Everyone makes mistakes, including me. For example, I’ve set up a Tumblr blog before and I don’t really like the platform. Some people like me may tend to find an alternative to Tumblr because of the demerits that exist on the platform, such as age restriction and domain-based hosting. The site requires users to be at least 13 years (16 for some countries) and doesn’t support porn-related content.
However, Tumblr is a good platform used by millions of people. Literally, Tumblr is getting over 270 million visits per month but there are few other alternatives that don’t have demerits that the Tumblr has while still being popular on the internet.
The Yahoo-owned Tumblr (later bought by Verizon) lets users post text, images, links, quotes, and multimedia to a short-form blog but some factors like I mentioned above force the user to find an alternative or a replacement
Moreover, Blogs on Tumblr can only be self-hosted on the Tumblr servers while there are other sites that let you host the blog with your own domain and software.
To overcome these drawbacks, let’s see some of the best Tumblr alternatives in 2022 that you will never regret trying out.
1. Blogger
Every blogger should first start with a blogger. It’s truly the best Tumblr alternative and one of the easiest blogging platforms on the web. If you are already a Google user, then creating and using the blogger won’t be a big task because the platform is owned by Google. Blogger provides a simple post editor and supports up to 100 posts per account with built-in analytics to monitor the page views, traffic source, and countries from the site being visited.
The Blogger also has a variety of built-in themes to choose from and provides an option to import third-party themes as well. But both are limited in customization. There is no issue regarding monetization because Adsense is fully integrated into Blogger since the ad network is also owned by Google. Just like others, Blogger includes multi-user support and provides an option for people to comment.
Another advantage worth mentioning is performance and speed. The whole site is taken care of by Google for maximum speed and performance while the user may fully concentrate on writing the blog posts. These options and features make Blogger one of the best Tumblr alternatives. However, you can’t expect the site to be super fast compared to the site you have full control over the server like a WordPress site.
So far, the advantage has been clarified, and now let’s get into the disadvantages. There are not a lot of demerits but some are very important. The first and main downside is that the Blogger doesn’t allow you to host your blog on your own web server but a custom domain can be linked to Blogger.
Advantages:
- Simple and easy to set up
- Built-in Adsense integration
- Performance and speed.
- Custom domain
Disadvantages:
- Limited customization
- Not upgradeable or expandable
Ideal for:
- People looking for a simple and complex free platform
- People who blog periodically
2. WordPress
WordPress is a free and open-source builder to create a website. It is also the most popular, flexible, and highly customizable tool to build and manage a site. Moreover, 36% of the websites around the world were built on WordPress. That’s enough said to add it to the best Tumblr alternative.
WordPress provides two choices to choose from. The one is a paid variant that takes care of everything for you including hosting and server management. The other one is a free and open-source script-based content managed system that can be loaded on your own web server.
The software is highly customizable and user-friendly but using the plugins makes it fairly complicated. There are many themes and plugins to enrich the usability and functionality of the website. Like Blogger, it also provides multi-user support but with the advanced option and includes SEO optimization, community support, plugin integration to enhance the site, and a lot more.
If you are serious about blogging, then you should start creating blogs using WordPress.
Advantages:
- A huge number of themes and plugins to enhance the site
- Highly customizable
- Regular updates keep the platform updated
Disadvantages:
- A lot of plugins make it fairly complicated
- Most of the optimization should be done by the user end
Idea for:
- Both individuals and organization
- People who are serious about blogging
3. Medium
Medium is a free online publishing platform created by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and launched in 2012. It was originally meant to be a blogging platform, but it has since evolved into a full-fledged social network where people can share articles they find on the web or write their own posts on topics they are interested in.
It is one of the easiest and one of the most simple platforms to write and publish content. You can either write the content or import it from another site. Importing content from other sites makes it fairly easier for the user to publish content on multiple platforms.
Medium provides a clear and beautiful interface with a simple text editor. Since the DA of the Medium is high, the blog post performs better on Google search. The publicity on Medium is really high with over 60 million visitors per month which help the blog to reach more people. Medium also provides built-in analytics to monitor the traffic.
Moreover, you can monetize your blog posts on Medium.
The main drawback of the platform is the customization. Medium almost has no customization options that set the user to a restricted environment in terms of personalization. Additionally, Medium includes support for linking custom domains.
Advantages:
- Exposure is high
- UI is very simple
- Supports monetization
Disadvantages:
- Nearly no customization
- Basic analytics
Ideal for:
- People looking for high exposure platform
4. Mastodon
Mastodon is an open-source self-hosted social networking service with A-GPL 3.0 license. It acts more like Twitter with followings and followers. Users can create posts and other people who find them interesting can award them with likes, comments, and repost. Each post has a limit of 500 characters and privacy settings can be modified for individual posts.
Unlike other platforms, Mastodon is decentralized, meaning that no person or company is running it while other platforms are owned and operated by a single corporation that has full control over everything.
Anyone can create and run their own server of Mastodon and have their own set of rules. Finally, the platform is free from ads. Considering these merits, Mastodon can be one of the best Tumblr alternatives to try.
Advantages:
- Users can create their own Mastodon server with their own rules
- Decentralized
Disadvantages:
- No official iOS or Android app
- Complicated to setup
Ideal For:
- People looking to create their own social media server with their own rules
5. Ghost
Ghost is an open-source, simple, and minimalistic blogging platform that runs on a node.js environment. Being a platform that relies on node.js makes it very fast and responsive. Similar to WordPress, Ghost also comes in two variants, a self-hosted type that can be loaded onto your own server and a hosted type that is already loaded on the Ghost server. Unlike WordPress, none of them are free but the platform includes a 14-day trial to test out the features and accessibility.
