give you access to their audience.

The main goal of a blogging platform is to make it easy for you to create and manage a blog without needing any coding skills.

How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform?

When choosing the best blogging platform for making money, consider these factors:

1. Monetization

Look for platforms that support various ways to earn, like subscriptions, online courses, affiliate marketing, and ad space. Each platform offers different monetization options, so pick one that fits your strategy.

2. Customization

Think about how much control you want over your blog’s design and features. Free platforms offer limited customization, while self-hosted options give you extensive control and flexibility.

3. Cost

Blogging platforms range from free to paid. Free options are great for beginners, but paid platforms offer more features and room to grow. Consider costs for hosting, themes, plugins, and other services.

4. Ease of Use

Choose a platform that matches your technical skill level. Beginners might prefer easy-to-use options with drag-and-drop builders, while advanced users might want platforms that allow for more detailed customization.

5. Purpose

Align the platform with your blogging goals, whether you focus on text, visuals, or multimedia. Different platforms support various types of content and formats.

6. Backend Control

Evaluate how much access you have to the backend for customization, analytics, and content control. More control usually comes with more complex platforms.

7. Skill Level

Match the platform with your experience. Beginners might need simpler tools, while experienced bloggers might look for platforms that allow detailed customization and coding.

8. Compatibility

Make sure the platform integrates well with other tools you use, like payment gateways, email marketing tools, and social media.

9. Scalability

Choose a platform that can grow with your blog, allowing you to expand into larger websites or online stores in the future.

10 Best Blogging Platforms to Earn Money

1. WordPress

WordPress is a well-known and versatile platform for creating and managing blogs and websites. It’s famous for being flexible, easy to use, and highly customizable with themes and plugins.

WordPress.org

WordPress.org is the self-hosted version. This means you have complete control over your blog. You can customize it extensively using thousands of free and premium themes and plugins.

It supports various ways to make money, like ads, affiliate marketing, and online stores. However, you’ll need to buy a domain name and hosting, which usually costs between $3 and $10 per month.

This option is great if you want full ownership and flexibility for your blog.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is the hosted version, meaning it’s simpler and more beginner-friendly. You can start a blog for free with a WordPress domain (like yourusername.wordpress.com).

It offers basic features and templates, but there are limits to customization and making money. You can’t use plugins or run your own ads on the free plan.

If you upgrade to a paid plan, you get more features, but it still doesn’t have the full flexibility of WordPress.org.

Pricing

Plan	Personal	Premium	Business	Commerce	Enterprise
Pricing	₹420/month	₹790/month	₹1,260/month	₹2,240/month	Starting at $25,000/year

2. Medium

Medium is a free and easy-to-use platform for blogging. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to start writing and publishing content quickly. All you need to do is create a free account, pick a topic, write your post, and publish it.

Medium’s simple design focuses on your writing without cluttering the page with ads or complicated formatting. You can connect with other writers, use affiliate marketing in your posts, and add third-party content like videos.

However, Medium might not be the best choice if you want to make a lot of money.

It uses an algorithm to get traffic to your posts, and while the Medium Partner Program pays based on how long people read your articles, most writers make less than $100 a month.

The ways to make money on Medium are limited, and it’s tough to move your content to another platform if you decide to switch later.

Pricing

Membership Plan	Medium Member	Friend of Medium
Pricing	$4/month	$12/month

3. Blogger

Blogger is a free and straightforward blogging platform owned by Google. It’s easy to start a blog here, using free templates to make your site look nice.

While your blog’s address will end with .blogspot.com, you can buy a custom domain to make it look more professional. Blogger supports Google AdSense, so you can make money from ads, and it works with Google Analytics to help you track your blog’s performance.

However, Blogger doesn’t have the built-in audience that Medium has, so you’ll need to attract visitors through SEO, social media, and other methods.

Also, since Google owns the content you publish, they can remove your posts, which could affect your income.

Blogger offers more flexibility than Medium and integrates well with other Google services, but it’s still limited compared to more advanced blogging platforms.

Pricing – Free

4. Wix

Wix is a popular blogging platform known for its easy drag-and-drop website builder, perfect for beginners and those without coding skills.

With over 200 million users, Wix offers a free version with basic blogging features. However, to get advanced features like analytics, eCommerce, and more customization, you’ll need a paid plan.

The free plan has its limits, like fewer features and not being able to move your content to another host. Paid plans start at ₹199 per month and offer extra capabilities like online stores and better blogging tools.

