6 Best Blogging Platforms for 2026: Popular Tools Tested & Ranked

Compare ratings, pricing, and features for the top six blogging platforms side-by-side in the table below to help you choose the best blog website builder for you:

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BEST IN TEST
Wix	Squarespace	Hostinger	GoDaddy	Network Solutions	WordPress.org
Overall Rating 4.9	Overall Rating 4.5	Overall Rating 4.2	Overall Rating 4.0	Overall Rating 3.9	Overall Rating 4.1
Today's best price $17 $15.30 with code “TAKE10”	Today's best price $16 $14.40 with code “WBE10”	Today's best price 85% off in the New Year Sale: $12.99 $1.99/month + 3 months for free	Today's best price $10.99	Today's best price $4.99 per month $2.50 with code “BUILD50”	Today's best price $3.99 (for Bluehost hosting)
Free plan or free trial Free plan	Free plan or free trial 14-day free trial	Free plan or free trial 7-day free trial	Free plan or free trial Free plan	Free plan or free trial No free plan/trial	Free plan or free trial Free to install
Blogging Capabilities Writer profiles, blogging templates, analytics, post-scheduling, archive, comments, and search feature	Blogging Capabilities Writer profiles, analytics, post-scheduling, archive and comments	Blogging Capabilities Writer profiles, display categories, AI Blog writing and SEO support, and post-scheduling	Blogging Capabilities Writer profiles, social sharing and scheduling posts	Blogging Capabilities Writer profiles, Scheduling tool, archive, comments, and search feature	Blogging Capabilities Completely customizable, high functionality with over 60,000 plugins
Recommended For Small business blogs and monetizing content	Recommended For Creative brands and art blogs	Recommended For Beginners & side-hustlers who need fast, easy blogging	Recommended For Personal brands	Recommended For Bloggers on a budget	Recommended For Complex and content-heavy blogs
Start Free Trial	Start Free Trial	Try Hostinger	Try GoDaddy		Try WordPress
See our Wix Review	See our Squarespace Review	See our Hostinger Review	See our GoDaddy Review	See our Network Solutions Review	See our WordPress.org review

• Starting price: $17 per month (Save 10% with our code TAKE10)
• Read our full Wix Review

Editor's Choice

Wix

Our top choice for blogging

Outstanding

4.9

out of 5

• Easy platform to use
• Publish on free plan
• Endless creative freedom

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $17 - $159 / month

Pros

• Beginner-friendly editor
• Strong AI tools for text and images
• Advanced SEO support

Cons

• Can't switch template once site is live
• Premium plans start at $17 per month
• Lacks storage on cheap plans

Wix Review

Save 10% with code: TAKE10

Try Wix

Wix should be your top choice if you’re interested in generating revenue with your blog as soon as possible.

I recommend Wix’s blogging platform because of how versatile it is as a website builder. You get to choose an expertly designed blogging template from across several industries, and then add any number of features you wish. However you want your blog to look and function, Wix can accommodate it.

After activating the built-in Wix Blog integration, I could see that Wix was a powerhouse optimized for monetization and efficiency. Firstly, its range of professional blog management tools – similarly to those you get with WordPress – made it easy to search, manage, and organize a large number of blog posts.

I also was impressed to see a range of pre-made templates for common blog posts, such as reviews and how-to guides. If you’re new to blogging or need help getting started, this extra level of guidance feels much less intimidating than using a builder like Network Solutions, which sets you up with a blank page.

Wix also has plenty of AI tools to help you build a business blog. For example, if you need to churn out a high quantity of posts, Wix’s AI Writer can support at multiple levels, from generating initial blog post ideas to creating traffic-grabbing titles to writing fully fledged posts.

In the back end, Wix’s sidebar has a whole area dedicated to blog monetization. It explains all the ways you can generate money from your blog, from Google AdSense and Wix ecommerce integrations to subscription and membership plans, alongside call to action buttons that mean you can hit the ground running and monetize your blog quickly.

To top it off, Wix generates blog-specific reports that allow you to monitor different aspects of your posts’ performance, even down to the times of day that receive the highest traffic. These analytics can help you understand which content styles and schedules your audience responds to best, which in turn can influence your approach to monetization.

What To Watch Out For

While Wix is a strong all-rounder, some of our testers found the level of choice and functionality to be overwhelming. If you’re looking to create a simple blog and monetization isn’t a requirement, you’ll find Squarespace’s editor much more straightforward to use.

Who Do I Recommend Wix For?

