Best alternatives to Medium for Writers or Bloggers: 30 alternatives to Medium in 2023
Introduction
Medium has become one of the most popular online publishing platforms since it was launched in 2012. With its clean interface and ease of use, Medium appealed to individual writers and publishers who wanted to reach a wide audience outside of traditional blogging platforms.
However, in recent years, Medium has been shifting towards a paid subscription model for readers and writers. They introduced “Medium Partners” in 2017, allowing writers to monetize their content through subscriptions. In 2020, Medium rolled out paywalls for most stories, limiting free readers to a certain number of articles per month.
These monetization efforts have frustrated many users who enjoyed Medium's initial free and open-access model. Some have looked for alternative platforms where they can publish their writing without dealing with paywalls and subscriptions. Others want options that offer more customization and ownership than Medium provides.
In this alternatives to Medium article, we will look at the 30 best alternative platforms to Medium in 2023. We will explore key factors to evaluate when choosing an alternative to Medium, including cost, features, audience reach, and ease of use. Free and paid options will both be covered to provide a comprehensive overview of the top alternative to Medium that is currently available.
Key Factors to Consider When Choosing an Alternative to Medium
When deciding whether to stick with Medium or migrate to another platform, there are a few key factors to consider:
Cost – Many alternatives offer free tiers, while Medium requires payment for full access. Evaluate what you’re willing to pay as a reader or writer.
Features/functionality – Different platforms provide varying feature sets around content creation, customization, analytics, and monetization. Understand what features are essential to your goals.
Ease of use – Look for platforms with intuitive interfaces and easy onboarding. Complex or confusing UIs create friction.
Audience reach – Consider the size and engagement of each platform's user base. Where can you build the biggest audience?
With that being said, now let's consider the 30 best alternatives to Medium below
Top 30 Alternatives To Medium for 2023
- Substack
Substack is a popular newsletter platform that has emerged as a major Medium alternative for writers. Users can publish newsletters for free or paid subscriptions. Key features include analytics, payments processing, and reader support tools.
Official site: https://substack.com/ ↗
Free & paid options are available
- Ghost
Ghost is an open-source, independent publishing platform geared towards writers and bloggers. It provides beautiful themes, SEO features, analytics, membership options, and more. Self-hosted plans start at $9 per month.
Official site: https://ghost.org/ ↗
Free & paid options are available
- WordPress
WordPress is the world's most popular CMS platform with a massive ecosystem of plugins, themes, and customization options ideal for blogging and websites. Self-hosted WordPress plans start at $4 per month.
Official site: https://wordpress.org/ ↗
Free & paid options are available
- Blogger
Blogger is a long-running blogging service now owned by Google. It offers free blogs with custom domains, templates, SEO tools, and monetization through AdSense.
Official site: https://www.blogger.com/ ↗
Free
- Wix
Wix is a user-friendly website builder with blog functionality included. Features include 500+ templates, drag-and-drop editor, SEO tools, and custom domain support. Plans start at $14 per month.
Official site: https://www.wix.com/ ↗
Free & paid options are available
- Squarespace
Squarespace provides beautiful templates optimized for blogging, writing, and publishing content. Robust CMS features, ecommerce, traffic analytics, and custom domains available. Plans start at $12 per month.
Official site: https://www.squarespace.com/ ↗
Paid plans only
- DeviantArt
DeviantArt is an online community dedicated to artists, designers, and photographers. Members can set up profile pages and blogs to share and discuss their work. Free to join and use core features.
Official site: https://www.deviantart.com/ ↗
Free
- Tumblr
Tumblr is a longtime microblogging platform centered around short-form writing, social sharing, and community. Supports multimedia embeds, custom themes, and flexible post layouts. Free to use with optional paid tiers.
Official site: https://www.tumblr.com/ ↗
Free & paid options are available
While better known for social networking, Twitter's 280-character limit makes it suitable for microblogging. Writers can thread tweets together into longer narratives. Free to use.
Official site: https://twitter.com/ ↗
Free
Facebook allows longer-form writing through Notes. Embed images, videos, and other media to augment blog posts. High built-in readership via your Friends list. Free to use.
Official site: https://www.facebook.com/ ↗
Free
LinkedIn's publishing platform enables users to share long-form posts with their professional network. Support for rich media embeds and analytics on engagement. Free to use with premium tiers also available.
Official site: https://www.linkedin.com/ ↗
Free & paid options are available
On Reddit, writers can create their own subreddit communities for blogging on niche topics. Embed images, videos, polls, and other media into Reddit posts. Free to use.
Official site: https://www.reddit.com/ ↗
Free
- Quora
Quora allows writers to publish long-form answers to questions across almost any topic. A built-in readership asks and engages with questions. Free to use.
