Given the sheer popularity of WordPress, it’s sometimes easy to forget that there are alternative blogging and content management platforms out there in the webosphere. So today, we’re going to run through what I think are the top 5 WordPress alternatives around at the moment.

Obviously building applications such as these is big business, so by the time you read this it may be slightly out of date. But at the time of writing, July 2017, these are my top 5.

All of the blogging platforms listed below can be downloaded for free. Just click on the application name at the top of each description to be taken directly to their respective download pages.

Ghost

Ghost brands itself as an editor for writers and it’s clear to see why. If you want a simple, no fuss writing platform without all the added bells and whistles that come with the likes of WordPress then Ghost is most definitely for you.

The editor itself is slick, minimal and as it uses Markdown for its formatting syntax you’re able to view how your article looks in real time with all links, images and font styles rendering as they would be when you were to publish. This makes things much easier for designing the visual look of your article on the fly.

Drupal

As Ghost is popular for its simplicity, Drupal is for those who want to go the other way and want MORE features, customisation options and flexibility. It is designed primarily for those who know what they’re doing and want complete, full control of how their blog is functioning and performing. Including the visual look and feel.

Drupal is highly customisable and is known to be the web developers choice when it comes to content management systems and blogging. Practically every feature of the application can be tweaked and changed to suit your requirements. There are also a range of hosting options for Drupal right here on HostPresto.

Joomla

Joomla tends to be used more by people who want to build “actual websites” rather than straight forward blogs. But it does come with blogging modules and is a fantastic CMS well worthy of its place in this list.

Obviously if your sole intention is to build a blog then an extensive platform such as Joomla will most definitely be overkill. But given lots of WordPress users use WordPress for much more than just blogging I felt it needed to be included in this list.

Like with all platforms listed is it free to download and if you would like a Joomla hosting plan, fully optimised for your needs then look no further than HostPresto!

Jekyll

One of the off putting things with lots of content management systems, especially for first time users is the difficulty in getting setup. Adding and configuring databases, installing plugin after plugin and then maintaining it all for the sake of security. It’s tiring. But thankfully Jekyll is on hand to put an end to all that.

Jekyll is an application that transforms your text into static websites and blogs. It uses the liquid template engine and markdown for rendering if your text/css. It’s essentially able to create a blog without actually needing all of the complex coding/database calls.

Craft CMS

Craft has such a fitting name as that’s exactly what it does. It allows you to craft your blog/site exactly as you want it to look. Where as with the likes of WordPress, you’re limited to the restraints of your chosen theme or Drupal where you pretty much need a computer engineering degree to customise it, Craft makes it easy and extremely flexible.

Like with Ghost, craft features an in-built live preview option so you can see how your content is rendering in real time rather than having to save/view drafts and you can also completely customise the visual look of your page with its Matrix page builder. This is great for creating long form content should you wish to combine multiple blocks etc.

Give ‘em a try!

You don’t have to break ties with your beloved WordPress if you don’t want to. WordPress may well be the best platform on the market for your operation, but as they say, you won’t know until you try! So why not give some of the platforms above a go? Who knows, you might find a new platform of choice and one that could be ultimately better for your needs.

There are also a lot of people out there who swear by the platforms above, primarily due to WordPress’ bulk, security flaws and over complication of the relatively simple tasks undertaken when running a blog. And you might become one of them.

The truth is, WordPress has evolved so much and is now much more than a blogging platform. It’s a content management system in its own right and whilst that is all well and good for most people, if you just want to blog it can be a little bit overkill. So if blogging is your passion and you want to simplify things in your life, check out the above – in particular, Ghost 😉