Every "start a blog" guide defaults to WordPress, so it's worth explaining why this one runs on Blogger instead. It wasn't nostalgia — it came down to three practical factors for this specific project.
1. Zero hosting cost, permanently
WordPress.org needs hosting (a real monthly cost, even if small) or you're on WordPress.com's managed tiers, which limit plugins, ads, and themes at the free level. Blogger is hosted by Google, free, with no storage or bandwidth bill ever showing up. For a project explicitly built around a zero-budget constraint, this alone was close to decisive.
2. A working, current API
This was the bigger factor. Blogger's API v3 is REST-based, OAuth-authenticated, and — as I confirmed by actually using it — fully functional in 2026. WordPress also has a REST API and it's arguably more powerful, but self-hosting it means also managing security updates, backups, and uptime — overhead a fully-automated, unattended publishing pipeline doesn't need.
3. Native Google AdSense integration
Since the whole point of this blog includes eventually running ads, being on a Google-owned platform removes a layer of setup friction — no separate ad-network plugin, no theme compatibility checks for ad placement.
Where WordPress would have won
To be fair to WordPress: it has a vastly larger plugin ecosystem, more design flexibility, and it's the better choice if you want fine-grained control over site structure, or you're planning something more complex than a straightforward blog. If this project needed custom post types, membership gating, or heavy on-page customization, I'd have made a different call.
The actual decision rule
For a simple, ad-monetized, API-driven blog with a zero-dollar budget: Blogger. For anything needing real customization, a content type WordPress specializes in (e-commerce, membership sites, complex layouts), or long-term platform independence: WordPress, hosting cost included. Neither is universally "better" — they're optimized for different constraints, and it's worth being honest about which one you actually have.
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