Ghost also provides support for thirty-party plugins, themes, analytics, and FTP file transfer that makes the platform more customizable. Ghost might the best Tumblr alternative for those who are looking for a blogging platform that is easy to set up and use. Don’t forget to try the free trial before investing in the platform.
Advantages:
- Simple and easy to setup
- Supports third-party plugins and themes
Disadvantages:
- There is no free version
Ideal For:
- People looking for complex free blogging
6. Typepad
Typepad is a simple and popular blogging platform that is used by popular celebrities and companies such as Paris Hilton and BBC. Typepad provides a user-friendly dashboard that includes analytics, themes, posts, comments, etc.
It is one of the best Tumblr alternatives if you would like to use a blogging platform that is very simple but provides more powerful features and options such as banning certain IP addresses or keywords.
Typepad offers a lot of themes and widgets to choose from and all the themes are fully customizable with built-in options or custom CSS or HTML. The widgets include support for monetizing the blog with popular ad networks such as Google Adsense and Amazon.
Bloggers who like to make a live podcast will be most welcomed since the platform provides good support for video and audio broadcasting right from the blog without getting strained.
It also includes built-in SEO tools for easier optimization for Google rankings and also Typepad promotes your blog on their network resulting in generating more traffic. Another important feature is that the platform includes support for linking custom domains.
The Typepad offers four different plans starting from $8.98 with a 14-day trial. However, the billing information is required to start the trial.
Advantages:
- Live broadcasts
- Simple but powerful features
- Supports Custom domains
Disadvantages:
- No free plan
- A fewer number of plugins and themes compared to WordPress
Ideal For:
- People who like to run a podcast on their blog.
7. Wix
Another Tumblr alternative that is easy to set up and use. Wix offers a lot of features inside a single package that comes in a free and premium version. Wix is highly customizable with themes and plugins (It is the so-called Apps on Wix) but there are not a variety of choices to choose from. The UI is sleek, simple, and useful with all the tools to build the site.
While using WordPress, the biggest drawback we face is the security of the platform since it supports a lot of plugins from different developers but that’s not the case in Wix. Wix takes care of all the security solutions for you and if you run into any problem, you may contact them directly via mail and phone call and they will assist you with the required materials.
The biggest downside of the platform is the annoying ads that come with the free version. The SEO of Wix sites is also very poor compared to WordPress. Just like other platforms, Wix supports analytics and tracking, however, it requires a premium plan.
Advantages:
- Good support
- Built-in Security
Disadvantages:
- Free plan includes ads
Ideal For:
- People looking for an easy to use and good security platform
8. Quora
Quora is a more like question-and-answer site where questions are asked, answered, edited, and organized by its community of users. It employs a proprietary algorithm to suggest quality content to users based on their interests.
Quora started as a social knowledge-sharing website where users can post questions about any topic, answer other questions, and comment on answers. Users can upvote or downvote answers so the best content floats to the top. Answers are also sorted by “recommended”, “most recent answer” or “highest voted answer”. Quora also allows users to follow topics they are interested in so they can receive updates when someone posts a relevant question or answer.
Advantages:
- Best for Q and A purpose
- A huge community of experts
Disadvantages:
- It doesn’t work as a blogging site
Idea for:
- People looking for answers or are willing to answer.
9. Reddit
Reddit is not exactly a blogging service but acts more like Social media. Reddit is a larger community with more than 300 million monthly active users with many subreddits. It supports posting linking, pictures, videos, and GIFS with an option to upvote or downvote a post.
It works similar to Facebook likes but Reddit, however, calls it karma and it’s calculated based on your overall upvotes and downvotes. Reddit might not be a complete Tumblr alternative but can be used to promote other blogs and articles.
Remember that there are a lot of subreddits to discuss and post different topics but each of them has its own set of rules. Follow those rules or you will get banned from the subreddits at no cost.
Advantages:
- Exposure is high
- Works more like a hub to discuss various topics
Disadvantages:
- Strict rules on larger subreddits
- Posting an entire article is not supported
Ideal for:
- People looking to promote their blogs or discuss different topics
10. Ello
Ello, the creator’s network, that’s what they call it as. Ello is a community for creators who can follow other designers and artists to discuss ideas in various fields. It works much like Twitter but is built especially for designers. Those who are looking for a Tumblr alternative that connects an artist with a larger community of artists should consider Ello and try it.
The user interface is minimalistic (but confusing for some people) and offers basic options such as viewing profiles, discovering new topics, and posting content. It supports images, videos, text, and links for posting.
Advantages:
- An enlarged community of artists and designers
- Simple and beautiful design
Disadvantages:
- Website is slow
- Intrest based algorithm is poor
Ideal for:
- Designers and artists
Final Thoughts
These are the best Tumblr alternatives to try out if you don’t like the platform or simply get bored of Tumblr. Each has its own merits and demerits but acts as a good replacement for Tumblr.
Hopefully, this list has given you some suggestions for which Tumblr alternatives to try out.
Just remember, before starting a new blog or making a new account, think about what you’re going for and what you want to get out of your time on it. There are thousands of blogs out there with millions of posts, so consider what you want and work for it.
Any of these Tumblr replacements might be your go-to option. I personally like WordPress due to its huge customization options. So now, which you might think will be your perfect choice? Make sure to comment down below.
If you want to suggest some other platforms that are worth mentioning, please comment it down below and I will add that to the list above.
