4 ms·

Ask HN: Which blog platform is suitable for personal blogging?

14 points by elliot93 2y ago

Hello everyone. I'm looking for a blogging platform for my personal blog. I don't want something self-hosted, just a simple and affordable platform. Which platforms do you recommend?

chistev 2y ago
Self host a simple blog. It's the best.
cebert 2y ago
If you’re open to spending a bit, I highly recommend a hosted Ghost.js blog (around $11/month). It gives me full control over my content and domain, and I can choose to keep it ad-free. In my opinion, it’s a far better option for building your personal brand compared to platforms like Medium or DEV.to, which often have paywalls and can be cluttered with garbage low-quality content.
- moooo99 2y ago
  +1 for Ghost. The platform really is all about blogging. It’s ecosystem is not as huge was the WordPress ecosystem, but substantial nonetheless. Building a custom theme for Ghost is also far more accessible for beginners than building a Wordpress theme, at least in my experience
  - cebert 2y ago
    You can also self-host Ghost. Which I did for a while, but didn’t want to spend my free time being a sysadmin. I decided paying for hosting was worth it, and helps marginally support the product.
KuriousCat 2y ago
It depends, there are a lot of options including the age old blogger, wordpress, substack, ghost, medium etc. May be you can checkout substack (https://substack.com/for-bloggers https://substack.com/for-bloggers)
cpach 2y ago
Throw a dart ;-) import random platform = random.SystemRandom().choice(["Astro", "Blogger", "Ghost", "Hugo"]) print(platform) Hugo doesn’t include hosting but you can host on AWS Amplify, GitHub Pages, CloudFlare Pages, Vercel, etc. For additional inspiration, some earlier threads with similar theme: Ask HN: What do you use for your personal blog? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41608459 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41608459 - Sept 2024 (44 comments) Ask HN: What is the best way to author blogs in 2024? -https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41014806 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41014806 - July 2024 (134 comments) Ask HN: What tech stack do you use for your blog? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38957782 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38957782 - Jan 2024 (7 comments) Some earlier threads about static site generators: Ask HN: Best static site generator for non-designer? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41397521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41397521 - Aug 2024 (25 comments) Ask HN: What's the simplest static website generator? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39861593 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39861593 - Mar 2024 (74 comments)
- elliot93 2y ago
  this comment will help me a lot thank you!
  - cpach 2y ago
    You’re welcome. Cheers!
seowallet 2y ago
[dead]
nicbou 2y ago
https://bearblog.dev/ https://bearblog.dev/ is pretty cool
manafov 2y ago
Nucelo gives you everything you want. As an open source platform, you can share unlimited articles for $4 per month. You also get a place to share your projects and bookmarks. It doesn't end with this, you can take a look. https://nucelo.com https://nucelo.com
starlite-5008 2y ago
For personal blogging, platforms like WordPress and Medium are highly recommended.
- cebert 2y ago
  I think Medium is a bad way to go. You give up control of your content and bow it’s presented to users. Additionally, there’s a lot of low quality content on Medium you may not want to be associated with.
softwaredoug 2y ago
Don't spend 400 hours customizing your favorite blogging software then 0 hours blogging. :) (I use Jekyll -> netlify. I only use Jekyll because I used it once 10 years ago. I literally write posts in Github directly and commit to master because blogging should be informal and F the haters)
- networked 2y ago
  A related webcomic: https://rakhim.org/honestly-undefined/19/ https://rakhim.org/honestly-undefined/19/.
VonNaturAustre 2y ago
I think in the selfhost with hugo or Jekyll is nice options!
embeng4096 2y ago
Blot.im - you can write your posts in Markdown, Microsoft Word, Pages, Google Docs, OpenOffice. Your documents can be stored in Git, or a folder in Dropbox, or a folder in Google Drive, and the service publishes them from there. $5/month (not affiliated, just used and liked it back when I had a public facing blog) https://blot.im/ https://blot.im/
solardev 2y ago
Wix? Pay a few dollars a month, write what you want, nothing to maintain.
pawelduda 2y ago
Astro is great and has deployment guides for so many platforms
brudgers 2y ago
I use Posthaven because one of its primary goals is permanence...not that I blog much. Or very well. Good luck.
ecesena 2y ago
Hackernoon, substack or medium are the best to bootstrap your readership. If you already have a following through other social media, I second jekyll on github pages or wordpress. Or, just look at what the top bloggers use and follow along.
nikitarao 2y ago
[dead]
rsaarelm 2y ago
Static site generation and Github pages. Start with the Jekyll generator Github supports out of the box and roll your own if you need something it doesn't provide.
hehehheh 2y ago
Wordpress, Ghost, Substack .... anything that doesn't require asking a yak how they like their sideburns.
revskill 2y ago
Build your own because u know what is best for u.
prxtl 2y ago
Mataroa (https://mataroa.blog https://mataroa.blog) is simple, to the point, blazing fast, open source, and just US$ 9 per year. It's quite barebones, but IMHO the platform's philosophy lends itself well to the cause of "I just want to write, I don't want to spend time fiddling with settings and templates". I wrote about my experience when I migrated to it: https://pratul.net/blog/mataroa-just-works-for-me/ https://pratul.net/blog/mataroa-just-works-for-me/
ctofraction 2y ago
When you post blogs on other platforms, while you may build recognition for yourself, you will be building their brand. On the other hand, if you blog on your own website, you will be building your own brand. Both of the blogs below are built in Wordpress, using elementor.com, which makes it very easy and provides a free version. hostinger.com provides great hosting pricing on wordpress. https://ctofraction.com/blog https://ctofraction.com/blog https://gintchinfineart.com/blog/ https://gintchinfineart.com/blog/
Turboblack 2y ago
just in case: if you like old school and you like blogging like in the 90s, without ads, for free, and the ability to add your own domain - http://web1.0hosting.net/ http://web1.0hosting.net/
bjhess 2y ago
I'd humbly offer the service I and the team at Good Enough built, Pika: https://pika.page https://pika.page It's humane and built for people, not businesses. It's quite lovely in our opinions!

