Alternatives for Blogs on WordPress.com

A lot of alternatives recommendation articles are for moving websites to other Content Management Systems (CMS). A simple blog though does not need that. This article is for those people, like me, who just blog. Though, I do include some alternatives for WordPress if your goal is just to move off of WP.com.

I’ve been on WordPress.com (WP.com) for 15 years, most of which has been on some sort of paid plan (started in 2012 with “No Ads”). However, with the “WordPress drama” that’s been happening, I’ve been looking into alternatives. I thought about moving off when they kept raising the prices (I pay 2.5 times what I used to), but was too lazy. It’s still not an immediate concern for me, since of all the hosting services, I expect WP.com to be the last one to have any issues. Nevertheless, what’s out there for blogging has changed significantly, and I thought this might be useful for other people.

If I find anything else, I’ll update this post with notes on what I’ve added.

Disclaimer

I have no affiliation with any of these companies, and don’t endorse any of them. The only exceptions are that I’m affiliated with GitLab and tangentially with Glitch, where I and my partner work respectively. However, I’m not promoting them over other services, nor am I telling anyone that they should use the paid plans (what I mention are free features). [Insert other legal wording that basically says I’m not responsible for any of these services.]

With that out of the way…

Requirements

When I posted on Mastodon for recommendations, I made a list of features that I use.

Requirements:

  1. Write content in Markdown
  2. Supports uploading/hosting images
  3. Have RSS feed
  4. Ability to add 2-3 pages in a menu
  5. Tags/categories that I can link to
  6. Custom domain support

In particular, proper Markdown support was a feature I would not compromise on. I don’t need extended Markdown support, but basic styling, links, and images are expected. I am currently writing the entire post in Markdown in the WordPress Classic Editor (because blocks are terrible for the purposes of just writing a blog post in Markdown). Some of the recommendations I got did not include proper Markdown support so that’s noted in the list of pros and cons.

Nice to have features, which are ones I use but could live without:

  1. Auto-posting to social media (such as Mastodon, LinkedIn)
  2. Customizable sidebar with bio, list of categories/tags, and search
  3. Excerpts on home page
  4. Email subscription (frequently called newsletter)
  5. Basic analytics/stats
  6. Contact form
  7. Scheduling posts
  8. Easy to import from WP

I got a bunch of great suggestions. When evaluating the options, the lists above are what I’ve focused on, though I’ve included some other features that stood out to me.

I want to note that I originally had email forwarding of emails sent to accounts on a custom domain as a nice-to-have, because it’s something WP.com provides. However, even on WP, it’s not something a WP plugin would provide, but may be available with the hosting provider.

Hosted WordPress alternatives

There are a few different types of options for having WP hosted.

Self-hosted in the cloud

A brief mention for those unaware that WP is something you can install yourself on any hosting provider. Many hosting providers have a one-click install option where it will install WP and set up the tech stack with a default configuration.

The main downside of this option is that you need to manage everything yourself. Having complete control means both having lots of choices and too many choices, which can require a lot of research time unless you know people who do this and can recommend a reliable hosting provider.

Pros Cons
Complete control Time consuming
Easy to move Time to set up and maintain
Lots of choices Too many choices
Good option for multiple sites Overkill for a single blog site
Should allow for all desired features with plugins
Low cost

I’ve managed small WP networks/installs in some of the jobs I’ve had. The most time consuming part was managing plugins. There’s auto-updating now, which saves a lot of time, but there’s still the research you need to do around security, privacy, accessibility, and maintenance schedule. If a plugin stops being updated, you need to find a new one.

Being in Canada, sometimes it was complicated by privacy laws, which meant we didn’t want to use anything that involved sending data outside of Canada, so couldn’t use some common integration services and plugins, like Jetpack.

Fully managed WP

On the other end of the WP spectrum, there are fully managed services. Such a service would be comparable to the WP.com VIP service, where they manage everything for you, including site migration.

Pros Cons
Low effort High cost
Easy to move Some lost of control as they may restrict what’s installed
Should allow for all desired features

Additionally, if you find a provider in a specific country, they likely cater to customers in that country, with knowledge and expertise in privacy and handling of user data. For example, I noticed CanSpace has fully managed WP (when I was looking up domain registration cost).