Wix is our top website builder, and its versatility makes it suitable for many types of blogs. If you’re wondering whether to use it to build your blog, here are my recommendations:

• Starting price: $16 per month (Save 10% with our code WBE10)
• Read our full Squarespace Review

Squarespace

For art blogs

Excellent

4.5

out of 5

• Beautiful blog designs
• Beginner-friendly builder
• Save 10% with code WBE10

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $16 - $99 / month

Pros

• Professionally-designed blog templates
• Tons of creative freedom
• High-quality blogging features

Cons

• No blog-specific analytics
• Need to upgrade to monetize your blog
• Slowest loading speed in our testing

Squarespace Review

Save 10% with code: WBE10

Try Squarespace

Squarespace is my top choice for artistic blogs due to its impeccably designed blog templates. Covering a range of industries, you should have no trouble finding one that suits the topic and tone of your blog. If not, the revamped Squarespace Blueprint feature can build you a unique template from scratch – all you need to do is answer a few questions.

After choosing a template, my experience using Squarespace’s editor was just as smooth – it’s the easiest I’ve tested! Even if you have limited web design experience, you can drag and drop your site’s elements wherever you like, and customize them without much effort.

You can easily add your own copy, images, and video snippets to your blog to showcase your brand and communicate what you’re all about. This is important in 2026, since 71% of consumers value personalized interactions according to McKinsey & Company. By adding and customizing your own content, you express your authentic self to your audience in a way that AI-generated blogs can’t.

The blog management tools found in the “Blog settings” area are also very powerful and user-friendly – the category merge tool will be particularly useful as your blog grows and you may want to change its organizational structure.

Squarespace is a great choice if you’re looking to grow an engaged audience for your blog, since it supports comments and even “Simple likes,” meaning users can show their support of your blog post without needing to log into an account.

And when it comes to expanding, Squarespace’s SEO tools give you control over the meta title and description for individual posts. Meanwhile, with its email marketing tools, you’re able to automatically create an email campaign from your blog post to boost visibility.

What To Watch Out For

Squarespace doesn’t provide blog-specific analytics like Wix does. This makes it hard to measure how well your posts are doing and the effectiveness of any new blog marketing tactics, which can make it difficult to refine your overall growth strategy.

The SEO guidance Squarespace offers isn’t very beginner friendly. And, since our last round of testing, Squarespace has removed its dedicated SEO dashboard, and our most recent testers experienced difficulty finding the tools they needed. This makes it very easy to neglect important SEO tasks and limit your visibility online – one of the most common blogging mistakes.

On top of this, our tests found Squarespace to have the slowest loading speed of all these blogging platforms. This is something to keep in mind if you’re planning to create lengthy blog posts with lots of media – especially if you’re aiming to monetize your posts, since loading speed has a direct impact on ecommerce sales.

Who Do I Recommend Squarespace For?

Squarespace’s array of templates and design capabilities make it a great choice for bloggers wanting a high level of control over their designs. That said, it has some noticeable drawbacks:

• Starting price: $1.99 per month + 3 months free (if you opt for the 48-month plan – the promo varies, so confirm at checkout)
• Read our full Hostinger Review

Hostinger

Best for AI enhanced blogging

Very Good

4.2

out of 5

• A single paid plan
• Best for short-term blogs
• Get online quickly

Free trial available

Paid Plans: $1.99 - $19.99 / month

Pros

• Drag-and-drop editor
• AI support in builder, blog, and SEO
• Simple to use

Cons

• Lacks social media marketing tools
• Limited control over SEO
• Not scalable

Hostinger Review

Up to 3 months free included

Try Hostinger

Hostinger’s AI assistance runs through every area of its website builder, from initial setup to crafting a logo, which makes it my top choice for blogging novices looking for additional support and guidance. Even without a large marketing team, small businesses in 2026 can easily generate content for their website, saving them time, money, and resources in the process.

Hostinger also has the fastest loading speed of all the builders we tested, which means that it will be a reliable option for even the most content-heavy site, such as a small ecommerce store.

In terms of AI assistance for your blog, Hostinger’s AI generates posts of up to 2,000 words, splitting them up with images and headings. You can also generate your own AI images directly in the blog editor, which is perfect if you struggle to source original imagery for your posts, although you do have to purchase credits to make use of this feature.

The AI support also streamlines SEO, providing in-depth guidance and checklists on best practices, suggesting primary keywords to target, and giving a preview of your post’s appearance in the search results – helping you to increase your visibility, even as a beginner.

One of my favorite features is the ability to create QR codes, which instantly open up the blog post it’s linked to when scanned on a mobile device. Once you have your QR code, you can share it on social media or print it to be scanned in a brick-and-mortar store.

For local businesses, placing QR codes in public locations is also a great way to create brand awareness and attract new customers. Your audience can quickly scan these codes to learn more about your brand story and values, making them more than a gimmick, but a vital part of your retail strategy in 2026.

Hostinger’s blog-specific analytics complement this feature, showing your website’s traffic and helping you to understand where it’s coming from.

