Blogger or WordPress.com?

Published by: yuga under: Wordpress.

posted: December 12th, 2007

Was having time debate with several of the participants here in my workshop on which blogging platform has better usability and functionality. Of course, I was pushing for WordPress.com because of two things — scale and upgradability. However, others are saying Blogger is better. I haven’t used Blogger in like 4 years now and yes I know that it has improved since then. What do you think?

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46 Responses to “Blogger or WordPress.com?”

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XpressMusic™ replied on Dec 12th, 2007 at 9:06 pm (1)

Wordpress was indeed great on the past few years, so it gets my vote. It was a great experience also with blogger but Wordpress really have caught me.
Hezron Mariano replied on Dec 12th, 2007 at 10:00 pm (2)

My blog is hosted and powered by blogger. And it work great for me. Please visit my blog at http://www.iblogall.com….Thanks!
Bob Reyes replied on Dec 12th, 2007 at 10:16 pm (3)

WordPress is still the best. If you want to be in control of your blog, use WordPress!
j4s0n replied on Dec 12th, 2007 at 10:41 pm (4)

I think blogger was preferred by those who wants to monetize better (via adsense) i guess.
sylv3rblade replied on Dec 12th, 2007 at 10:42 pm (5)

Of the two it’s WordPress for me. I’ve always hated how blogger handled comments, now it’s worse off. Now if only WP can be coded to handle Digg-rape out of the box, it’d be perfect.

For all blog-platforms, I’d go with MovableType.
jhay replied on Dec 12th, 2007 at 10:42 pm (6)

I haven’t used blogger for over a year now and I’ve been more active on wordpress.com

Either way, it’s still best to get your own hosting.
A scientist in the kitchen replied on Dec 12th, 2007 at 10:43 pm (7)

I first came across Blogger and had my first blog there. I discovered Wordpress and hasn’t looked back.
noelperlas replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 12:47 am (8)

Wordpress for me. I think because Blogger doesn’t allow you to install it on your own server/host. So if you want more control, WP is the way. But if you probably want a hassle free one you can go with blogger.. but then again there is wordpress.com hosted blogs.
joaquin replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 1:41 am (9)

Yo creo que para decidir cual es mejor hay que decidir primero que clase de blog queremos tener. Antes que nada, si uno desea hosting gratuito z a la vez la posibilidad de cambiar fuentes, y agregar adsense, sin dudas que el mejor es Blogger, incluso es mas facil de usar, mas intuitivo.
Por otro lado, si no queremos agregar adsense a nuestro blog, wordpress es una buena alternativa si se busca una buena estetica. Para aquellos que quieren usar los beneficios de wordpress y agregar wordpress deberan usar wordpress.org con hosting pago. esta es sin dudas la mejor opcion para aquellos que desean hacer dinero con su blog y tener control total del mismo, pero usar wordpress.org puede ser bastante dificil para aquellos qu recien inician.
Mi voto el momento es para Blogger por ser mas accesible y sencillo de usar, tal vez cuando termine de aprender a usar wordpress.org tal vez mi voto vaya para ellos. Mientras, wordpress.com por favor arreglen para que se pueda poner adsense!!
Andrew replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 1:51 am (10)

Read the title carefully guys. The choice is between Blogger and Wordpress.com, NOT the self-hosted Wordpress. Of course the self-hosted WP is a no-brainer. The main advantage of Blogger is the freedom to customize the theme, earn Adsense revenue and the scalability and reliability of Google’s servers. Wordpress.com, on the other hand, offers only a number of themes that can’t be customized, plus, inserting javascript (like for Adsense) is not allowed. My answer is, if I were flat broke, I’d choose Blogger. If I can sacrifice a few dollars per month, I’d choose Wordpress.
dexter replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 2:17 am (11)

It is still depends on how you are going to use yur blog.

I agree with andrew it is a choice between wordpress.com and blogger and I have both of them, For my personal blog I use wordpress.com because why will I monetize my personal blog? On my other blog i use blogger since i have freedom to monetize it and put some thees and other customization.

Wordpress.com is easy to have a higher PR than blogger

I may say that blogspot blog is easy to be index by google.

Soit really defend on how you will use your blog. Not all wants their blog be monetize.

Take for example lorelle blog.
Lyle, RN replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 3:12 am (12)

Wordpress.com is nice but is not for beginners or those who want to customize/monetize their blog.

