We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.

Advertiser Disclosure

Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.

How We Make Money

We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently from our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.

What are the Different Types of Blog Software?

By Sonal Panse
Updated May 17, 2024
Our promise to you
WiseGEEK is dedicated to creating trustworthy, high-quality content that always prioritizes transparency, integrity, and inclusivity above all else. Our ensure that our content creation and review process includes rigorous fact-checking, evidence-based, and continual updates to ensure accuracy and reliability.

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

Editorial Standards

At WiseGEEK, we are committed to creating content that you can trust. Our editorial process is designed to ensure that every piece of content we publish is accurate, reliable, and informative.

Our team of experienced writers and editors follows a strict set of guidelines to ensure the highest quality content. We conduct thorough research, fact-check all information, and rely on credible sources to back up our claims. Our content is reviewed by subject matter experts to ensure accuracy and clarity.

We believe in transparency and maintain editorial independence from our advertisers. Our team does not receive direct compensation from advertisers, allowing us to create unbiased content that prioritizes your interests.

Blog software, also known as blogware or weblog software, is the software that is used to set up, customize and maintain weblogs or blogs. It supports content and image management, content publication, comment moderation and content syndication. Blogging software can be of the hosted type, the server model type or a hybrid of both.

Hosted blogging software means blog software that does not need to be hosted by users on their own websites. It is usually free and the hosting company is responsible for content storage and database maintenance. All blogs are stored on the company's central server.

Aside from being free, hosted blog software is also easy to use. The users need only create a personal blog account, customize the blog to their requirements and start making entries. Customization can be a simple matter of selecting or moving around a given number of features, or of using some basic HTML and CSS. This accounts for the general popularity of hosted blogging software, especially with people new to blogging.

The free blog software has limited features, however, and users are offered a choice of a paid upgrade. Upgraded features have more customization and compatibility options. You can personalize the blog to your own taste instead of tweaking generic templates.

Server model software is blog software that users can host on their own websites. It is not free, since users have to pay the hosting charges. The software usually needs to be downloaded and installed on the user's web server system. This can be Linux-based or Windows-based.

The range of customization features is more extensive with server model software than with hosted software. Alongside advanced HTML and CSS, users can use a programming language like Javascript and database servers like MySQL, Postgre and MS SQL Server. They can also make use of server-side programming languages and frameworks like PHP and ASP.NET.

The blog can have a customized domain name. Blogs hosted on server models can have unlimited bandwidth and no content restriction. Content on hosted blogs is usually subject to the host company's policies.

Experienced bloggers with sufficient knowledge of programming, software installation and database maintenance usually go for the server type model. There is enough information online, along with detailed tutorials, to make this option feasible to newcomers as well. Customer service help is also usually available.

A number of blogging applications can be used with both hosted or server model blogs. These include applications for calendars, tag clouds, RSS feeds, blog traffic statistics, spam filters and post sharing options. Users can add different kinds of functional widgets for clocks, news, books, music, photographs and so on.

Blogger, LiveJournal and Typepad are some popular and free hosted blogging services. Blogger also has a free hybrid model that can be hosted on the user's domain, keeping the server code on the company's server. Server blogging services include WordPress and Movable Type.

WiseGEEK is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.

Discussion Comments

WiseGEEK, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

WiseGEEK, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.