Blogger vs Wix vs Zyro: Comparison of Blogging Website Builders

Setting up a blog for your personal or professional brand is a great way to engage visitors and create added value for your readers, and in turn, gain their trust and loyalty.

But with so many blogging platforms out there, where do you start?

Well, as someone who has tried many major blogging platforms, I’d like to share what I’ve learned. Hopefully, this article can help you pick the right platform to start your blogging journey.

In this article I’ll be discussing:

1. Blogger — offers one of the simplest, most straightforward blogging platforms out there. Perfect for beginners.
2. Wix — create a sleek blog complete with blog marketing features, like email marketing to help promote your blog.
3. Zyro — all-in-one website builder powered by AI tools that let you get a blog up and running in no time.

1. Blogger

Blogger, formerly known as Blogspot before its acquisition by Google, has been in the blogging game before blogs were even a big deal.

Blogger’s appeal is that it’s super user-friendly and essentially free.

All you need to start your blog is log in with your Google account, and you can make a blog right there and then. Your free Blogger account includes speedy hosting and tight security, thanks to Google’s infrastructure.

You also get a subdomain under blogspot.com (e.g., websitename.blogspot.com). If you want to own a domain name, then you need to purchase one from a third-party domain provider then point it to your Blogger account.

This makes Blogger one of the most simple and affordable blogging platforms, great for beginners and personal bloggers.

Now, an unfortunate downside to Blogger is its quite limited functionality. For example, templates are quite simplistic, customization options are limited, and Blogger as a product isn’t very versatile. Blogger is for blogging, and that’s it.

These factors may be pain-points later down the line when your blog starts to grow and you want more from your blog, like having a landing page or some eCommerce functionality.

There is also a common misconception that because Blogger is owned by Google, it has better SEO optimization. However, the truth is, it makes no difference.

SEO largely depends on your optimization efforts, like performing keyword research and creating quality content that your readers would want to share.

I’d recommend Blogger if you’re a beginner or personal blogger who doesn’t have plans to scale anytime soon.

Pros

• Cost-effective — worth reiterating that Blogger is free, and all you need to pay for is your custom domain name. You can also easily export your Blogger to another platform if you want more features to support a growing site.
• Google integration — you can make money from Google AdSense right away, which may be attractive for new bloggers.

Cons

• Limited functionality — made for blogging, Blogger doesn’t let you do much. For instance, this platform automatically displays blog posts in reverse chronological order, so there’s no static homepage. This can be troublesome if you want a more modern experience to your blog.
• Limited control — Google frequently updates its content policy. Users should be aware of the changes to what you can and can’t upload so Google won’t take down your blog.

2. Wix

Wix was launched in 2006 and quickly became a crowd favorite for its drag and drop interface that can help to create a beautiful website.

With Wix, you can easily launch a blog by signing up and clicking on ‘blog’ as the type of website you want to create.

Once you’re in, you can choose from hundreds of blogging templates with the Wix Editor, or let the Wix artificial design intelligence (Wix ADI) design a customized site for you.

Wix has other useful blog features:

• HTML embedding — spice up your blog posts with some music or videos from external sites.
• Blog post scheduling — you can write content in advance and schedule the publish time.
• Email marketing — automatically push newsletters whenever you have a new post, really helpful for promoting your blog.

All these features, though, don’t come cheap.

Wix’s pricing system is split between Website and Business & eCommerce, the main difference being you can accept online payments with the latter. These business plans range from $23 to $49 per month.

If you don’t need those eCommerce features, then you can start off with the Free version where you’ll have a Wix subdomain (username.wix.com/samplesite).

You can connect your own domain for $14/month, or upgrade as you wish to the Unlimited, Pro, or VIP plan for $18, $23, and $39 a month, respectively.

Each of these options includes hosting, ample storage and bandwidth, customer support.

Wix is by far the most expensive option on this list, so I’d only recommend this platform to small businesses or professional bloggers who have the cash flow to support the site for more than a year.

Pros

• Blog marketing tools — you can create forms on your blog to grow your email lists. There’s also an analytics tool to see your email marketing’s performance.
• Wix blog — there are tons of free articles about blog marketing and finances to help bloggers who are just starting out.
• Support — the Help Center has a robust database of FAQs. And if you need customer care, its support center is available 24/7.