I won’t get any farther on this option, because they’re typically too expensive for a simple blog site.

Managed WP

In between the self-hosted and fully managed options, there are a ton of hosting providers that give you a single “site” on their WP network. This option means that the core WP software is already running and maintained for you. I would say that this option aligns with the WP.com Personal, Premium, or Business plan depending on the hosting provider and their specific plan features.

Pros Cons
Relatively low effort Can be more effort managing plugins
Lots of choices Too many choices
Relatively low cost
Easy to move
Should allow for all desired features

The key benefit is that you can choose to install plugins. With auto-updating turned on, the maintenance is minimal if they’re well maintained plugins. It mostly depends on the plugins you choose or need.

Two options that were recommended to me:

  1. DreamHost
  2. Liquid web

I appreciate that DreamHost has low priced plans, and you can separately pay for migration services if you want. However, migration services doesn’t make sense if you’re on WP.com (more on that below).

Migrating and getting a comparable WordPress experience

Because WP.com is a managed service, you can only migrate the content (posts, pages, categories, tags, media), and not any of the settings and plugins. The upside is that this makes the migration really easy.

  1. Get an export.
  2. Install the WordPress Importer on your new WP site. You can find an easy link under Tools > Import > WordPress.
  3. Unpack your export (if it’s in a zip), and upload the XML file in the importer. Make sure the “import media” option is on.
    • Tip: If your import takes too long and you get a timeout error, do the import again. It will automatically skip anything that already exists.

If all you’re looking for is a comparable experience and most features of WP.com, then you only need:

  1. Classic editor, optionally.
  2. Jetpack, which includes Markdown support.

Jetpack has related plugins for specific features, such as Akismet, and Jetpack Search, but it’ll prompt you to install them if necessary. Additionally, many Jetpack features require a WP.com user account.

Turn on auto-updates for all the plugins, and maintenance should be minimal.

Obviously, you’ll need to go through the settings on your WP site, and Jetpack, to turn on the things you want, and configure everything to match what’s on your current site.

Managed CMS other than WordPress

I mentioned at the beginning that most articles are recommendations for alternative CMSes aside from WordPress, so there are lots of resources out there already for that.

I also won’t do a “Pros” and “Cons” list for this one, because it depends on how “managed” it is, much like all the WP options I covered above. The more it’s managed for you, the less maintenance, but also the higher the cost.

I will list the ones that were recommended:

  1. Ghost CMS.
    • Note: Ghost uses a block editor, so Markdown support for whole posts or pages is not great.
  2. Grav CMS (which is open source, yay!), optionally managed by hosting providers, such as Reclaim.
    • Note: Should have all requirements, but may not have all the nice to haves.
  3. Obsidian
    • Not technically a CMS, but a wiki platform. Mentioning it only because it was recommended to me. Not meant for time specific content. Their RSS feed doesn’t have timestamps for example.

Static Site Generators

There are a myriad Static Site Generators (SSGs), and different ways to host them. This option is not recommended for non-technical people. Even if you get it hosted (such as on Netlify), you need to have a basic understanding of build images, YAML or JSON files, and how to have a local development environment. You would also need to understand documentation that is often not low context (meaning they assume a certain level of knowledge with the SSG or the underlying technologies already).

Pros Cons
Free1 Can be more maintenance
Lots of choices Too many choices
Easy to move Requires more technical knowledge
Should allow for all desired features with plugins More effort to set up

If you are considering moving to a SSG, there are multiple scripts online to convert WP export files to Markdown files, or you can use a WP plugin to export to Markdown files.

I had a number of SSGs recommended to me along with possible blog style themes:

  1. Hugo, themes: Ananke, LogBook, Touchy, Bookworm, The Article, Fjord
  2. Eleventy, themes: Eleventy Duo, High Performance Blog, Vscode Liquid
  3. Jekyll, theme: Nikola
  4. Roll your own, or fork someone else’s repository, such as Pomax’s blog

The biggest advantage is that you can easily have your site hosted for free using one of the following:

  1. Pages feature on GitHub or GitLab
  2. Developer platform, such as Glitch (even has a template for blogging with Eleventy)

The key here is finding a theme that meets all of your requirements out-of-the-box, and that’s well maintained. If you can do that, then all you really need are the configuration and content files. It would require minimal maintenance under those circumstances.

