You’re enthusiastic about blogging, but the idea of creating a website and the fear of losing money have held you back.
You’re not alone, many people face this dilemma.
After all, why invest money in something when you’re unsure if it will succeed, especially if you’re on a tight budget?
That’s where free blogging platforms come in. They provide a way to start blogging without any initial investment.
Can you start blogging without a website?
Technically, no. To start blogging on your own, you do need a website.
But there are places like Medium.com and Substack.com (which are like middlemen) where you can sign up and start blogging without the need for hosting or a domain.
But let’s talk from the professional side,
Let’s assume, you want to make a career in blogging and earn good money, then free blogging platforms may not be the best choice.
It’s better to use premium platforms because they give you full control over your blog like website designing, SEO, and other things, which is important for professional bloggers.
➣ Read more: 12 way to start making money from Spotify
Best Free Blogging Platform?
We, for example, run our website on WordPress, with hosting and domain services from Hostinger – one of the top web hosting providers.
You can begin your blogging journey similarly to us, and believe me, it’s as simple as can be.
★ Advantages of Hostinger hosting plans?
Hostinger offers affordable hosting plans, with basic shared hosting starting at only $1.67 per month ($0.055 per day, not even the price of one burger) with boosted performance, unlimited bandwidth, and other features.
But wait, didn’t you want to know how to start a blog without a website?
In such cases, you can try these 6 free blogging platforms to begin your blogging career and make money without having your own website.
However, keep in mind that, unlike WordPress, you won’t have full ownership of your content here.
6 Best free blogging platforms to make money in 2024
- Medium
- Guest Blogging
- Blogspot
- Ghost.org
- Substack
- Tumblr
1. Medium
Medium can be seen as the second-best blogging platform after WordPress because of its huge fanbase. It’s an open platform where people can post articles, ideas, and stories.
This is because, on Medium, you can publish articles for free and make money from subscriptions, and you don’t need any domain or hosting to start.
Now, one of the traditional ways of earning from Medium is by joining their Partner Program.
Yes, you can make money from your writing based on how much people like and read your stuff.
But before joining their Partner Program to make money, you have to be a member of Medium which costs only $5/month.
Benefits of becoming a Medium member, such as:
- Earning Money from your writing
- Reading member-only posts
- Listening to audio narrations
- Creating a custom domain
- Reading offline whenever you want
Now, once you become a Medium member, then you can apply for Partner Program.
Here are two great ways for you to make money on Medium without being a paid member:
✓ Share Affiliate Links:
Lots of people make money by sharing links to products they like. Join an affiliate program, pick products that fit your topic, and share the links in your Medium posts.
Just be careful to recommend good stuff so you don’t break Medium’s rules and get in trouble.
✓ Send Readers to Other Platforms:
Use your Medium articles to send people to places where you can make money, like your own website, YouTube channel, or online courses.
This lets you earn money from different sources, not just Medium.
2. Guest Blogging
Guest posting, also known as guest blogging, means writing articles for someone else’s blog or website.
It’s like a team effort where you share your content with another platform in exchange for things like backlinks, money, or building your reputation.
To start, you can practice by writing guest posts for well-known blogs in your field.
This helps you reach more people and build your name, especially if you work with big companies.
Many websites are open to guest posts, and some even pay for them. This means you can share your skills and experiences without spending any money, and sometimes even earn some cash.
Here’s how you can get started with guest posting and make money:
- Look for Blogs: Find blogs in your area of interest that accept guest posts.
- Contact the Owners: Reach out to the blog owners by email, share your ideas, and suggest working together.
- Write Great Content: Impress the blog owners by providing excellent articles.
- Check for Originality: Make sure your content is original and not copied from somewhere else.
- Paid Opportunities: Confirm whether the website pays for guest posts before joining.
3. Blogspot
Blogspot is another platform where you can start your blog and try to make money. But it’s not as popular as it used to be.
Similar to Medium.com, Blogspot doesn’t require you to have your own domain or hosting to get started.
However, if you compare, you’ll notice that Medium articles tend to rank higher on Google than Blogspot articles.
This is because Google doesn’t prioritize Blogspot content as much as regular websites.
If you still want to start a website for free and monetize it through Blogspot, here are a few tips:
- Choose a Micro Niche: Only focus on a specific niche instead of broad topics like making money online or the stock market, which are difficult to compete in.
- Write Quality Content: Write outstanding articles and make sure that your articles contain up to 2000 words or more.
- Consider a Custom Domain: If possible, invest in a custom domain. This can improve your search engine ranking.
- Monetization Options: Once you have a decent amount of traffic, explore monetization options such as affiliate marketing, sponsored content, etc.
