Blogger
Blogger is Google’s hosted blogging platform. It runs entirely on Google’s infrastructure, gives you a subdomain at blogspot.com (or a custom domain), and stores everything in Google’s systems. There is no self-hosted version and no server to manage.
How it models content
- Posts are the main content type, displayed in reverse chronological order
- Pages are static, used for things like an about page or contact details
- Labels are flat tags applied to posts. There are no hierarchical categories
- Comments are tied to posts and managed through the Blogger dashboard or Google’s moderation tools
- Templates control layout and styling, using Blogger’s own XML-based template language
Blogger produces clean Atom XML exports through its settings panel, which is more than many hosted platforms offer. That export contains posts, pages, and comments. It does not contain images, which are hosted on Google’s servers and need downloading separately.
Blogger and WordPress compared
| Blogger | Closest in WordPress |
|---|---|
| Posts | Posts |
| Pages | Pages |
| Labels | Tags or categories (labels are flat, so tags are the closer match) |
| Comments | Comments |
| Template (XML) | Theme (PHP-based, completely different system) |
Post text and comments transfer reasonably well. Labels map to tags, though you may want to reorganise some into categories after the move. Images need rehosting because Blogger serves them from Google’s CDN, and those URLs can eventually break if the Blogger account changes. Templates do not carry over at all.
Current status
Still operational and free. Google has not announced any plans to shut it down, but active development has been minimal for years. It remains a common starting point for personal blogs.