How we compared these platforms
We make the Rankwise blog, so we are not neutral. To keep the list fair, we used the same five questions for every platform and answered each one from the platform's own pricing and help pages. We read every page on October 30, 2026. We did not count reviews or ratings.
- Cost. What does it cost to start, and what is the cheapest plan that removes ads and adds your domain?
- Ads. Do visitors see ads you did not choose?
- Custom domain. Can the blog use your domain, and in which form: a subfolder like yourdomain.com/blog, a subdomain like blog.yourdomain.com, or the root domain?
- AI search files. Does the platform list an llms.txt file or a Markdown copy of each post?
- What it is for. Is it a blog, a newsletter, a writing community or a website builder?
Each platform wins a different job. The Rankwise blog is first for one job only: a business that wants a free blog at yourdomain.com/blog. The table further down names the best pick for the other jobs.
The free tiers side by side
| Platform | Free address | Ads on the free tier | Own domain | Subfolder like /blog | Cheapest paid step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rankwise Blog | yourname.rankwiseblog.com | None, one footer line | Free, at /blog or on a subdomain | Yes | Paid plan after 3 free AI-written posts |
| WordPress.com | yoursite.wordpress.com | WordPress.com ads | Paid plan | No | Personal, $4/month billed yearly |
| Blogger | yourname.blogspot.com | Only ads you add | Free, on a subdomain | No | None listed |
| Substack | yourname.substack.com | None stated | $50 one-time, on a subdomain | No | $50 domain fee |
| Medium | medium.com | None stated | With a membership | No | Membership, $5/month |
| Wix | A Wix address | Wix branding | Premium plan | Not stated | Light, $17/month billed yearly |
Which platform fits your use case
| If you want | Best pick | Runner-up | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| A free blog at yourdomain.com/blog | Rankwise Blog | None of the others | It is the only one here that serves a subfolder of your own site at no cost |
| A full website with themes and plugins | WordPress.com | Wix | Plugins on every paid plan, and the WordPress editor |
| A free personal blog on your own subdomain | Blogger | Rankwise Blog | A free custom domain on a subdomain, plus templates and AdSense |
| A paid newsletter | Substack | Medium | Email delivery and paid subscriptions built in |
| Readers on day one | Medium | Substack | Both have readers who browse the platform |
| A designed site with a blog section | Wix | WordPress.com | Drag and drop design with a blog among its tools |
Why the blog address matters for a business
A business blog usually exists to bring buyers to the product. Links and citations go to the address of the page. A post at yourdomain.com/blog sits on the same site as your product pages. A post on medium.com or yourname.substack.com sits on another company's domain until you connect your own.
Four of the six platforms connect a custom domain only as a subdomain or a whole domain. WordPress.com support says it cannot show a separate site in a subdirectory. Blogger and Substack ask for a subdomain CNAME. Medium help says a subdirectory cannot connect. The Rankwise blog uses a different method. A Cloudflare Worker, Next.js middleware on Vercel or Nginx forwards only /blog on your site to Rankwise. See the setup guides for Cloudflare, Next.js on Vercel and Nginx.
Files that help AI assistants read your blog
AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity cite pages they can read easily. Three files help:
- llms.txt, a list of the posts on a site with links to plain text copies.
- A Markdown copy of each post, with no menus or scripts.
- Plain HTML that a crawler reads without running JavaScript.
The Rankwise blog makes all three for every blog. None of the other five platforms lists llms.txt or Markdown copies on the pages we read.
Head-to-head comparisons
Each comparison goes deeper on one platform:
- Rankwise Blog vs Blogger
- Rankwise Blog vs WordPress.com
- Rankwise Blog vs Medium
- Rankwise Blog vs Substack
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free blogging platform for a business?
It depends on the job. For a free blog at yourdomain.com/blog, the Rankwise blog is the pick. For a full website with plugins, WordPress.com on a paid plan. For a newsletter, Substack. For readers on day one, Medium.
Which free blog platforms let me use my own domain for free?
Blogger connects a domain you own on a subdomain at no cost. The Rankwise blog serves your own domain at a path like /blog, or on a subdomain, at no cost, up to 10,000 visits a month. WordPress.com and Wix need a paid plan, Medium needs a membership and Substack charges $50 once.
Do free blog platforms show ads?
A free WordPress.com site shows WordPress.com ads. A free Wix site carries Wix branding until you buy a Premium plan. Blogger shows ads only if you add AdSense or another ad service. The Rankwise blog shows no ads, and a free blog has one "Published with Rankwise" line in the footer.
Is a subfolder better than a subdomain for a blog?
A subfolder keeps the blog on the same host as the rest of your site, so every link to a post points at your main site. WordPress.com support says a subdomain can perform as well when you optimize it. Pick the form your team can set up and maintain.
How often do you update this list?
We check prices and terms on each platform's own pages when we update the page. The date at the top shows the last update. If a platform changes its terms, tell us and we fix the page.
Sources
Every fact about another platform comes from its own page, read on October 30, 2026:
- WordPress.com: pricing, connect a subdomain
- Blogger: set up a custom domain, blogger.com
- Substack: custom domain setup, going paid
- Medium: plans, custom domain help
- Wix: plans
Facts about the Rankwise blog come from the free blog page.