Blogger vs WordPress Comparison: All Pros and Cons (2020)

Blogger vs WordPress is an age-old comparison. If you’ve been doing research on how to start a blog, you’ve probably heard about both Blogger and WordPress and have some questions. Like, what is the difference between WordPress and Blogger? And which blogging platform is the best? Here I share all pros and cons of Blogger and WordPress so you can take an informed decision.

Starting a blog has never been easier. However, before you roll up your sleeves, you have to make an important decision. You need to pick a blogging platform.

A blogging platform is a software or service that you use to publish your blog content. It serves as the foundation of your blog, it dictates the look of and functionality available in your dashboard and provides the underlying code your blog is built upon.

Two of the oldest (and most popular) blogging platforms are Blogger and WordPress. Choosing a platform for your blog often means deciding between the two.

Both Blogger and WordPress come with benefits and drawbacks. For example, Blogger is free, while WordPress is what all the pros and cool kids use.

I’ve blogged on both platforms, so this Blogger vs WordPress comparison is based on hard facts AND my own personal experience. Both Blogger and WordPress have pros and cons, which is why you’ll want to read till the end before settling on one over the other.

Understand why do you want to start a blog

Before doing a full WordPress vs Blogger comparison and looking at all the pros and cons of each platform, it’s important to get clear on your WHY. This can help you make a quicker choice.

So… Why do you want to start a blog? What do you hope to gain from it?

Do you have a message so strong you simply HAVE to share it with the world? Do you want to make money? Or are you simply looking for a hobby to do in your spare time?

If all you want is to keep an online journal or start a blog to keep in touch with family and friends, then I’ll tell you right away that Blogger will most likely suffice.

However, if you’d like to build your personal brand or make money (now or in the future) WordPress has all the features you need to grow your blog into a business.

WordPress is the most professional and feature-packed blogging platform you can ask for and it will allow you to grow and prosper without hindering your efforts. It’s my blogging platform of choice. It’s what I use, love, and recommend.

UPDATE: In case you decide to start a WordPress blog, you’ll need a hosting solution. For this, I can totally recommend Bluehost. Not only is setting up a blog with them super easy and quick, but they have given me a special discount for my readers! You can now start a WordPress blog on Bluehost for as little as $2.95/month (including a FREE domain name for the first year!)

Blogger vs WordPress comparison

Here I put together a list of pros and cons that will hopefully answer all your questions.

In order to avoid any confusion, I want to point out that this comparison is between the self-hosted WordPress.org (paid) and Blogger (free), not WordPress.com (free) vs Blogger (free).

Why am I comparing a free and a paid blogging platform? Because when you put Blogger and WordPress.com side by side, Blogger is the winner almost every single time, so from my point of view, there’s no point in even considering WordPress.com.

WordPress.org, on the other hand, is the most popular and professional out of the three (Blogger, WordPress.com, and WordPress.org). So if you’re looking for a solid platform for your blog, WordPress.org is the best solution for almost every type of blog.

If you’ve already started a blog on the free WordPress platform and want to move, I have a detailed tutorial that explains how to move WordPress.com to WordPress.org.

Also, keep in mind that Blogger and Blogspot are one and the same.

Blogger (aka Blogspot)	WordPress.org (self-hosted)
Your content is hosted on their servers and they can do whatever they want with it.	You have full control over your blog and its content.
The URL of your blog will end in blogspot.com. You can purchase a custom domain for approx. $10 a year.	You’ll get a custom domain right away. If you purchase a hosting + domain bundle with Bluehost, your domain is free for the first year.
Easy to learn and use if you’re building a simple blog.	WordPress is a professional platform, which means it has a bit of a learning curve, but it’s a skill well worth learning.
There aren’t many tutorials to help you improve and grow your blog.	You can find tutorials and courses for anything and everything you need help with. The WordPress community is incredibly active and generous.
Very limited customization, with only a few templates available. Making changes requires HTML and CSS knowledge and messing up things is way too easy.	There are thousands of both free and paid WordPress themes available. Whatever your niche and needs, you are guaranteed to find a theme that’s right for you.
Very limited support on Blogger’s side. You won’t find much information that goes into the gory details online either.	There’s a very active community surrounding WordPress. Each theme and plugin has its own support forum. There are tons of blogs and even specialist companies that offer both free and premium support. Facebook groups are also helpful.
Blogger doesn’t offer any help with SEO. On top of that, a poorly coded theme can hurt your SEO without you even knowing it.	There are many free and paid SEO plugins that you can install to increase your chances of being found in Google.
You cannot personalize your permalink structure, which means the URL of your blog posts will always include the date when a post was first published.	You can personalize your permalink structure at the click of a button.
Comment moderation is lacking entirely. Replying requires extra steps.	There are many powerful plugins that automatically clean up spam comments for you.
Brands don’t always take Blogger blogs seriously, so it’s not always easy to monetize your blog.	WordPress.org blogs are considered professional. There are no limits and you can monetize your blog any way you want.
Free.	WordPress as a free blogging software. However, in order to use it, you need a web host. If you’re just beginning, I recommend Bluehost for it is super easy to use and affordable. See my Bluehost review.