14 points by elliot93 2y ago

Hello everyone. I'm looking for a blogging platform for my personal blog. I don't want something self-hosted, just a simple and affordable platform. Which platforms do you recommend?

chistev 2y ago

Self host a simple blog. It's the best.

cebert 2y ago

If you’re open to spending a bit, I highly recommend a hosted Ghost.js blog (around $11/month). It gives me full control over my content and domain, and I can choose to keep it ad-free. In my opinion, it’s a far better option for building your personal brand compared to platforms like Medium or DEV.to, which often have paywalls and can be cluttered with garbage low-quality content.

moooo99 2y ago
+1 for Ghost. The platform really is all about blogging. It’s ecosystem is not as huge was the WordPress ecosystem, but substantial nonetheless. Building a custom theme for Ghost is also far more accessible for beginners than building a Wordpress theme, at least in my experience
- cebert 2y ago
  You can also self-host Ghost. Which I did for a while, but didn’t want to spend my free time being a sysadmin. I decided paying for hosting was worth it, and helps marginally support the product.

KuriousCat 2y ago

It depends, there are a lot of options including the age old blogger, wordpress, substack, ghost, medium etc. May be you can checkout substack (https://substack.com/for-bloggers https://substack.com/for-bloggers)

cpach 2y ago

Throw a dart ;-) import random platform = random.SystemRandom().choice(["Astro", "Blogger", "Ghost", "Hugo"]) print(platform) Hugo doesn’t include hosting but you can host on AWS Amplify, GitHub Pages, CloudFlare Pages, Vercel, etc. For additional inspiration, some earlier threads with similar theme: Ask HN: What do you use for your personal blog? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41608459 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41608459 - Sept 2024 (44 comments) Ask HN: What is the best way to author blogs in 2024? -https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41014806 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41014806 - July 2024 (134 comments) Ask HN: What tech stack do you use for your blog? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38957782 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38957782 - Jan 2024 (7 comments) Some earlier threads about static site generators: Ask HN: Best static site generator for non-designer? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41397521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41397521 - Aug 2024 (25 comments) Ask HN: What's the simplest static website generator? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39861593 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39861593 - Mar 2024 (74 comments)

elliot93 2y ago
this comment will help me a lot thank you!
- cpach 2y ago
  You’re welcome. Cheers!