My blog is with Blogger and it’s running for 2 years now.
Kenneth replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 6:03 am (13)

An independent or self-hosted blog would be a lot better if they would use Wordpress due to the recent plug-in(s) and theme(s) that author’s release daily while Blogger is dependent on Google (the owner), so securities and such MODs aren’t that easily made for our own personal needs unlike Wordpress. Just my two cents!
Cesar Noel replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 6:51 am (14)

I agree with Andrew and also Third Party functionalities (html/javascript codes) can easily be inserted on Blogger.com than in WORDPRESS.COM and of course Adsense is already integrated in the system.
boddah replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 11:07 am (15)

I started with Blogger because it is easy to set up (good for beginners) and of course Adsense. I also believe it’s a better choice for those who can’t afford a self hosted blog.
Allen replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 11:33 am (16)

For ease of use, I like wordpress.com but for other purposes such as monetizing, blogger is the way to go.
Adrian replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 11:48 am (17)

wordpress - advance users
blogger - beginner
L.A replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 11:58 am (18)

Go! WordPress!
Mikko replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 12:35 pm (19)

Glad I read kuya Andrew’s comment. Blogger or Wordpress.com? Uhm, Blogger.

WordPress restricts many things! Hahaha. Limited monetization.
Jim replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 1:39 pm (20)

versatility and user-friendliness, wordpress is still it.
leo replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 3:45 pm (21)

wordpress for me, handsdown!
marhgil replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 4:50 pm (22)

i haven’t used wordpress.com. just signed-up for them to get the akismet key for my hosted wordpress blog.

but if I have to choose between wordpress.com and blogger.com, i’ll choose blogger.com. it’s easier to monetize. mukhang pera talaga ako. LOL!
Tiffany replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 5:22 pm (23)

You can’t tinker with blogspot that much

Horrible.
sherwin replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 7:27 pm (24)

Hello! Blogger.com is so much more flexible because you can customize every part of the blog. I tried WP when I was starting out but I didn’t really bother since I didn’t have as much freedom as I had with Blogger.

Hosting your own WP is another matter though. Been exploring it the past few weeks and I’m really impressed. I’m just wondering though. Why did someone say WP is better as far as raising your PR is concerned? How does that work exactly?

Thanks!
JC John SESE Cuneta replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 8:00 pm (25)

I think many are confused with ‘wordpress’ vs ‘wordpress.com - free’ vs ‘wordpress.com - paid’.

Blogger/BlogSpot vs wordpress.com “free” = definitely Blogger/BlogSpot

I cannot judge on wordpress.com “paid” as I haven’t tried that (I’m not even sure if it exists - I’m not a wordpress fan).

Now if the question is free-blog hosts vs self-hosted blog = hands-down self-hosted blog will win.. be it b2evolution, MovableType, or wordpress.

In other words, FLOSS is better than proprietary. I consider blogger/blogspot as proprietary as we do not know anything about it, can not “build on (top of) it”, etc.

PS
Blogger is the same as Blogspot
JC John SESE Cuneta replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 8:08 pm (26)

wordpress - advance users
blogger - beginner

- I disagree. Check out how many blogger/blogspot these days are using the google-provided themes or using some other old-blogger theme out there.

I only know a few blogger/blogspot hosted blogs that created their own theme or ported over a theme from another source. The reason is, many knows how to use HTML (and to some extent CSS) but many fails when it comes to XML.

Blogger/blogspot is now using XML for its templates. Majority of the bloggers in the world are HTML-based (again to some extent CSS). If they see the new blogger/blogspot template system, they easily give up, especially when you submit it and it returns errors that “it is not a well-formed XML…. yadda…. yadda….”

So, I can say that blogger/blogspot is more advanced than any other FLOSS blog application out there to date.

:p

If you want to convert a skin from another platform to blogger/blogspot, drop me a mail Let’s discuss the fees

Check: http://aisieletr.blogspot.com (I converted from MovableType; original design by a Filipina).

Ok lol… ’nuff haha
Macnerdzcare replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 10:27 pm (27)

mas ok wordpress kasi pwede install sa paid hosting
normanski replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 11:04 pm (28)

wordpress! what’s the other choice again?
Luis Cruz replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 11:23 pm (29)

Simply because of the way it handles comments, Blogger loses out to WP.