My sincere hope is that this Blogger vs WordPress comparison will help you avoid starting on the wrong blogging platform, which is one of the most common mistakes newbie bloggers make.

Following, let’s have a closer look at all the advantages and disadvantages of both Blogger and WordPress have.

Custom domain name

If you are even a tiny bit serious about blogging and you want to have a voice on the web, you’ll want to pick a custom domain. Both Blogger and WordPress give you this option.

Blogger

Once you’ve created your blogspot.com blog, simply go to Settings >> Publishing. Here you have the option to add a custom domain. Blogger will handle this for you and the domain only costs around $10 per year.
You have the option to choose WhoIs Directory private registration to protect your information (like your name and address) from unwanted eyes.

WordPress

I recommend you purchase your domain together with your hosting plan so you won’t have to waste your time changing nameservers later on. Bluehost, the web hosting company I use and recommend, gives you a FREE domain when you purchase the hosting through them. Starting with them is super easy and I describe the whole process in great detail in my tutorial on how to start a WordPress blog.
Private domain registration can be purchased with your domain.

Web hosting

Just like people like in houses, blogs live on servers. Servers can be rented from web hosting companies.

Blogger

Free blog hosting
You will be sharing the server and its resources with many other blogs and that’s that. As your website grows, the only way to move to a dedicated server is by changing to a different blogging platform, like WordPress, which can be complicated, time-consuming, and risky (you could be losing some of your content and the formatting of your posts will most likely suffer).
Blogger’s free hosting account has certain limitations. For example, the homepage has a size limit. So if your posts are image-heavy, the number of posts displayed on the homepage will always be overruled by the page size limit. This is a bummer if you want to showcase several images per post.
Blogger comes with 1 Gb free image storage space.

WordPress

Although WordPress.com offers free blog hosting, the limitations are really impairing (like they won’t allow you to put ads so you won’t be able to make money with your blog). That’s why in this article, I’m only talking about the self-hosted WordPress.org.
When building a WordPress.org blog, you ALWAYS need to purchase a hosting plan from a web hosting company. Bluehost has truly affordable hosting plans and I wholeheartedly recommend them for nearly everyone and for new bloggers above all.
Setting up an account with Bluehost is not only incredibly easy but it’s cheaper than coffee as well. Bluehost is one of only three hosting companies recommended by WordPress.org and it only costs $2.95/month. As mentioned above, they even give you a free domain name with your hosting plan (and a free SSL certificate too!). If you need further guidance, follow my step-by-step guide on how to start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.

Difficulty level

Blogger

Blogger is a very basic blogging platform, which makes it super easy to use. It’s intuitive, self-explanatory and you can have a blog up and running in a matter of minutes.
Blogger is owned by Google but hasn’t received much love from it in the past 7 years or so. However, if you want to make money with display ads, it’s quite nicely integrated with AdSense (a Google product). However, other ad networks pay much more than AdSense, so you might want to look into higher-paying alternatives (such as Ezoic).
The Blogger dashboard only has a few options, so it won’t overwhelm you.

WordPress

WordPress is an open-source software, which means there are many people all over the world working on it and improving it all the time
It’s periodically updated and there are regular security and maintenance releases.
Although the WordPress dashboard is more complex and can be intimidating at first, you’ll get used to it pretty fast.
The new Gutenberg editor is super intuitive and beginner-friendly. This means you can create content-rich blog posts (like the table above) without ever touching a line of code.