Wix allows you to make money through ads, affiliate programs, and sponsored content. But keep in mind, Wix controls the technical aspects like the code and server, so you have limited control over things like page speed.

Pricing

Plan	Light	Core	Business	Business Elite
Pricing	₹199/month	₹399/month	₹799/month	₹1,599/month

5. Squarespace

SquareSpace is a popular blogging platform known for its easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor and a variety of professional templates.

It’s great for people without coding skills and can be used to create both blogs and full websites.

SquareSpace can handle up to 1,000 pages, which is perfect for large sites, but it’s best to keep it under 500 pages for the best performance.

The basic plan starts at $16 per month, which includes hosting and a domain name. For more advanced features like professional email, detailed analytics, and extra customization, you’ll need to upgrade to a higher-tier plan starting at $23 per month.

SquareSpace doesn’t have a free plan, and the free version can’t be used to make money from ads.

Pricing

Plan	Personal	Business	Commerce Basic	Commerce Advanced
Pricing	$25/month	$36/month	$40/month	$72/month

6. Weebly

Weebly is an easy-to-use website builder with a drag-and-drop interface that’s perfect for blogging and static pages.

You can start for free, but if you want to use a custom domain and remove Weebly’s branding, you’ll need to upgrade to a plan starting at $10 per month. For full eCommerce features, the business plan starts at $12 per month.

A cool feature in paid plans is Weebly Promote, which lets you capture email addresses, create newsletters, and manage subscribers right from your dashboard. However, it doesn’t have all the advanced features of dedicated email services.

Weebly comes with built-in SEO tools and a mobile app so you can manage your blog on the go.

While it’s less customizable than platforms like Wix and SquareSpace, with fewer themes and plugins, it supports content migration to WordPress if you ever need it and has an Appstore for adding extra features.

Pricing

Plan	Free	Personal	Professional	Performance
Pricing	$0/month	$10/month	$12/month	$26/month

7. Ghost

Ghost is a simple and efficient blogging platform perfect for writers and content creators. Launched in 2013, Ghost offers an easy-to-use interface and essential tools for managing your content, like SEO optimization, social media integration, and customizable themes. There are two versions of Ghost:

• Ghost Open-Source: This free, self-hosted version is similar to WordPress.org. You have full control over your site, allowing you to develop custom themes and integrate plugins.
• Ghost Pro: This is the paid, hosted version, like WordPress.com. It provides a managed service with built-in features and hosting.

Ghost focuses specifically on blogging and publishing, setting it apart from more general platforms like WordPress by prioritizing content creation and management.

Pricing

Plan	Starter	Creator	Team	Business
Pricing	Starts $11/month	Starts $31/month	Starts $63/month	Starts $249/month

8. Substack

SubStack is a great platform for influencers and writers who want to make money from their content through subscriptions. It works by letting you build an email list, create content, and then charge your subscribers to access it.

You can start by offering free content to attract and test your audience. Once you have a good number of subscribers, you can switch to a paid subscription model.

SubStack is free to join, and you only pay a small percentage of your earnings to the platform. It’s especially useful for those looking to turn their blog into a media business.

Pricing – Free

9. Tumblr

Tumblr is a versatile platform that mixes blogging with social media, letting users share all kinds of content like short posts, long articles, photos, and videos.

Its design makes it easy to share and interact with content, which is why it’s popular with younger people.

You can use a Tumblr domain or buy your own, and customize your blog with pre-made templates or HTML.

Tumblr offers various ways to make money, such as selling display ads, promoting and selling your work, adding affiliate links, and using ad networks like Google AdSense.

They also have Post+, which lets you charge for subscription-based content, but this feature is only available in certain countries and comes with a 5% fee on earnings.

While Tumblr is great for visual content and social media integration, its limited design flexibility can make monetization a bit challenging.

Pricing – Free

10. HubPages

HubPages is a blogging platform similar to Medium but with a unique revenue-sharing model. After signing up with your email, you get a mini-blog where you can publish your content.

What sets HubPages apart is that you earn 60% of the ad revenue from your posts. You can also make extra money through affiliate marketing, giving you more ways to earn compared to platforms that rely on just one revenue source.

Payments are made via PayPal once you reach $50. This makes HubPages a great choice for freelance bloggers and writers who want to effectively monetize their content.

Pricing – Free

Conclusion

Picking the right blogging platform is key to turning your love for blogging into a money-making venture. Look at each platform’s options for making money, how much you can customize it, the costs, and how easy it is to use. Finding the best fit for your goals can help you earn more and build a successful blog.

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