What To Watch Out For

If you’re looking to scale your audience with social media, there’s a limit to what you’ll achieve with Hostinger. It has no built-in social media advertising integrations or marketing tools, and you won’t be able to schedule your blog posts to go live on social media. If social media is, or is expected to be, a large part of your online presence, GoDaddy’s integrated social media tools make it a better option.

Also, Hostinger’s SEO features might be user friendly, but we found them to be lacking schema makeup and canonical tags – features you do get with both Wix and Squarespace. These help search engines to understand the content of your blog posts better and improve your chances of appearing in results pages.

Who Do I Recommend Hostinger For?

Hostinger has unique features that make it usable for bloggers of all abilities. However, it may not be the right option for you. Here are my recommendations:

• Starting price: $10.99 per month
• Read our full GoDaddy review

GoDaddy

Best for personal blogs

Very Good

4

out of 5

• Beginner-friendly choice
• Quick AI setup
• Share on socials

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $10.99 - $23.99 / month

Pros

• Strong marketing features
• User-friendly interface
• Social scheduling tools

Cons

• Generic templates
• No writer profiles
• No AI in blog editor

GoDaddy Review

Try GoDaddy

GoDaddy is a great choice for anyone looking to set up a personal blog quickly, with the speediest setup times in our official testing.

It has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to add text, images, and links, and format your post. It’s a fast and simple way to get online, and once you’re set up, it comes with some handy marketing tools as well.

If you’re looking to ramp up your social presence, the social media calendar and post planner will let you create and schedule emails, blog, and social media posts, and give a clear overview of your upcoming schedule. You can also organize your posts with categories.

GoDaddy’s blog has quick buttons to share your posts on social media and Google, and from the settings, you can add share buttons for X and Facebook, and a button to email your post automatically to subscribers.

What To Watch Out For

Unfortunately, GoDaddy’s AI writer doesn’t extend to blog posts. If you’re looking for AI blogging support, Wix and Hostinger provide the best tools.

On top of that, GoDaddy is limited for businesses that want to build brand awareness with their blog, since it doesn’t offer any blog-specific SEO. In fact, our research found it to have the weakest SEO out of all the builders on this list, lacking pretty standard tools, such as multilingual support and robots.txt file editing.

And I also couldn’t add writer profiles or enable comments. Google’s algorithm, that dictates search engine visibility, heavily weights “experience.” Writer profiles showcase that your blog is written by real people, while comments give you the chance to reach out to your audience personally with futher advice. For that reason, I recommend Wix or WordPress if you want to better highlight your expertise online.

GoDaddy’s also the only blogging platform on this list with no search feature in the back end, which will make managing a large quantity of blog posts challenging.

Who Do I Recommend GoDaddy For?

GoDaddy is one of my top choices for blogs because of its user-friendly interface and social media integrations. If you’re wondering whether it’s a good choice for you, read on:

• Starting price: $4.99 per month
• Read our full Network Solutions review

Network Solutions

For multimedia blogs

Good

3.9

out of 5

• Cheapest entry-level blog
• Tools to help you grow

Paid Plans: $4.99 - $9.99 / month

Pros

• All the basic blogging functionality
• Affordable price
• SEO blog posts in 12 languages

Cons

• AI Writer lacks complexity
• Can't monetize blog posts
• Blog posts can't be categorized

Network Solutions Review

Try It Now

Network Solutions (formerly Web.com) is the best value for money website builder on this list. If you’re a blogger on a budget, you can start for $4.99 per month, when billed annually.

For this price, Network Solutions offers a solid range of features to support a basic blog, such as the ability to add multiple authors and scheduled posts.

Marketing is another strength – you’ll find a scheduling calendar similar, albeit simpler, to GoDaddy’s, which will help you create an organized schedule to grow your blog online.

Network Solutions’ AI Writer can help you create SEO-friendly blog posts. When testing it, I had control over the keywords I wanted to target, and was able to choose from 12 languages – particularly useful if you’re targeting a global audience.

What To Watch Out For

As is to be expected with such a low price point, Network Solutions comes with limitations. Firstly, it doesn’t support blog categorization, meaning your posts can quickly get disorganized as they begin to grow in number, and your site visitors may struggle to locate them.

Since Network Solutions lacks paywall and advertising integrations, you also won’t be able to monetize your blog posts. If you’re looking to make money by blogging, you’re better off investing in Wix’s more expensive plan, since you may be able to earn the difference back.

Network Solutions markets itself as an AI powered website builder, but our testers found its AI Writer lacked the complexity of Wix’s, as it didn’t provide as many customization options or supporting images. I was intrigued at the prospect of layering multiple tones of voice together, but the outcome was unnatural and inaccurate, and made me question how deeply it understood my requests.