Official site: https://www.quora.com/ ↗
Free
- Hashnode
Hashnode is a free developer blogging community optimized for technical/programming articles. Supports Markdown, custom domains, and multipart stories.
Official site: https://hashnode.com/ ↗
Free
- Minds
Minds is an open-source social media platform with blogging features. Users earn crypto tokens for quality content. caters to free speech and anti-censorship writers.
Official site: https://www.minds.com/ ↗
Free
- Steemit
Steemit allows bloggers to monetize articles directly from their audience using cryptocurrency rewards and payments. Very active userbase of writers.
Official site: https://steemit.com/ ↗
Free
- Write.as
Write.as provides distraction-free, minimalist writing and publishing with markdown support. Fully customizable sites with free and paid tiers available.
Official site: https://write.as/ ↗
Free & paid options are available
- Hive
Hive is a blockchain-based blogging and social network that rewards quality content with cryptocurrency incentives. Very open platform with a strong userbase.
Official site: https://hive.io/ ↗
Free
- Vocal
Vocal is an online publisher community for original articles across interests like music, finance, tech, health, and more. Writers are rewarded with CASH tokens based on audience engagement.
Official site: https://vocal.media/ ↗
Free
- Telegra.ph
Telegram's minimalist yet handy blogging platform. Create rich articles using markdown and embed media seamlessly. Custom CSS themes supported.
Official site: https://telegra.ph/ ↗
Free
- Note
Note is a beautiful writing platform by Dropbox Paper optimized for long-form writing. Supports images, to-do lists, code blocks. Free and paid plans.
Official site: https://www.note.so/ ↗
Free & paid options are available
- Bear Blog
Bear is a flexible writing app with a web publishing platform for turning notes into blogs. Markdown support and 100+ themes available. Paid plans only starting at $14.99/year.
Official site: https://bear.app/ ↗
Paid plans only
- Blogster
Blogster provides an easy way to get a feature-packed, customizable blog for free. Monetization options, email newsletter integration, member access, and more.
Official site: https://www.blogster.com/ ↗
Free
- Pen.io
Pen.io keeps blogging beautifully simple. Minimal styles, markdown editor, stats, and Dropbox sync. Custom domains for $9/month, 14-day free premium trial.
Official site: https://pen.io/ ↗
Free trial & paid plans are available
- Blogga
Blogga is a user-friendly blogging platform supporting custom domains, unlimited images, basic analytics, SEO options, email campaigns, and more for free.
Official site: https://blogga.com/ ↗
Free
- TypePad
TypePad offers customizable blog designs, SEO tools, built-in ad monetization, email marketing integration, and memberships for paid plans ($8.95/month minimum).
Official site: https://www.typepad.com/ ↗
Free trial & paid plans are available
- Sector
Sector provides an ad-free blogging platform built for writers. Clean, distraction-free interface and customizable themes. Free and paid plans start at $6/month.
Official site: https://sector.so/ ↗
Free & paid options are available
- Cardd.co
Cardd allows creating visual “card” blogs optimized for social media. Embed rich media and link cards together into shareable stories. Free to use.
Official site: https://cardd.co/ ↗
Free
- Cabbage Tree
Cabbage Tree offers customizable sites for blogging, writing, and publishing. Optimized for writers with minimal, distraction-free UI. Free and paid plans.
Official site: https://cabbagetreesystems.com/ ↗
Free & paid options are available
- Blot
Blot provides a minimalist blogging platform for quickly publishing notes, updates, and articles. Integrated with various writing apps. The free plan allows 1 blog. Paid plans $5+/month.
Official site: https://blot.im/ ↗
Free & paid options are available
Now that I am done with listing the 30 best alternatives to Medium, let me wrap up this article below.
Key Takeaways and Conclusion on Best alternatives to Medium
With the shift towards paywalls and subscriptions, Medium is no longer the sole option for writers seeking an online home for their content. The alternatives highlighted in this article provide credible Medium competitors across a variety of features, pricing models, and target audiences.
Key factors for choosing a Medium alternative include cost, functionality, ease of use, and reach. With free publishing on Substack, Ghost, and WordPress, writers can avoid the subscription fees now prevalent across Medium.
For those wanting to blog within existing social platforms, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others allow publishing long-form content to engage follower bases. Emerging blockchain platforms like Hive and Steemit provide new models of audience participation and rewards.
The options profiled above represent only a sampling of the diverse sites writers now have at their disposal. While Medium strives to build its paid membership program, its open ecosystem has fragmented. For those looking to move on from Medium, there are more publishing platforms to choose from than ever before.
The future remains uncertain as to whether Medium's premium model will thrive or falter. But for now, writers have an expanding universe of medium alternatives to consider as they seek the best home to reach readers. By evaluating cost, features, ease of use and reach, writers can discover alternatives aligned with their individual needs.
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