Blogger vs WordPress

Blogger and WordPress are two of the most popular blogging and website tools in the world. Each has it's advantages and disadvantages. Unless you have a very good reason, I recommend you consider either using Blogger or a hosted WordPress.org installation.

Blogger

Blogger is a free blogging / website service provided by Google.

Advantages
  • Free to use
  • Free hosting
  • Easy to use - great for beginners!
  • Includes free domain name
  • Can customize any theme
  • Can install custom third party templates
  • Can install custom third party Widgets
  • You can alternatively use your own domain name
  • Easily integrates with several of Google's other products
  • Free technical support

Disadvantages

  • Limited availability of free third party templates
  • Can not password protect the whole blog site
  • Limited number of available Widgets
  • Limited number of static pages
  • Not as flexible or as popular as WordPress
  • Only third party contact forms can be added
  • You can not use a static page as a home page. However you can simulate a static Home page by setting the post date into the future.
  • Can only import from other Blogger blogs
  • Can not upload files - however you can store files in other Google services
  • Limited SPAM protection
  • Can be made SEO friendly with some effort
  • Few SEO friendly templates available

WordPress.com

Advantages

  • Free to use
  • Free hosting
  • Includes free domain name
  • Perfect for beginner-intermediate users
  • Free technical support
  • Easy to add "Contact Us" form
  • You can assign a static page as your home page
  • You can upgrade from Blogger and import your blog data
  • Can upload a limited number of file formats
  • Better SPAM protection available
  • Built-in SEO

Disadvantages

  • Slightly more involved than Blogger
  • Can not customize any theme
  • Restricted to published list of templates
  • Restricted to published list of Widgets
  • Restricted to WordPress.com configuration settings
  • Limited to a maximum of 10 static pages
  • No SEO specific templates available

For a more complete feature comparison between Blogger and WordPress.com, see the Blogger vs. Wordpress.com Comparison Chart - 2010.

WordPress.org

Advantages

  • No Restrictions
  • Extremely Flexible
  • Impressive list of available third party Widgets
  • Impressive list of available Templates
  • Easy to install new template
  • Having your own hosted site and domain can have many other advantages
  • You will find more articles on the Web written about WordPress than any other blogging tool
  • There are tools to allow you to password protect all of your site or just part of your site and grant multiple levels of permission
  • Easy to add Contact Us form
  • You can assign a static page as a home page
  • Perfect for beginner-intermediate users
  • You can upgrade from Blogger and import your blog data
  • Can upload and store any file format you want on your site
  • Flexible SPAM protection available from third party widgets
  • Build-in SEO and more SEO templates available

Disadvantages

  • Slightly more involved than Blogger
  • You must also arrange for hosting
  • There is a fee for hosting and for the domain
  • Technical support may not be free if something goes wrong