Who Do I Recommend Network Solutions For?

Network Solutions’ low price point makes it an attractive option for many bloggers, but it comes with considerable limitations.

• Starting price: from $1.99 per month (for hosting & setup via Bluehost)
• Read our full WordPress.org Review

WordPress.org

For content-heavy blogs

Good

4.1

out of 5

• Famous for blogging
• Limitless customizations
• Requires separate hosting

Free plan available

Paid Plans: $3.99 - $14.99 / month

Pros

• 60,000+ plugins to customize your blog
• Build from scratch with total control
• Add whatever blogging tools you need

Cons

• Steep learning curve for beginners
• You manage security, hosting, updates
• No in-house support team or resources

WordPress.org Review

We recommend using Bluehost

Try WordPress

The most popular platform on the web for blogging, WordPress.org is not like the other website builders on this list. Rather than having a drag-and-drop editor for building a website, WordPress.org is a CMS (content management system) instead, and functions entirely around the creation and posting of content. This allows for limitless customization of your blogs – albeit with the caveat that you know how to code HTML.

WordPress.org is open-source, meaning that anyone can download and edit it for free. This means that when you start your WordPress blog, your website will be endlessly moddable.

Once you’re over the learning curve, WordPress.org can be rewarding, especially for news and other informational blogs. The content management system lets you grant access to multiple authors to create and schedule hundreds of blog posts at a time, and set up RSS feeds.

Better yet, through its plugin library, you can add powerful SEO tools like Yoast and monetize your blog through affiliate marketing programs. While using WordPress.org is certainly more work than, say, Wix, it can yield powerful results for bloggers who want to produce lots of informational content with consistent upload schedules.

What To Watch Out For

With WordPress.org, everything from design, integrations, marketing, monetization, and storage is all editable by you, either manually, or by installing extra plugins, such as drag-and-drop plugin Elementor.

Whereas other builders take care of things like hosting and security, you will have to organize that yourself too. WordPress.org itself recommends the web host Bluehost for this, and so do we, because of how well it performed in our WordPress hosting research.

Who Do I Recommend WordPress.org For?

WordPress.org is the original and most well-known blogging platform for a reason. Its levels of customization are unmatched, and it’s extremely powerful – if you know how to use it.

Still need some help choosing the right blogging website builder? Think about your needs first. The platform you choose will depend on your blog’s content and style, and the direction you want to take it in. These four key questions should help you come to a final decision:

1. Is the website builder suitable for my blog style? Remember to assess a builder’s template selection and customization options to make sure you can achieve your desired look.
2. Do the built-in tools allow me to build my blog how I want to? Go through all of the features you’re looking for in a blog builder, be it scheduling tools, commenting, or private membership areas for gated content.
3. Are there any marketing features to help me grow my blog’s audience? Check to see whether there are any marketing tools to help you reach more people, such as email marketing or social media integrations.
4. Can I access key ways to monetize my blog? Make sure the website builder plan you’re interested in allows you to accept payments or make money from your site, if that’s your goal.

Short on time? Find the best platform for your art with our three-minute quiz.

To find the best blogging website builder, we conducted rigorous hands-on testing first. We tested our builders in five areas, which enabled us to make an accurate assessment of each platform and make sure that our recommendations can really accommodate bloggers’ needs.

We then weighted each of our testing categories uniquely to reflect the key priorities for blogging:

• Website functionality: 35% – AI, SEO, marketing, and blogging tools
• Design Features: 20% – the quality of the AI builder and templates
• Help and Support: 10% – the support options available
• Reputation: 5% – how popular the builder is and its online reviews
• Pricing: 15% – the pricing, value for money, and jump between plans
• User experience: 15% – how easy the builder is to use, tested by people like you

Website functionality is our heaviest weighted area, where we look into specific blogging features, such as blog monetization, engagement functions, and blog-specific SEO and analytics. This section also looks into areas outside the blog, such as SEO, apps, marketing, and storage space to decide how suitable the builder is for fitting unique user needs and growing and maintaining an audience.

There you have it – my top blogging platforms. We’ve collected over 200 hours of data, and as a result, I can confidently say that Wix is the best all-rounder for blogging. It’s a great overall builder, offering tons of built-in blog features and powerful SEO tools to help you promote your content online.

That said, you might not need all the powerful features Wix has to offer. If you’re looking for a quick and easy setup, Hostinger’s AI features provide support throughout the whole process. For those who are on a budget and aren’t looking to generate revenue from their blog, Network Solutions is a great choice. And if you’re on the other end of the spectrum and want control over every aspect of your site, WordPress.org is your best bet.

Now ready to start your blog? If so, check out our guide to how to write a blog post to get going.