If you want to start a blog or publish content online, Medium vs WordPress are probably two of the most popular choices you’ve seen. Both make it easy to start writing online, but they do it in different ways. So, which method will work best for you? Should you use Medium or WordPress? We’ll help you find the answers to these questions. In this article, we’ll talk about how Medium is different from other platforms when it comes to publishing content. We’ll also give you a quick tour of the Medium service and compare it to WordPress to help you choose the right platform.
Medium is both a place to blog and a place to post. Anyone can sign up to write and get started. That’s what I mean by “blogging.” But then, if you give Medium approval, it picks the best posts and promotes them to its free and paid users through “Topics.” This is the “publisher” part. Think of it like a website for a magazine or newspaper, except that any writer, including you, can be picked. On the other hand, WordPress is at its core the easiest and most popular way to make your own website or blog. In fact, more than 43.3% of all blogs on the Internet are run by WordPress. Yes, WordPress probably runs more than one in four of the websites you visit.
Medium vs WordPress: Pricing
Writers don’t have to pay anything to use Medium. Even though it doesn’t have as many features as WordPress and you can’t get a custom name, it’s free for writers to use. The software for WordPress is open-source and free. You can download it from WordPress.org and install it on your own website with the right hosting. Here’s everything you need to know about picking the right WordPress hosting. Most hosts offer one-click WordPress installs, which makes it very easy to set up and start using WordPress.
You can use a WordPress subdomain, such as yourwebsitename.wordpress.com, as the web address for your blog on WordPress.com. This is free to do, but you won’t be able to use a lot of WordPress’s features with a free WordPress.com account. If you don’t pay to improve your account, you’ll only be able to use the most basic ways to change your account.
The cheapest paid plan costs $48 a year. With the Business plan and above, you can also add your own WordPress themes and plugins, which gives you a bit more freedom when making custom websites.
Medium vs WordPress Comparison table
This table shows how Medium and WordPress are different in the most important ways. Medium is easy to use and has a built-in audience, while WordPress gives a lot of ways to customize, own, and control content and design.
Feature | Medium | WordPress |
---|---|---|
Ease of Use | Extremely user-friendly, minimal setup. | Requires more technical proficiency. |
Hosting | Hosted on Medium’s platform. | Choose hosting provider or use WordPress.com. |
Customization | Limited customization options. | Highly customizable themes and plugins. |
Ownership | Content hosted on Medium’s servers. | Full control and ownership of content. |
Design | Limited template choices. | Extensive theme library and customization. |
Content Control | Limited control over formatting. | Full control over content presentation. |
Monetization | Limited monetization options. | Various monetization methods available. |
SEO Capabilities | Basic SEO tools. | Extensive SEO plugins and options. |
Community Building | Access to Medium’s built-in audience. | Build your own audience/community. |
Cost | Free with limited features, paid plans. | Free open-source software, hosting costs vary. |
Support | Limited support options. | Extensive online community and support resources. |
Security | Medium handles security. | Self-hosted WordPress requires user responsibility. |
Scalability | Limited scalability options. | Highly scalable, suitable for any website. |
Data Portability | Limited export options. | Full data portability and control. |
Visit Website | Visit Website |
Medium vs WordPress: Ease of Use
From my own experience, it’s easier to use Medium than WordPress. Medium has a simple tool that is easy to use and get around. You can easily add text, pictures, and videos to your posts, and there are many ways to style the text you add. Medium also has a built-in community, so as soon as you post something, you can start sharing it with other people.
Feature | Medium | WordPress |
---|---|---|
Editor | Simple and easy to use | More complex, but offers more flexibility and control |
Customization | Limited customization options | Wide range of customization options |
Audience | Built-in audience | No built-in audience |
Learning curve | Easy to learn | More difficult to learn |
Medium is easier to use than WordPress, but WordPress gives you more freedom and control. With WordPress, you can change your website’s look and how it works by using different themes and tools. You can also add extra features to your WordPress site, like e-commerce or a membership site. But WordPress can be harder to learn and use than Medium because of its freedom.
Medium vs WordPress: Design and Customization
Medium is a great place for writers who want to focus on their writing without having to worry about how to run a website. But it doesn’t give you many ways to change it. You can choose from a few styles and fonts, but you can’t make big changes to how your blog looks as a whole. WordPress, on the other hand, is a tool that can be changed in many more ways. You can choose from thousands of free and paid themes and tools to make a website that is truly unique to you. You can also change your website’s code to make it look and feel the way you want.
Feature | Medium | WordPress |
---|---|---|
Customization options | Limited | Extensive |
Themes | Handful of free themes | Thousands of free and premium themes |
Plugins | No plugins | Thousands of plugins available |
Code customization | No code customization | Code customization possible |
Here are some examples of design and customization choices that WordPress has but Medium doesn’t:
- Themes: WordPress has a large number of both free and paid themes. These themes can change everything about the way your website looks, from the style to the colors and fonts.
- Plugins: WordPress plugins are add-ons that give your site new features and functions. There are apps for everything, from adding e-commerce to your website to making custom menus.
- Changes to the code: Because WordPress is an open-source tool, you can change the code of your website to make it look and feel the way you want. This is a great choice for people who know how to write code.
Overall, WordPress is the better platform for people who want full power over how their website looks and how they can change it. But Medium is a good choice for people who want to share content on a simple and easy-to-use platform.
Medium vs WordPress: Monetization
Medium has a Partner Program that lets writers make money based on how long people spend reading their stories. But Medium keeps 50% of everything you make. Also, the Partner Program on Medium is only open to a small group of writers. For a few months, I participated in Medium’s Partner Program, but I didn’t earn much money from it. I also discovered that I wasn’t given enough freedom on the website. I desired more authority over my work and the revenue streams available to me.