Cons

• Responsiveness — the edits that you make on your desktop website don’t automatically sync with the mobile website. You have to edit the mobile site separately, which can be a bit tedious.
• Exporting your site — Wix sites are exclusively hosted on their servers, which means you can’t export your site to another platform. This may not be a deal-breaker, but this means you won’t have full control over your site in case anything changes in the future.

3. Zyro

If you haven’t heard of Zyro, it’s probably because it was only launched earlier this year.

Zyro has a super simple and intuitive web editor that anyone, at any skill level, can use to create a beautiful website.

While most blogging platforms have a drag and drop interface, Zyro takes it a step further with its grid feature, which helps you snap texts and photos perfectly into place.

So whether you’re using one of its designer-made templates, or starting a blogging website from scratch, you can get the page to look professional without any code or design skills.

Now, here’s what’s truly revolutionary about Zyro: AI-powered tools.

Zyro has a suite of AI-driven tools, like its blog title generator and content writer, making copywriting easier than ever before.

Say goodbye to writer’s block. All you need to do is write a keyword or phrase, and the AI tools will generate a creatively written slogan or paragraph that’s guaranteed to keep your readers engaged and help you with your SEO.

What’s more, you can get a Zyro website complete with website necessities like hosting, SSL certificate, and customer support for an affordable cost. You can either choose the Basic or Unleashed plan for $1.99/month or $2.99/month, respectively.

Should you want to use the shopping cart functionality, feel free to upgrade to the eCommerce ($8.99/month) or eCommerce+ ($13.99/month).

These paid plans also come with plenty of storage and powerful marketing analytics like Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel.

Why do you need marketing analytics, you ask? Well, these marketing tools let you know your readers better so you can post content that they care about and grow a successful blog.

Unfortunately, since Zyro is quite new, the blogging features aren’t as robust yet. However, the AI tools and content analytics quickly make up for it.

Overall I’d recommend Zyro for anyone out there who is thinking of starting a personal blog, and any small business owners looking to engage in a meaningful way with their customers.

Pros

• Simplicity — Zyro streamlines the website building process, which makes it easy to launch your site so you can get right down to blogging.
• Integrated blogging tools — along with AI-powered tools and SEO optimization, Zyro gives you access to over a million free stock images and content analytics to help your blog flourish.
• Value for money — you can get all these features and more for a very competitive price, which is perfect for those who are just starting out.

Cons

• Limited templates — because of Zyro’s tender age, it only has 20 or so templates. Nevertheless, you can easily create one on your own with its intuitive site editor.
• Limited blog features — Zyro’s blogging features are still in the beginner stages I’d say. But if you’re looking for a simple blogging platform, then it will definitely suffice.

What is the best website builder for blogging?

Any of these platforms are great, but let’s take a closer look at which platform is best for each need.

Features as a Blogging Platform

Bloggers need features that can help them create, publish, and share meaningful content simply and beautifully.

Zyro can help you kickstart your blog with AI-powered writing features and stunning stock images that are sure to make your blog stand out. It’s also designed to be mobile responsive, so your readers will see a great site no matter what device they’re using.

Blogger hosts fast-loading websites with sufficient storage and bandwidth. It also has other essential features like a blog archive to help readers sift through your content, and a comment section to engage with your audience.

Meanwhile, Wix has those features and more by integrating interactive visuals and interactions to make your blog look even better.

Between Blogger and Wix, the latter may have the upper hand here for its completeness and ease of use. For instance, Wix automatically integrates an RSS feed for your blog, whereas on Blogger, you’d have to do so manually.

Winner: Wix

Drag-and-drop Design

Zyro immediately takes my pick because I just love its drag-and-drop grid feature. It lets me turn a blank page or existing template into a beautiful website in no time. It’s simple, mobile responsive, and I love how text and photo elements snap into place.

Blogger also has an easy web design interface, but the free templates are quite basic. If you wanted a nice, modern theme, you’d usually have to pay for it or fiddle with the HTML and CSS code to get it to look just how you want it.

