The Best Blogging Platforms in 2014

A blog can be a very useful addition to your e-commerce store.  By using it as a tool for connecting with your customers, you can provide them with helpful information and as a result drive traffic to your website and gain more loyalty from your visitors. But before writing, you have to choose the right platform. We are here to help you: in this post, you will find a list of blogging platforms. Many of them are open source and support customization, most blogs offer a free plan!

WordPress

It is a free open-source blogging solution and content management system. WordPress is built on PHP and MySQL and powers more than 60 million websites worldwide. You can find are a lot of different plugins, themes and widgets at WordPress.org. Use WordPress.com to get a free version of this blogging tool or use a business plan, which is $299 per year. For this money, you get unlimited space, a custom site address, premium themes and no ads.

Movable Type

Movable Type has an advanced dashboard for workflow management, engagement tools, self-service support features and other useful additions. This blogging solution stands out for its content management and creation abilities. The price is $595 for five user license.\

Squarespace

With Squarespace you can create a blog with e-commerce functionality. Add a store to your website and start to receive payments for your products. With Squarespace you get a free custom domain. The cheapest plan starts at $8 per month. To sell unlimited products you have to pay $24 per month.

Textpattern

Textpattern is open-source, free and user friendly. The tool allows you to control all aspects of CSS and XHTML right from the admin interface. There are hundreds of plugins for Textpattern, so you can extend your blog abilities with ease. It’s available in 40+ languages and has huge community.

Blogger

Google also has its own free blogging platform, which requires only a Google account to get started. Blogger is easily customizable and supports Google tools. It is not so feature rich as other platforms, but it’s a good, simple and free.

Typepad

With Typepad you get different analytic tools and a theme builder. It isn’t such flexible as WordPress, but it simple and has all the necessary features. You can start your Typepad blog for $8.95 per month.

Scriptogr.am

Scriptogr.am is a free tool for generating static weblogs with the help of Markdown files from Dropbox folder. There is a special application for Scriptogr.am, designed to publish right from writing environment. You can even use your own template.

Posthaven

This blogging solution is simple, modern and useful. Posthaven features all the necessary tools and costs $5 per month.

Tumblr

Tumblr is a strong combination of micro-blogging and social media by Yahoo. Use pictures, texts, animations and music to interact with your customers. With Tumblr you can also get a free custom domain and use one of hundreds of themes. This blogging solution is free.

Pen.io

Publish your posts and articles in seconds with Pen.io, you don’t even have to create an account, register a domain and pay for hosting. Just use your URL. This blogging tool doesn’t store any personal information and is absolutely free.

Postagon

With Postagon you get a clean and simple blogging platform for a pure reading and writing. This blogging solution includes smart commenting system, supports custom domain names, and provides your readers with email alerts. Postagon is ad-free and costs $4.99 per month.

Weebly

By using Weebly, you can start a blog, site, or even online store. With a drag-and-drop interface, it is extremely easy to manage blog content. Weebly also provides free hosting and fully customized blog. The basic plan is free, and the premium one starts at $4 per month.

Postach.io

With Postach.io you can create your posts in Evernote. They can also be written with HTML and Markdown. The blogging tool is also integrated with Disqus, Dropbox and Google Analytics. You can use Postach.io for free, but there is a premium plan for $5 per month.

Roon

Roon stands out due to its web,  Mac and iOS applications. With this solution you can manage multiple blogs with one user account. For custom domains Roon offers premium add-ons. The solution is free with paid add-ons.

Anchor

Anchor is lightweight and open-source. You can use this blogging system to write in HTML, Markdown, or whatever you want. Any post or page can be supplemented with custom CSS, JavaScript, and HTML elements. With drag-and-drop editing, simple theming and compactness (150KB) Anchor can become a good blogging solution for everyone, but it supports only the latest browsers. The price is $5 single donation.

Medium

Medium is a simple and collaborative platform, where you will easily find your audience. You can even create your posts with other participants. Medium offers free plan.

Ghost

Ghost is a simple and elegant open-source blogging solution. With Ghost Editor interface and own themes marketplace it has a lot of abilities. The software is free, but hosted plan starts at $5 per month.

Wardrobe

Wardrobe keeps the administration of your blog as simple as possible, so you can focus on writing. Use schedules and tags to bring order to your blog. The solution is free.

Jekyll

With Jekyll you get a static site generator, which relies on Markdown and Liquid converters. The solution is deeply integrated with GitHub Pages and costs nothing.

Hexo

This blog framework is simple, powerful and fast. It supports Markdown and has a wide range of plugins and themes. Hexo is free.

Sett

Sett is famous for its “high engagement blogging”. Thanks to huge active community every Sett blog always gets a lot of comments. You can use this blogging solution for free.

Dropplets

Dropplets focuses on usability and design. It also supports Markdown and has one free template. The solution is free with paid templates.

Pressmatica

With no advanced options, Pressmatica has a simple and intuitive interface. This blogging solution remains streamlined and you can use it for free.

Silvrback

Silvrback is a blogging platform with a lot of useful features and two user-interface schemes: Classic Silvrback and Alpha Gorilla. Its price is $29.99 per year.

Jux

Jux offers six templates, where you can share words, images and videos – everything you need to promote your e-commerce shop. The solution is free.