Tumblr is one of the most basic services for starting an online journal. It’s free to use, and makes creating blogs a very simple process. You can also make your blog private if you want, or easily leave feedback about other things that you see on Tumblr. However, maybe Tumblr isn’t quite what you were looking for in a blogging website. Tumblr doesn’t have very good search functions, it’s somewhat slanted towards younger demographics in terms of who uses it, and it allows explicit content (though this can be filtered out).
If you’re looking for sites like Tumblr, the most similar ones out there are probably Soup.io or Blogger.com. On the other hand, if you want an online journal service that’s a little fancier, perhaps for a professional portfolio or small business, WordPress.com, Wix.com, or Weebly.com may work better for your needs.
Here are eight other websites like Tumblr that might be right for you!
1. WordPress
WordPress is probably the most popular and most professional-looking Tumblr alternative. Its claim to fame is that it makes blogs easy to find by search engines, so it’s useful if you want to create a preliminary website for your small business (in fact, we used it to create the alpha version of Techboomers!). It’s relatively easy to use, though it’s supported by advertising, and has certain features (such as memory storage upgrades and the ability to upload videos) that require you to purchase a premium subscription.
2. Wix
Wix works very similarly to Weebly, in that it’s a platform for creating an entire website (and not just a blog, like Tumblr). Just pick a template, drag and drop whatever you want into your website, and edit it however you like with simple commands. The free version of Wix offers unlimited web pages, 500 megabytes of memory space to store your original files, and plenty of free templates to use as starting points. Premium subscriptions give you more memory space, higher bandwidth, and features like the ability to create a shop to sell stuff with on your website.
Want to know more about what Wix can do? Visit our Wix course!
3. Weebly
Weebly is one of the more ambitious alternatives to Tumblr, in that it doesn’t just let you create an online journal… it lets you build an entire website! It’s free and easy to use; just drag and drop everything from text boxes to pictures to backgrounds and more! Weebly’s basic features are free to use, but its more advanced multimedia and business functions require paid subscriptions.
If you want to learn more, check out the TechBoomers course on Weebly here.
4. Blogger
Blogger is another very popular alternative to Tumblr. Its blogs can be contributed to by multiple users, and it allows you to give your blog a custom Internet address for free (something that WordPress charges money for). Users can have up to 100 different blogs on their account, each featuring time-stamped entries whenever you post something. Blogger integrates quite well with a number of other common web services, especially ones from Google (since it’s now owned by Google).
5. Soup.io
Soup.io is a relatively new blog service from Austria that is very similar to Tumblr. It allows you to post text, quotes, hyperlinks, videos, songs, and even reviews and event invitations! Plus, Soup.io makes it super easy to add more stuff to your blog. Click a single button to add pretty much anything on the Internet to your Soup.io blog, or set it up to publish anything that you add to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and so on. Soup.io is free to use, but unlike Tumblr, you can only have one blog at a time.
6. Jimdo
Like Weebly, Jimdo offers simple click, drag, and drop commands for creating an entire website (as opposed to just a blog, like on Tumblr). Jimdo has an advantage, though, in that it includes the ability to create a shop to sell items with on your website as a free service! (You can only list 5 items at a time, though.) Subscribing to Jimdo’s premium services allows you to list more items at once, and also gives you things such as upgraded memory storage space and bandwidth.
7. Strikingly
Looking for the easiest way possible to make your own website? Strikingly may be your answer. It’s free and easy to use, and you can even connect it to your Facebook or LinkedIn accounts to create professional-looking one-page websites with a single click! The downside of Strikingly is that its free features are somewhat limited when compared to the likes of Wix, and Jimdo, so you may have to purchase an upgraded subscription if you want to do anything remotely fancy.
8. Shopify
Shopify is your website of choice if you’re looking to create an independent online store for your small business. Pick a template to get started, and then go to work creating your masterpiece with easy-to-use drag, drop, and click tools. If you know how computer code works, you can even dive in and make the small changes that will make a big difference. Or, if you’re completely stuck, you can hire one of Shopify’s web development experts to create your website according to your specifications. Shopify can be used free for two weeks, but after that, you have to pay to use it.
Have you used any of these apps or websites that are similar to Tumblr? Did they help you blog the hours away, or were you stuck with writer’s block? Are there any other Tumblr alternatives that you use and would recommend to us and our patrons? Let us know by leaving a comment below, or post a suggestion on our Facebook or Twitter feeds.
If you want to start using one of these alternatives to Tumblr exclusively, or think one of these websites might be better for you, check out our tutorial on how to delete your Tumblr account to learn how.