seowallet 2y ago

[dead]

nicbou 2y ago

https://bearblog.dev/ https://bearblog.dev/ is pretty cool

manafov 2y ago

Nucelo gives you everything you want. As an open source platform, you can share unlimited articles for $4 per month. You also get a place to share your projects and bookmarks. It doesn't end with this, you can take a look. https://nucelo.com https://nucelo.com

starlite-5008 2y ago

For personal blogging, platforms like WordPress and Medium are highly recommended.

cebert 2y ago
I think Medium is a bad way to go. You give up control of your content and bow it’s presented to users. Additionally, there’s a lot of low quality content on Medium you may not want to be associated with.

softwaredoug 2y ago

Don't spend 400 hours customizing your favorite blogging software then 0 hours blogging. :) (I use Jekyll -> netlify. I only use Jekyll because I used it once 10 years ago. I literally write posts in Github directly and commit to master because blogging should be informal and F the haters)

networked 2y ago
A related webcomic: https://rakhim.org/honestly-undefined/19/ https://rakhim.org/honestly-undefined/19/.

VonNaturAustre 2y ago

I think in the selfhost with hugo or Jekyll is nice options!

embeng4096 2y ago

Blot.im - you can write your posts in Markdown, Microsoft Word, Pages, Google Docs, OpenOffice. Your documents can be stored in Git, or a folder in Dropbox, or a folder in Google Drive, and the service publishes them from there. $5/month (not affiliated, just used and liked it back when I had a public facing blog) https://blot.im/ https://blot.im/

solardev 2y ago

Wix? Pay a few dollars a month, write what you want, nothing to maintain.

pawelduda 2y ago

Astro is great and has deployment guides for so many platforms

brudgers 2y ago

I use Posthaven because one of its primary goals is permanence...not that I blog much. Or very well. Good luck.

ecesena 2y ago

Hackernoon, substack or medium are the best to bootstrap your readership. If you already have a following through other social media, I second jekyll on github pages or wordpress. Or, just look at what the top bloggers use and follow along.

nikitarao 2y ago

[dead]

rsaarelm 2y ago

Static site generation and Github pages. Start with the Jekyll generator Github supports out of the box and roll your own if you need something it doesn't provide.

hehehheh 2y ago

Wordpress, Ghost, Substack .... anything that doesn't require asking a yak how they like their sideburns.

revskill 2y ago

Build your own because u know what is best for u.

prxtl 2y ago

Mataroa (https://mataroa.blog https://mataroa.blog) is simple, to the point, blazing fast, open source, and just US$ 9 per year. It's quite barebones, but IMHO the platform's philosophy lends itself well to the cause of "I just want to write, I don't want to spend time fiddling with settings and templates". I wrote about my experience when I migrated to it: https://pratul.net/blog/mataroa-just-works-for-me/ https://pratul.net/blog/mataroa-just-works-for-me/

ctofraction 2y ago

When you post blogs on other platforms, while you may build recognition for yourself, you will be building their brand. On the other hand, if you blog on your own website, you will be building your own brand. Both of the blogs below are built in Wordpress, using elementor.com, which makes it very easy and provides a free version. hostinger.com provides great hosting pricing on wordpress. https://ctofraction.com/blog https://ctofraction.com/blog https://gintchinfineart.com/blog/ https://gintchinfineart.com/blog/

Turboblack 2y ago

just in case: if you like old school and you like blogging like in the 90s, without ads, for free, and the ability to add your own domain - http://web1.0hosting.net/ http://web1.0hosting.net/

bjhess 2y ago

I'd humbly offer the service I and the team at Good Enough built, Pika: https://pika.page https://pika.page It's humane and built for people, not businesses. It's quite lovely in our opinions!