WordPress vs. Blogger – Which one is Better? Merits and Demerits

When it comes to blogging, we have plenty of options such as WordPress, BlogSpot, Tumblr to name a few. One of the most talked topic here is WordPress or Blogger for blogging. My recommendation is always start with WordPress.com for a month, and once you get accustomed with blogging, you should start a new blog on Self hosted WordPress platform . You are free to use Blogger.com , as your launchpad blogging platform, but don’t stick to it for too long.

We are often asked by new users why they should use WordPress instead of free blogging services like WordPress.com or Blogger? WPBeginner is the largest resource site for WordPress beginners, so it is obvious that we favor WordPress over other blogging platforms. In this article, we will do a WordPress vs Blogger comparison to help you decide which one is better for your needs. We will cover all WordPress vs Blogger pros and cons, so you can make the best decision when it comes Blogger vs. WordPress as a platform for your site.

First Blogger

Ownership

Blogger is a blogging service provided by the tech giant Google. It is free, reliable most of the time, and quite enough to publish your stuff on the web. However, it is not owned by you. Google runs this service and has the right to shut it down, or shutdown your access to it at any time.

Controls

Blogger is a fine tuned service with very limited tools allowing you to perform only specific tasks on your website. The things you can do on your blogspot blog are limited, and there is no way you can extend them to meet a need.

Appearance

Blogger by default only provides a limited set of templates to use. You can modify the colors and layout of these templates using the built-in tools, but you cannot create your own layouts or make modifications. There are some non-official Blogger templates available, but those templates are usually very low quality.

Security

Using Blogger you have the added advantage of Google’s robust secure platform. You don’t need to worry about managing your server’s resources, securing your blog, or creating backups.

Supports

There is limited support available for Blogger. They have a very basic documentation and a user’s forum. In terms of support, your choices are very limited.

New Features

Blogger has not seen any major update since a very long time. We have seen Google kill their popular services such as Google Reader, Adsense for feeds, and the possible demise of FeedBurner . Future of Blogger depends on Google, and they have the right to shut it down whenever they want.

Now WordPress

Ownership

With WordPress, you use a WordPress hosting provider to host your own site. You are free to decide how long you want to run it and when you want to shut it down. You own all your data, and you control what information you share with any third party.

Control

WordPress is an open source software, so you can easily extend it to add new features. There are thousands of WordPress plugins allowing you to modify and extend the default feature set such as adding a store to your website, creating portfolio, etc.

Appearance

There are thousands of free and premium WordPress themes which allow you to create professional looking websites. There is a WordPress theme for just about every kind of website. No matter what your site is about, you will find plenty of high quality themes which are easy to modify and customize.

Security

WordPress is quite secure, but since it is a self hosted solution you are responsible for security and backups . There are plenty of WordPress plugins that make it easier for you

Support

WordPress has a very active community support system. There is online documentation, community forums, and IRC chatrooms where you can get help from experienced WordPress users and developers. Apart from community support, there are many companies offering premium support for WordPress. Check out our guide on how to properly ask for WordPress support and get it.

New Features

WordPress is an Open Source software which means its future is not dependent on one company or individual. It is developed by a community of developers and users. Being world’s most popular content management system, thousands of businesses around the globe depend on it. The future of WordPress is bright and reassuring.

Merits and Demerits of Blogspot

Blogger or BlogSpot platform is very useful, when you just want to start a blog to share your thoughts. When you are not blogging for money, or you need a platform which doesn’t require any technical know-how, BlogSpot is really good. There are many limitations of BlogSpot in terms of functionalities, SEO benefit, but over all if you just need a platform to start a blog with almost 0 cost, BlogSpot is the right pick.

At the same time, if you are blogging for money, fame or for branding yourself, BlogSpot is not the ideas choice. Reason being, you have limited control on visibility in search engines, and after a while, you are limited with adding new features. I have read it many times, that Blogger is Google product, and it gives more SEO advantages, and it’s a pure rumour. It doesn’t matter if you are using WordPress, Blogger, Drupal or any other platform, SEO is decided by how you configure your complete site for search engines. In Blogger platform, we have limited control, and despite of the fact, they added new SEO features , BlogSpot still lacks in SEO optimization.

In nutshell, Blogger platform is better than WordPress, when you are creating a blog, for your passion, and you are ok with the limited features offered by Blogger platform.

Merits and Demerits of WordPress

We generally uses WordPress as a blogging platform, but this will not make my reasoning bias. WordPress gives you complete control on your blog, and you could technically do anything you like. You get complete control on the SEO, you host your own files, you can add

SEO plugins , which will help to make your blog more SEO friendly. More over, you can always add latest SEO techniques like start rating, Authorship without sweating.

WordPress will let you do everything you wanted, but at the same time you need to manage your own blog. You need to install WordPress on your server, and maintain your blog. It may sound technical, but with such an amazing support from WordPress community, you can always learn everything in no-time. Infact, if you stumble on ShoutMeLoud WordPress guide , most of your queries regarding WordPress, will be answered. Getting started with WordPress may require some effort, in terms of watching videos, learning how to add a plugin, getting use to dashboard, but is in’t the similar thing we learned on Blogger?

If you are planning to create a blog, with mind-set of making it popular, making money from it, you should prefer self hosted WordPress blog. If you are an occasional writer, or a hobby-blogger, BlogSpot is the best pick for you.

Blogger – Summary

It’s got all the basics covered

You don’t own your site, Google owns it

You need to have a Google account

Very simple and easy to use

Your URL is yourname.blogspot.com but you can transfer your own domain name

Limited choice of design templates means it is hard to make your site look unique

Template Designer makes it easy to change background, column width, font and colors

You can do HTML changes to your template through a browser interface

No access to FTP

There are no plugins

There is a decent number of simple gadgets that you can use to improve your sidebar and footer

Integration with Google Adsense account – add ads and start making money

Integration with Google+ – Post to Google+, pull Google+ comments instead of default Blogger comments

Might not be a viable option in terms of sustainability. It doesn’t get much attention from Google currently and everyone has seen the fate of Google Reader and some other Google products

In case there are issues like someone reporting that you use copyrighted material like pics or videos, Blogger may shut down your site. Same can happen if the algorithm thinks your content is spam. Most sites won’t be affected by this but it is important to be aware that you do not have the full ownership of the site before making your decision on what platform to use.

WordPress – Summary

WordPress is a flexible solution with many different design and functionality options, room to grow and expand your site

It is also the platform to go for if you want freedom in terms of control, flexibility and ownership

What’s great about WordPress is that it’s an open-sourced software with a large and vibrant community of developers and designers

A wide range of design templates to help you create a pretty and unique looking presence

There’s a plugin for anything you want to do that allows you to make changes and add features without needing any coding skills