In the following chart features at Blogger (blogspot.com) andWordpress.com are compared. These are the two main contenders for free blog hosting. Features which are clearly better at either BlogSpot or Wordpress have been highlighted. Widgets are listed in another summary table after the features list. If you have your own website with PHP/MySQL support, you can download and use WordPress with no restrictions (get it here).
Updated June 2010.
| Feature | Blogger.com | Wordpress.com |
|---|---|---|
| Themes and customization | New: Blogger has introduced a collection of easy-to-customize templates (more info). Earlier templates are not available in the new collection, but you can still edit them. | No template editing. Style sheet editing is only available as a paid upgrade. Many of the 90+ themes let you upload a header image. Some have additional customization options. |
| Visitor stats | You can include third party tracker scripts — or any type of script. | No scripts allowed. The admin dashboard shows 2 days of statsand daily, weekly and monthly graphs. |
| Import | Only from another BlogSpot blog. | Import from Blogger, Yahoo! 360, Type·Pad, MovabIe·Type, Posterous, Vox.com, Live·JournaI or another WordPress blog. |
| Image storage | 1 Gigabyte. There is no interface to browse through the images unless you sign up forPicasa Web Albums. | 3 Gigabytes. Paid upgrades are available to add more space. You can also upload.ppt, .doc, .odt and .pdffiles (more file types with an upgrade). |
| Galleries | You can use Picasa Web Albums. | Simply add the tag [gallery] to any post or page (more info). |
| Static pages | Blogger allows up to 10 static pages to be created (more info). | Create posts or 'pages'. Static pages are listed in separate menus. |
| Categories | 'Labels'. | 'Categories'. |
| Optional excerpts | Expandable post summaries (more info). | Some WP themes allow unique text. Others depend on a "more" tag. |
| Post by email | Submit your posts by email. You can receive new posts by email too (helpful for team blogs). | Submit your posts by email. Images can be attached (more info). |
| Contact forms | Not available. You could add a third-party contact form, however. | Simply add the tag [contact-form] to any post or page. |
| Domain names | Free domain name mapping (more info). | A paid upgrade is required to map a custom domain. |
| Private blogs | You can restrict access to invited Google account holders. | You can restrict access to 35 invited Wordpress account holders (unlimited with a paid upgrade). Alternatively, individual posts can be password protected or Private. |
| Team blogs | Administrators and non-administrators only. | Administrator, Editors, Authors and Contributors. |
| Comments | Visual confirmation and moderation options, but no editing of comments. | Moderation, comment editing and Akismet spam protection. |
| Widgets | See the next table. | |
Blogger comments:
Visitors can preview comments. They can also choose to receive follow-up comments by email. However, the embedded Comment Form option is entirely dependent on JavaScript.
Wordpress comments:
In 2009 Wordpress.com added follow-ups by email and comment threading options. Wordpress has more comment options than Blogger, but there have been problems with Akismet spam protection. See this post on the WP user forum...
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=16584
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=16584
Widgets compared:
| BlogSpot Widgets | |
|---|---|
| Edit pages | You can add up to 10 stand-alone pages. |
| Add a Gadget | Software applications that do cool things. There's an extensive menu in the sidebar. |
| Followers | Displays a list of users who follow your blog. |
| Blog List | Show off what you read with a blogroll of your favourite blogs. |
| Subscription Links | Let your readers easily subscribe to your blog with popular feed readers. |
| Slideshow | Add a slideshow of your photos to your blog. |
| Newsreel | Automatically add current headlines from Google News to your blog. (see an example) |
| Video Bar | Display clips from YouTube and Google Video for your readers to watch without leaving the page. |
| List | Add a list of your favourite books, films or anything you like. |
| Link List | Add a collection of your favourite sites, blogs or web pages. |
| Picture [for the sidebar] | Add a picture from your computer or from somewhere else on the web. |
| Text | Add some words to your blog - like a welcome message - with our rich text editor. |
| HTML/JavaScript | Add third-party functionality or other code to your blog. [ i.e., any third-party widget] |
| AdSense | Earn revenue by displaying relevant ads on your blog. |
| Feed | Add content from a site feed to your blog. |
| Labels [categories] | Show all the labels of posts in your blog. |
| Logo | Choose from a variety of Blogger logos to add to your page. |
| Profile | Display information about yourself. [Wordpress blogs have an "About" page] |
| Page Header | Display your blog's title and description. |
| Blog Archive | Display links to older posts. |
| Poll | Survey your visitors by adding a poll to your blog. [Regular visitors can dictate the outcome by voting again and again!] |
| Wordpress.com Widgets | |
| Akismet | Archives | Authors | Author Grid | Blog Stats | Blog Subscriptions | Box.net file sharing | Calendar | Categories | Category cloud | del.icio.us | Flickr | Gravatar | Image | Links | Meebo | Meta | Pages | Recent Comments | Recent Posts | RSS | RSS Links| Search | SocialVibe | Tag Cloud | Text | Top Clicks | Top Posts | Top Rated | Twitter | Vod:Pod Videos | |
In addition, WordPress shortcodes are widgets for individual posts.
Theme choices
Blogger has introduced new, easy-to-customize templates. Earlier templates can be modified, or you can install a third party theme. Make sure that third party themes have the latest layout tags.
Although the Wordpress.com collection of 90+ themes sounds like a lot, options for customization are limited unless you pay for an upgrade that allows stylesheet editing. Wordpress.com uses a scheme called Typekit for changing fonts, while Blogger offers a straightforward method to choose between standard fonts.
Ongoing improvements
The WordPress team frequently add new features and themes, and since the new BlogSpot publishing system was rolled out in 2006, the Blogger software team have added new features too. Visit the developer blogs to find out what's new:
Conclusion
In 2007, I wanted to find out what was on offer in terms of free blog hosting. Before that, Blogger was looking stale, and Wordpress.com didn't have nearly as many themes or features as it does now. I chose Blogger, and this was my first post. If Wordpress.com allowed stylesheet editing without having to pay, and visitor statscomparable to the tracker scripts you can obtain for free, my choice would have been Wordpress.com for sure.