Blogging sites

WP and many other CMSes started as sites for blogging, but grew over time. Most of them are now “overkill” for just blogging. Maybe in response to that, a number of lightweight blogging sites have popped up. Here are the recommendations that I got in the order that I got them.

Pika

The whole adventure started when someone mentioned Pika in my Mastodon feed. It’s a lightweight, easy to use blogging platform.

Their example sites are nice and clean, while customizable so they don’t all look the same.

Pros Cons
Simple and easy No import function (though their team says you can contact them to get help)
Low cost, no ads even on free Lacks Markdown support (has styling but not linking or images)
Has export functionality Lacks most of the nice to haves
Has theme options Minimal theme options

I really appreciated their quick response on Mastodon and willingness to have me contact them about importing. It’s too bad they lack proper Markdown support.

Mataroa

Mataroa is a very minimal blogging site.

Pros Cons
Simple and easy Lacks categories/tags
Low cost, no ads even on free No theme customization
Has nice to haves: newsletter, basic analytics Lacks the other nice to haves
Has import/export functionality

Not having categories or tags, and the ability to link to them meant this one wouldn’t work for me. I appreciate that you can sign up without even an email address.

Bear blog

Bear blog is another very minimal blogging site. I like that it doesn’t require JavaScript to load, which makes it super fast to load and promises no tracking or ads.

Pros Cons
Simple and easy Lacks image hosting
Free with no ads No import/export functionality
Has nice to haves: newsletter, basic analytics Lacks the other nice to haves
Has themes Minimal customization

It’s certainly nice that it’s free with no ads, but the lack of import/export functionality makes it a poor choice for moving to.

Write.as

Write.as is a blogging platform that is simple and clean looking, but has many of the features you might expect from a CMS to support blogging.

Pros Cons
Simple and easy Has all required features
Low cost No import/export functionality
Has nice to haves: social cross-posts, newsletter, excerpts Lacks the other nice to haves
Customizable themes

It doesn’t have all the nice to haves, but has all of the required features. This one definitely looked promising when I was reviewing options. The main downside is the lack of import, though there is a work in progress tool.

Micro.blog

Micro.blog is a blogging platform that also does podcasts and book tracking (though not how much their book tracking stuff is updated).

Pros Cons
Simple and easy Has all required features
Has nice to haves: social cross-posts, newsletter, excerpts, scheduled posts Lacks the other nice to haves though third-party analytics is easy to add
Has low cost plan Newsletter is premium plan, doubling cost
Customizable themes
Has many import/export options, including WP import

I was impressed with the number of import/export options. While the newsletter feature being at the premium level (doubling costs), it has all of my required features and the nice to haves that I really care about.

Based on what I’ve seen, if you want something easy to move to, micro.blog would be my top pick of the blogging platforms that have been recommended to me.

Aside: Contact card

While I was researching WP.com alternatives, I stumbled across a number of contact card / one-pager recommendations. I’m listing them here in case people are interested.

  1. about.me, which is what I use
  2. “Glitch in Bio” template on Glitch
  3. omg.lol (paid only though)
  4. Carrd
  5. Fork a project, such as Public.bio, and host on aforementioned platforms similar to an SSG

Conclusion

Which option is best for you really depends on your requirements. What I want and need, and especially which of the “nice to haves” I’d be more willing to live without, are unlikely going to be the same as you. If the WP alternatives articles aren’t doing it for you, I recommend writing a list of required and “nice to have” features for yourself and then asking for recommendations, and evaluating them based on the list.

You might be surprised at what you find. I started with a list of the features I have, but realized that I get so few comments on my posts that I’d be perfectly fine without them. As a result, I removed comments from my “nice to haves” list.

Personally, for those wondering, I plan to move to DreamHost with domain transfer to a Canadian registrar that I haven’t decided on yet. Primarily, aside from being easy to move from WP.com to another WP site, I discovered my partner’s DreamHost plan includes WP sites. I was seriously considering an SSG, but being able to keep all the features I’m used to at no extra cost is nice. People shouldn’t even notice the difference when I do the cut-over.

Good luck to anyone planning to migrate! If you find any further recommendations that I haven’t covered, please reach out and let me know.


  1. Usually free. There are hosting provider options, which are obviously paid.