Platform | Monetization options | Revenue share |
---|---|---|
Medium | Partner Program | 50% |
WordPress | Display advertising, affiliate marketing, selling digital products, membership site | 100% |
WordPress gives you a lot of ways to make money, such as:
- Display advertising: Advertisers can buy ad space on your website, which you can sell to them.
- Affiliate marketing lets you sell other people’s goods or services and get a cut of the sales.
- Selling digital goods: Your website can be used to sell e-books, online classes, and other digital goods.
- Membership site: People can pay a monthly or yearly fee to use your website’s special material or features.
On my WordPress site, I’ve tried all of these ways to make money, and I’ve found that they all work. I’ve also found that with WordPress, I have a lot more say over how I make money than I did with Medium.
Medium vs WordPress: SEO and Visibility
Medium is a great place to get your work in front of a wide range of people and build an audience. The domain reputation of the site is high, and more than 100 million people visit it every month. This means that your content has a good chance of doing well in search engine results pages (SERPs). Medium also has a number of built-in SEO features, like the ability to optimize your titles, meta descriptions, and pictures. And because Medium is so famous, people are more likely to share and link to your content, which can help your SEO even more.
But when it comes to SEO on Medium, there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, you don’t have full power over what you post. You can’t, for example, pick your own URL or add your own apps. This can make it hard to put some SEO tactics into place. Second, Medium has a wide range of users. This means that your content may have to compete with a lot of other material for attention. To stand out, you need to make content that is high-quality and relevant to your viewers.
Feature | Medium | WordPress |
---|---|---|
SEO | Good | Excellent |
Visibility | Good | Excellent |
Ease of use | Easy | More difficult |
Customization | Limited | Extensive |
Control | Limited | Extensive |
Audience | Broad | Targeted |
WordPress is a tool that is more powerful and can be changed more than Medium. It gives you full control over your site’s content, style, and search engine optimization (SEO). You can also add apps to your site to give it more features and functions. Over 40% of all websites use WordPress, which is another very famous platform. This means there are a lot of tools and people who can help you make your site better for search engines. But WordPress can be harder to use than Medium, especially if you don’t know much about how the web works. You also need to choose a web host and take care of the protection of your site.
Although I’ve blogged on Medium as well as WordPress, WordPress is superior for search engine optimization and blog visibility. With WordPress, I have more control over my content and SEO approach. Additionally, I can add apps to my website to improve its SERP ranking. For example, I use the Yoast SEO plugin to enhance my image alt texts, titles, and meta descriptions. Additionally, I use the Rank Math plugin to monitor keyword rankings and identify areas in which my SEO needs improvement. Because of my SEO work, my WordPress blog now ranks well for a number of important keywords. This has helped me grow my audience and get more people to read my site.
Medium vs WordPress: Community and Networking
Medium is a great place to connect with people who like what you write. It already has millions of fans, and it’s easy to connect with other writers and readers who are interested in the same things you are. One of the best things about Medium is that you can join groups based on your interests and take part in them. These groups give writers a place to share their work, get feedback, and meet other people in their field.
Medium also has a number of tools that make it easy for writers and readers to connect with each other. For example, you can follow other writers, like and comment on their stories, and share them on social media. But there are a few things that can’t be done with Medium’s networking and community tools. For example, you can’t make your own custom community, and you don’t have as much power over your profile and branding as you do on WordPress.
Feature | Medium | WordPress |
---|---|---|
Built-in audience | Yes | No |
Interest-based communities | Yes | No |
Custom communities | No | Yes |
Control over profile and branding | Less | More |
Effort to build community | Less | More |
Medium is better known for its community features than WordPress, but WordPress also has a number of ways to build a community and connect with other writers. Making a forum or discussion board is one of the best ways to bring people together on WordPress. This makes it possible for your readers to talk to each other and ask you questions.
You can also connect with other bloggers by writing on their blogs as a guest blogger and leaving comments on their posts. You can also join WordPress groups and take part in events that take place online. But you should know that building a group on WordPress takes more time and work than on Medium. You have to do something to get people to read your blog and share it.
I’ve found that Medium is a better place to share my work and build a community around it. Medium makes it easier to connect with other writers and readers, and it has a number of tools that make networking easy. But for my main blog, I use WordPress because it gives me more power over what I write and how it looks. I also like that WordPress lets me make my own group.
Medium: Pros and Cons
Pros
- User-friendly and minimal setup.
- Access to Medium’s built-in audience.
- Hosted for free (with limitations).
Cons
- Limited customization options.
- Content ownership remains with Medium.
WordPress: Pros and Cons
Pros
- Highly customizable and scalable.
- Full control and ownership of content.
- Extensive theme and plugin library.
Cons
- Hosting and maintenance responsibility.
- Initial setup can be complex.
Medium vs WordPress: which one should you consider?
When choosing between Medium and WordPress, you should think about what you want to do and what you like. Medium is easy to use, which makes it great for newbies and people who want things to be simple. It already has a following, which can help your work reach more people. But you may not have much power or ability to change things.
WordPress, on the other hand, gives you a lot of freedom and power over how your website looks and works. It’s great for people and businesses who want to make their online presences stand out. Even though it’s harder to learn, SEO features and ways to make money with it make it a top choice for serious writers and website owners. Think about your wants and what’s most important to you to make the right choice.
FAQs
When it comes to style, Medium and WordPress aren’t even in the same league. WordPress is better. It lets you create your content in more ways, and you can add as many extra features as you want. On Medium, you can only use the tools that the site gives you.
Medium is a simple tool for publishing that lets you share stories, get followers, and become an authority in a certain niche. On the other hand, WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that is free and easy to change. It can be used to build many different kinds of websites, such as blogs and publishing sites.