Wix, on the other hand, has hundreds of modern templates and an intuitive drag and drop web editor with robust customization capabilities. My only issue with it is you have to edit the mobile site separately.

Winner: Zyro

Analytics

As briefly mentioned earlier, analytics help you understand your current strengths and weaknesses so you can see which content works best for your target audience.

By understanding your analytics and making changes to your content accordingly, you can optimize your site to reach a larger audience.

Blogger is part of the Google family, so it is automatically connected with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager for free.

Bringing in other third-party analytics tools may be troublesome unless you have some coding knowledge.

Wix has integrations with Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and Yandex Metrica that can help you track and analyze your site’s performance. However, these tools are only available on premium accounts, which can range from $8.50 to $24.50 a month.

With Zyro, you can not only get Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, but you’ll also have access to Facebook Pixel for $2.99 a month.

Considering the price and its analytics options, I’d recommend Zyro for sure.

Winner: Zyro

Support

If you’ve ever managed a blog or website, you’d know it’s quite scary when your website crashes or something doesn’t work right. You could lose all your work or even get hacked.

That’s why a strong customer support base is really important and should be something that you consider when choosing a blogging platform.

Because Blogger is a free platform, it doesn’t offer users with much support. It has a FAQ page and forums that the community can raise concerns on, but that’s about it.

Although Wix has a very helpful blog and offers 24/7 customer support, it prioritizes business websites and high-tier premium accounts. So unless you’re paying top of the line, you may not get the support you need, when you need it.

In contrast, Zyro offers their top of the line 24/7 support to all of its users, regardless of what account they have.

Winner: Zyro

Pricing

When it comes to pricing, it’s better to look at value for money instead of price.

As a student or fresh blogger, I’d suggest Blogger because it’s pretty hard to beat free. A domain name from a third party domain provider may only cost you as little as $0.98 a year, and you can point that to your Blogger account easily.

And that’s it, you’d then essentially be running a blog with your own domain name for less than a dollar a year including web hosting, SSL certificate, storage, and analytics.

However, if you’re looking for a little more freedom and functionality in what your blog can do, and you’ve got plans to grow your blog, then I’d suggest investing in your blogging site a little.

Zyro is great if you’re just starting out or if you’re a small business owner who wants to reach a wider audience online, starting from $1.99 a month. And as I mentioned before, though these prices are low, it does not compromise on the quality of its products — and that’s true value for money.

Now, if you’re an established entrepreneur or freelancer with the financials to support a $14 a month website, then Wix may be for you.

So which site gives the most benefits for the least cost?

Winner: Zyro

Which platform is the best to make money blogging?

There are different ways to make money from blogs.

Here I’ll focus on the three main ways you can earn while you churn out those words:

• Advertising — using platforms like Google AdSense, you can earn money every time someone clicks on an ad on your blog. You can get this automatically with Blogger, whereas on Wix, you would have to download the app to integrate it on your site.
• Affiliate marketing — many brands offer affiliate programs where you can earn a commission every time someone buys the service or product you’re writing about. Wix and Zyro are great for this, thanks to their SEO tools that can increase your blog’s rankings in the search engines. The more people read your blog and click the link, the higher your commissions.
• Online selling — sell digital or physical goods and services through your blog. Both Wix and Zyro offer eCommerce plans, but the features you’ll get will differ greatly. The cheapest option at Wix includes free domain name, visitor analytics app, and Google Analytics. Meanwhile, the low-tier plan at Zyro offers multichannel selling, automatic tax calculations, Android and iOS apps, and much more.

From a fresh blogger’s perspective, you have to think about return on investment.

Does your blog revenue cover the cost of running your website? If yes, then Wix may be the right platform for you, but if not, then I’d stick with Zyro.

Winner: Zyro

What’s the best blogging solution?

Blogging is a great way to connect and engage with your audience, whether you’re just starting out or have a customer base already.

With lots of blogging platforms out there, it’s important to choose the right one to fulfill your needs. However, my votes go to Zyro as you can use it for personal or professional blogging, and you can create a beautiful blog in minutes at an incredible value for money.

Remember that at the end of the day, the right blogging platform helps you focus on what’s important and gets you closer to achieving your blogging goals.

With that, happy blogging.

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