In terms of functionality and scalability, WP again beats Blogger.

I’d say they’re even in terms of ease of use with the slight edge probably going to Blogger.

When it comes to SEO and monetization, Blogger might have an edge - it is, after all, owned by Google.

Lastly, and most importantly, if you ask me what I prefer, I’d say WordPress. That’s what I use, and I doubt I’ll switch to another platform.
Goe D replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 11:39 pm (30)

If I am going to choose between the two - I’ll choose Blogger b/c of big “G” is on my back :). I have one blog off Blogger and nothing on Wordpress.Com. But, this is the thing - I stopped using Blogger when I got my own blog (hosted) using WP in 2006. My experienced in Blogger is all positive so, I go with Blogger.
julia replied on Dec 14th, 2007 at 3:12 am (31)

as they say you can do “almost” anything with your blogger blog except for the commenting system, bu now my blog
http://julia-aquino.blogspot.com
is integrated with haloscan
so i dont have to worry anything
Em Dy replied on Dec 15th, 2007 at 12:04 am (32)

I find that blogger is best for newbies and those who are not computer savvy. Wordpress is more difficult to use but with better templates. I prefer user-friendliness over beauty anytime.
benj replied on Dec 15th, 2007 at 3:30 am (33)

I hate the way blogspot sounds, so I went for Wordpress before buying my own domain.
jepoy replied on Dec 15th, 2007 at 9:06 am (34)

@john cuneta - agree. I’m still using html-based templates on blogger and still have no idea on how i would convert my templates to XML :))
ernesto replied on Dec 15th, 2007 at 6:17 pm (35)

I love blogger that’s all
CallCenterVet replied on Dec 16th, 2007 at 3:53 am (36)

Blogger favors the majority. I think it would be better if bloggers, especially new ones and those who have little knowledge in tweaking their templates, would focus more in their content rather than technicalities of the blog itself.

Love the versatility of blogger. I’ve tried to give wordpress a shot at least a couple of times but I got turned off because of the limitations of wordpress hosted blogs. I’ve also monetized my blog probably more than any other wordpress blog out there so I don’t think wordpress is better at monetizing.
Dino replied on Dec 20th, 2007 at 9:10 am (37)

So it’s all about monetizing. It’s blogger.com if you want adsense. It’s wordpress.com if you want nicer dashboard.
Shannon replied on Dec 20th, 2007 at 1:51 pm (38)

Check this one, it will help you! http://free-web-template.blogspot.com/2007/05/bloggercon-vs-wordpresscom-between.html
Michael Broad replied on Dec 26th, 2007 at 12:05 am (39)

I’m a Blogger person myself. I haven’t tried Wordpress but seen lots of Wordpress sites.

I just love Blogger and Google for me is so good, even if it is a 800lb Gorilla.

It work so well and looks good. It takes no time at all to get it up and running, indexed and analyzed by analytics (about an 45 mins for the whole thing from scratch start - that’s just so comfortable).

I’ve got two sites. The other is

http://alcoholism-victim.blogspot.com/

The second is exposing my soul to the world - every word is true.

Michael
erjan replied on Dec 28th, 2007 at 1:20 am (40)

For me, Blogger is better than Wordpress.com. Since in Blogger you can make your own template, not like Wordpress.com that you still need to pay to access it’s CSS/Theme Editor.
Chell replied on Mar 16th, 2008 at 10:40 pm (41)

It’s wordpress for me. I created a new blog in blogger (cause I can use adsense) for our business, still, I wasn’t very thrilled with the experience. I find it less user-friendly than wordpress.com
rara replied on Jun 1st, 2008 at 9:07 pm (42)

im using blogger now but of the two, Wordpress is much better, hay ang gulo.
Professional SEO Expert replied on Nov 12th, 2008 at 10:31 am (43)

Off course Wordpress is the best as i have also used wordpress in my personal blog, take a look, professionalseoindia.com

well your blog is nice and very infomative.
SEO j0ny replied on Nov 19th, 2008 at 6:05 am (44)

yeah unfortunately, you’re kind of blocked in with blogspot, and you can do about anything to and with wordpress these days on your own server. It’s really come up as a pretty good CMS tool now. But in old blogs, I’ve played with similar link structures and content, and the Blogger pages have always tended to get indexed faster and ranked better… really depends what you want to do with it…