Customisation & functionality

Blogger

When it comes to customization, there’s only this much you can do in Blogger. You have to be prepared to make compromises and get used to the idea that things won’t always look the way you want. If you want your blog to look similar to some of your favorite blogs, my best advice is to start learning and get comfortable with HTML and CSS (or opt for WordPress).
In the layout section, you’ll find drag and drop containers where you can place your gadgets.
The downside is that the gadgets that come with Blogger are pretty basic. The good news, however, is that you have the option to add HTML/Javascript and watch the magic happen.
You can edit all the code of your template in one place. In your dashboard, go to Template >> Edit HTML. Only use this if you know what you’re doing.

WordPress

When it comes to customization, the sky is the limit.
Plugins are little add-ons that expand the functionality of your blog and there’s a plugin for everything! Seriously, there are tens of thousands of plugins available in the WordPress repository, and new ones are being added every day.
You can easily expand the functionality of your blog with the help of freemium page builder plugins (such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Divi Builder).
The source code of your WordPress blog is divided into multiple files. If you are a newbie, finding what you are looking for can be quite a chore.

Design

When people visit your blog (or any other website, as a matter of fact), they take a split second to make a quick judgment call. Shall your blog look appealing and professional, they might start reading your words. The way your blog looks is often the decisive factor.

Blogger

By default, Blogger has a very limited set of free templates. You can customize them, but you won’t get very far unless you are a code geek.
You can find more templates with a quick Google search. They are not official Blogger templates, hence, it’s good to use them with caution and back up your blog before uploading them because they can break your site. On top of that, many such templates have been adapted from WordPress themes and the coding might have some shortcomings, which can hurt your SEO.

WordPress

There is an incredible number of both free and premium WordPress themes available and they can be installed directly from your WordPress dashboard.
My absolute favorite WordPress theme is Divi by Elegant Themes. It’s an incredibly flexible theme that can become anything you want and can be easily adapted to any blogging niches. The cherry on the cake is that the Elegant Themes membership gives you access to 80+ professional-looking themes for the price of one.
Another great option is StudioPress. Their themes are well coded, good looking, SEO friendly, light, and fast. They have a nice selection of themes suitable for all kinds of niches.

Responsiveness

Blogger

You can turn on and off the mobile version of your blog and choose between various mobile templates in Blogger’s dashboard
Blogger controls this behind the scenes. The mobile version means optimized images, and a simplified version of the blog with no sidebars, footers, or custom header. It won’t help you in your brand-building efforts but it offers a clean user experience

WordPress

In WordPress, a responsive blog equals a responsive theme, which means you have to pay attention to these details before going through all the hustle of installing and personalizing your theme.
The good news is that most themes nowadays, especially premium ones, are responsive.

Support

Blogger

Apart from some online documentation, there isn’t much support on Blogger’s side.
You’ll have to turn to Google search for answers, which might or might not be there.

WordPress

WordPress has its own very helpful, very active support forum. My other go-to forum is Stack Overflow. There are so many WordPress developers and users out there, it’s unlikely you won’t find help.
Facebook groups can also be of help.
Your own hosting company might be able to help you with certain issues.
If everything else fails, try premium support.

Monetization

Blogger

AdSense is a Google product, hence, it’s part of the Blogger dashboard and easy to use.
You can place sponsored content, banners ads, sponsored text links, affiliate links, run giveaways, etc.

WordPress

There are several AdSense plugins to choose from. Other, higher-paying ad networks, like Ezoic and Mediavine, will be happy to work with popular blogs that meet their standards.
You can install WooCommerce, the most popular eCommerce platform on the web, and sell your own physical products and services.
You can monetize your blog any way you want (sponsored posts, affiliate marketing, selling your own eBooks and courses, etc.)

Images

Blogger

All Blogger accounts come with 1 Gb disk space to store your photos. This is quite a lot, believe me, and you most likely won’t need more than that for a very long time.
However, going through your photos can be a daunting task. Finding one in particular, is almost an impossible endeavor.

WordPress

You have as much disk space as you purchased with your hosting plan.
The Media Library is a life-saver. You can view and manage all of your images, videos, and other files from one screen.
Searching for images is super easy.

