Free Blog Hosts

WordPress.com and Blogger have been given top billing here because they are my two faves and are likely the two biggest names in free blog hosting. The other free hosts, in no particular order, I have researched for the benefit of those visiting this site who may be searching for another option. It's always nice to have options, but while exploring your options remember free stuff comes and goes. If you are wanting to start a serious blog, before you invest your time and energy check the history and reliability of the host.

WordPress.com

Unlike WordPress.org which requires a hosting account, WordPress.com is a free, hosted version of WordPress. All you need is an e-mail address and a few minutes to get started. WP.com offers 3 gigabytes of file storage with over 60 theme choices. The theme choices have only limited customization options, but if you know what you're doing, you can customize the CSS code on your theme. Your blog can be public, open to all, or private, open to just a few friends. You can have as many blogs as you like and each blog can have multiple contributing authors. WP.com comes with an integrated stats system to help you track visitors to your blog and uses Akismet spam technology which blocks spammers from leaving comments on your blog. WP has an advanced set of editing tools including an HTML editor and allows you to upload photos from Flickr or Photobucket and videos from YouTube or Google. And speaking of editing, unlike Blogger, WP.com even allows you to edit your comments. If you become dissatisfied with the restrictions of the free features, WP offers the following premium features for a price: your own domain name, extra storage which is necessary to host videos and music, VideoPress, go ad-free (although I have rarely seen a WP placed ad), and unlimited users. I am a huge fan of WordPress, both .com and .org, and currently have blogs with both, but I must mention a few drawbacks to WP.com. With WP.com you cannot use javascript for anything -- no ads, no widgets, no gadgets -- so if you are fond of javascript widgets or would like to place ads on your blog this is not the choice for you. Also, WP.com does not allow the upload of custom themes or plugins. Please visit this WordPress.com support page for clarification on the differences between WP.com and WP.org.

Blogger

Blogger, a part of the Google family, is a very straightforward and simple to use but powerful blogging system. You can use the free domain host BlogSpot, or if you prefer not to have "blogspot.com" as part of your domain name you can use your own custom domain name while still having Blogger host your content. Blogger's selection of templates is a bit bland, but the colors, fonts and content of the templates are very customizable. Also, Blogger makes it easy to add widgets and gadgets -- slideshows, user polls, Adsense ads (might as well earn a little money while your saying your piece). As with WordPress, your blog can be public or private, you can have as many blogs as you can keep track of, and each blog can have multiple contributing authors. Sadly, Blogger's set of editing tools, although it also has an HTML editor, is less sophisticated than that of WordPress and is missing one very important feature -- Undo/Redo. Yikes! I can't tell you the amount of times I have mourned the lack of this feature after accidentally deleting something or messing up the format of a post. Also, Blogger does not allow you to edit your comments. Still, I have used and continue to use Blogger and highly recommend it. Please feel free to visit my much neglected Blogger Photo Blog, For My Love, In Living Color.

LiveJournal

Just for fun, I decided to sign up for LiveJournal to see what it's all about. My first impression, it is more commercial than WP and Blogger. During the initial sign-up period before I even was able to see the features of this blog host, LiveJournal tried to sell me an upgraded account for $19.95 per year. LiveJournal offers a decent selection of very basic themes which are customizable to a limited extent, appears to have comparable editing tools to WP and Blogger, and gives a choice of public or private on each individual post. With Friends, Communities and Scrapbook features, LJ also seems to serve as a social networking site. One major annoyance in my opinion, LiveJournal displays ads on every page. It does, however, allow the user to choose the placement of the ads on the journal page -- either at the top or between posts. Caution, you may find some of the ads offensive.