4. Ghost.org
Ghost is a cool platform for Individual bloggers, creators, and businesses. It’s like WordPress but simpler. You can tag your posts for easy browsing.
The special part? A built-in subscribe button helps your fans stay updated, all at a friendly $9 a month.
The dashboard helps you track your fans, and the “Posts” section is where you manage your stuff easily.
Cool features like “Public Preview” and newsletters make it fun for your readers.
Plus, you can make money with paid subscriptions, exclusive content, and Google Ad revenue
Here’s why Ghost.org is cool:
- Quick Loading: Ghost aims for sites to load fast without complicated settings.
- No Spam Issues: By using Mailgun with Ghost, my emails started behaving better, no more getting stuck in spam.
- Future-Proofing: Ghost pays attention to Google updates and focuses on things that will matter in the future.
- SEO Goodies: Ghost does a great job with SEO. You can make SEO-friendly URLs, set up page titles and descriptions, and even add custom code for more advanced stuff.
- Built-in Newsletters: Ghost makes sending posts to subscribers super easy, unlike the manual steps needed in WordPress.
- Design with Code: Ghost “Code Injection” lets you inject code in blog posts such as Adsense code snippets, etc.
Overall, Ghost.org is a fantastic alternative for starting a blog at an affordable price.
5. Substack
Substack is a cool place for writers who love writing comics, stories, etc.
Here, you can write newsletters and send them to people through email or publish them on the web.
You get to decide if your newsletter is free or if people need to pay every month.
The best part is, you get most of the money people pay (except for a small fee).
If more people subscribe or if you charge more, you can earn more money. So, if you love writing, Substack helps you make money doing what you enjoy.
If you’re a writer on Substack, write about things you really like.
You can share your knowledge on a topic you love, tell personal stories, give helpful tips, or offer exclusive content.
The goal is to keep your readers interested and wanting more.
How to make money from Substack:
- Make newsletters and send them to people.
- Make money regularly from subscription fees.
- Choose if your newsletter is free or not.
- You can earn more money if more people subscribe or you charge more.
Here’s a quick overview of potential monthly earnings based on different subscription fees and subscriber counts:
This table illustrates how earnings can grow as writers gain more subscribers or choose higher subscription fees on Substack.
6. Tumblr
Tumblr is a cool platform for blogging where people share stuff in a social way.
It’s not just about writing, you can post pictures and videos, and even re-share other people’s content.
Plus, you can connect with other bloggers, making it kind of like a social media site.
Now, if you’re looking to make some cash, Tumblr offers options like selling ads, promoting your services, integrating Google AdSense, or using affiliate links.
The interesting part is something called Tumblr Post+, where people pay a monthly fee (from $1.99 to $9.99) to see special stuff on your blog.
But remember, this feature is only available in certain countries like Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, the UK, and the US. So, money-making options are there, but a bit limited.
Pros of Tumblr:
- Easy to use, no coding needed.
- You can interact with others through likes, comments, and reblogs.
- Lots of themes to choose from.
- You can buy your own domain name.
Cons of Tumblr:
- Design options are a bit limited.
- Making money can be a bit tricky due to design limits.
- Not as feature-packed as some other platforms.
- No plugins or fancy integrations.
- It’s free but with some restrictions.
Substack vs Medium – Which one is better to start?
| Substack | Medium |
|---|---|
| Good for emails and podcasts | Works for any kind of content |
| Not super famous, need to do some promotion | More popular, people are already using it |
| You only get paid if people pay for exclusive content you make | Everyone pays $5 a month for everything |
| Good if you’re into a specific niche | Great if you like doing all kinds of things |
Okay, let’s talk about Substack and Medium. If you’re wondering which one can help you make money, we’ve got an unbiased take for you.
In our opinion, Medium is a top choice for earning money through blogging, not just compared to Substack but among all the platforms we’ve talked about. And guess what? It won’t cost you a thing.
Now, you may ask why do we rate Medium over Substack and the others? Because it’s so user-friendly. You get a simple dashboard, a neat text editor, and a straightforward way to make money from your content.
So, our pick, Medium all the way.
FAQs
Q1: Which blogging platform is best for making money?
Ans: WordPress is the best way to start blogging and make money, you can buy domain and hosting from any provider, but if you want a reliable provider at a reasonable price, we suggest Hostinger.
Conclusion on Free Blogging platform
Everyone has their own perspective and preferences.
We’ve shared our choice with you regarding which platform is best for starting free blogging. Now, it’s up to you to decide which platform suits you better based on your experience, so choose the platform according to what works for you.