SEO

Blogger

New blog posts get indexed instantly.
Responsive design regardless of the template you use (Blogger default or from the web). However, using custom templates from the web will pretty much result in multiple code errors which can hurt your SEO.
Blogger’s servers are reliable and there is virtually no downtime.

WordPress

New blog posts might take a few days to be indexed (this depends on how often you publish new content).
You have to make sure you use a responsive theme that is SEO-optimised.
WordPress themes have way fewer errors than Blogger’s custom themes.
There might be some downtime, depending on the web host you are using. If you are not happy with your web host, consider migrating to a different one. Here I explain how to transfer hosting (and domain) from GoDaddy to Bluehost.

Ownership

Blogger

There’s been a lot of talks whether you own or not your Blogger blog. The content is yours, but it’s hosted on Blogger’s servers. So it’s best practice to back up your blog from time to time, just in case. To do so, go to Settings >> Other >> Export blog.
Google might decide to shut down Blogger any time and delete your blog together with it (see the Google+ example). However, it’s unlikely they will do it overnight and without warning.
In the fine print, Google reserves the right to use and distribute your content.

WordPress

Since your blog is hosted with a web host of your choice, your blog is undeniably yours and you have full control. It’s still good practice that you back up your blog every now and then though. This can be easily done with a plugin like Updraft Plus.
This doesn’t mean Google can’t penalize your blog or ban you from AdSense or the search results if you are in violation of their terms and services. Google is not the only search engine out there.

Comments

Blogger

Blogger’s native comment system offers way too many options. This can be confusing for most readers, therefore resulting in you receiving fewer comments.
There’s no way to manage spam comments so you have to read all comments one by one and approve or delete them. This can be quite time-consuming. Blogs tend to get lots of spam comments.

WordPress

You can use the native WordPress comments system, Disqus, CommentLuv, etc.
Comments can be edited by the admin so you won’t end up with a bunch of misspelled words.
WordPress makes it super easy to reply to reader comments right from your dashboard.
There are lots of plugins, like Akismet and Antispam Bee that will automatically delete spam comments for you so you won’t have to read dozens of offensive comments every day.

Security and spam

Blogger

Blogger is in general very secure. To be honest, I’ve never heard anyone complaining of being hacked.
Spam comments are there. Blogger does its best to filter them, but its best is often not good enough.

WordPress

WordPress is quite secure, but since it is a self-hosted solution you are responsible for security and backups. There are plenty of plugins that make this task easier for you.
WordPress blogs are more likely to be hacked and spammed.

Conclusion

Choosing a blogging platform for your new blog should be easy now. Maybe this Blogger vs WordPress comparison brought to your attention many pros and cons you haven’t thought of before. However, in my opinion, the only clear advantage Blogger has is that it’s free.

On the other hand, WordPress is a socially validated blogging platform used by some of the biggest brands in the world (think BBC, The New Yorker, Sony Music, TechCrunch, Time Inc, Walt Disney, and even Beyonce!).

If you are serious about blogging and you want others to take you seriously as well, then I highly recommend you create a self-hosted WordPress blog.

When you use my Bluehost referral link you can get hosted for as little as $2.95 a month (which is a 63% discount!). This is really inexpensive and Bluehost is a super reliable hosting company. I’ve been using them for years and have no complaints whatsoever.

I truly hope my post helped you make up your mind and choose between Blogger and WordPress. Now it’s time to create your blog. Woohoo!

If you need help setting up everything, head on over, and follow the steps I highlight in my super detailed post on how to set up a WordPress blog. On the other hand, if you started on Blogger and want to move to WordPress, here’s how to migrate Blogger to WordPress. Happy blogging!

THINGS TO READ NEXT

About the author:
Hey there, dream chaser! I’m a writer and designer on a mission to inspire and empower you to create a highly profitable minimalist online business and show up for your dreams in a sustainable way.
xo, Laura

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement	1 year	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	1 year	This cookies is set by GDPR Cookie Consent WordPress Plugin. The cookie is used to remember the user consent for the cookies under the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	1 year	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	1 year	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	1 year	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Others".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	1 year	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent	11 months	Records the default button state of the corresponding category.
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not the user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Cookie	Duration	Description
_ga	session	This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_gtag_UA_93077002_1	1 minute	This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to record information about the page a user has visited, for example, the URL of the page.
_gid	1 day	This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form.