Whether you are a blogger, developer, or want to simply share your content with the audience, you need to have access to a blogging platform. It is the most efficient way to have your ideas flow into the outer world. Though there are several online platforms, blogging occupies an important and top position even in 2021.
Choosing the right one to fit your needs is a task for sure. And hence, we came up with a list of the top free and open-source blogging tools and software. They are easy to use, free of clutter, and make your life easy. But one thing that you need to take care is to choose the right hosting for your open-source tool for a hassle-free and smooth operation.
Let us go ahead and explore each of them in-depth.
1. WordPress.Org
WordPress.Org is one of the best open-source blogging platforms out there. It needs no introduction and is a great option for bloggers, developers, and other users alike. With RoseHosting, you can get your hands on the website within minutes and get started.
Though WordPress.Org involves a steep learning curve it is the best choice if you want to have design control and flexibility in your hands. WordPress. Org is itself free, but users have to pay for the domain name and hosting.
Features:
- You have access to plenty of free and premium themes. Thus, you can customize your site just the way you want.
- It allows you to control all the aspects and features of your site.
- WordPress.Org is SEO-friendly. It lets you create URLs, categories, and posts that are SEO-compatible.
- Has a huge and active community to lend you support whenever you need it.
- If you don’t have the basic designing and technical knowledge then using WordPress can be a task.
- Large numbers of plugin solutions are available (both free and paid).
- Has security features too.
- You can benefit from the multilingual option through the plugins.
2. Ghost
Ghost was started in 2013 as a pure blogging platform. However, over the years, it has grown into a Node.JS CMS. Ghost is available as a hosted platform and software that can be easily installed by the user.
It comes with a plethora of tools and does not require many plugins to function. Thus, it is a great blogging platform that lets you publish and manage posts daily.
Features:
- You have access to built-in SEO features which include sitemaps, metadata, permalinks, etc.
- It has an automatic data backup system to prevent any loss of valuable data.
- It features a Markdown editor and hence users have to undergo a steep learning curve.
- The Integrated AMP support enables your blog to load faster on mobile devices too.
- Provides a clutter-free and intuitive user interface.
- Does not have too many themes. Thus, the appearance of your site is restricted to a few designs.
- Additional features include password protection, multi-user environment, content scheduling, and global navigation.
3. Hugo
If you are looking for a static site generator then look no farther than Hugo. Built around Google Go’s programming language, Hugo is a popular open-source option out there. It claims to provide blistering speed and excellent content management features to its users.
With its powerful template layout, it is perfect for several kinds of websites. It needs no additional support to run your website and thus, you can host your site with little to no configuration.
Features:
- You will find plenty of tools like starter kits, search engines, frontends, etc.
- Easy to install on macOS, Windows, Linux, and more.
- With static pages, you are in full control of the content and design too. If your goal is to create several landing pages with different designs then a static site generator like Hugo is what you need.
- With HTML5 your static site can have all that you can imagine.
- It employs Atom as the main text editor. This means publishing new posts and files will be a task if you are not tech-savvy.
- Comes with powerful theming.
4. Blogger
If you are a blogger then this free blogging platform is for you. It works seamlessly, enabling the users to benefit from the platform without buying and installing separate applications.
The platform is incredibly easy to use and is perfect for personal bloggers to share their thoughts and ideas with the world. By signing up with your Google Id you can have your blog functioning in seconds.
Features:
- An easy and quick way to create a blog even if you don’t have technical skills.
- It supports a mobile interface too. Thus, visitors who use their devices to stay on your site have a pleasant experience.
- In a single click, you can create a blog, post an image, install a template, and much more.
- You can benefit from Google hosting as it is one of the fastest web servers.
- With Blogger, you don’t have to worry about website downtime.
- It consists of Google Adsense and Google Affiliate Network.
5. Jekyll
Creating an ultra-fast and lightweight static website is now possible with Jekyll. You can run this platform as per your commands as it does not have a graphical interface.
The primary purpose of Jekyll is to enable users to set up blogs in a jiffy. It does so by removing the frills from the process of content creation and adopting a straightforward approach.
Features:
- Supports basic features like custom layouts, blog posts, categories, etc.
- It is a good option for prototyping.
- Provides free hosting on GitHub pages.
- Allows users to pick HTML from any website and convert it into a working static site.
- Requires you to have a Ruby environment in your machine for fast setup.
- Editing files is easy with Jekyll as data is stored in text files instead of a database.
- Offers loads of free and paid themes to decorate your site.
- Additional features include AML site generation, multilingual support, analytics, etc.
6. Bolt
Bolt serves your purpose whether you are a developer, content creator, or any other user. You can create a custom theme or install the standard theme to have your website up.
Bolt provides scalable and powerful tools that assist you to smoothly create content and extensions.
Features:
- Symphony application provides the necessary tools and adds unlimited functionality to your projects.
- It provides access to free content editors like Article and Redactor.
- At no extra configurations, developers can benefit from Restful and GraphQL API.
- Its simplicity defines its style.
- There are tons of extensions that you can add on.
- There is an activity log for keeping transparency levels high.
- Bolt has quick bug fixes and security updates.
- Helps to keep your database organized by sorting your content.
Conclusion
Choosing the right platform for blogging is crucial. With RoseHosting you can achieve this goal effortlessly and set on to the path of unparalleled success. To make the choice easy for you we came up with the top 6 open-source blogging platforms and software.
Each one of them differs in terms of features, functions, and other aspects. Hence, it is important to keep in mind your requirements and choose the most appropriate one.
