Google Blogger vs. WordPress

I have created a blog in both WordPress (this one) and in Blogger – Along the Path to 2.0.

I am trying to decide which I prefer and of course, they each have things I want. One thing I just did on this site using WordPress is to import all my blogs from my Google Blogger blog. That was really handy and a great way to change over to this site if I decide on WordPress.

But one thing I don’t like as well about WordPress is that I can’t seem to get to the underlying code as easily. In Blogger I can view the HTML and I have added the code to add a technorati button to it. It just seems a lot more flexible so far. But on the other hand, one of the biggest things right now for me is looking at my Blog Stats, and WordPress has a whole page dedicated to that and Blogger does not have anything, at least that I have found so far.

I also could not find out how to add widgets (beyond the standard ones) to either of these (excepting the code I put in Blogger). Sean tells me that the reason I can’t do it in WordPress is that I am not hosting my blog. Hopefully I’ll get my own web server one of these days and then I can explore that further. I wonder if it is the same issue in Blogger. I’d love to be able to add new page elements to my Blog and drag and drop them, which is really nice in Blogger and OK in WordPress.

And of course, I am a newbie to both of these systems (and to web page coding in general) so I will learn as I go. I’ve certainly figured out a ton of little things so far. Just like anything, at first everything is time-consuming and difficult. As I figure out some of the basics, it becomes easier.

I would greatly appreciate your comments about which Blog engine you like, and why!

Update: Since this post, I wrote an in-depth, 3-part series on Blogger vs. WordPress (.com and self-hosted). If you want a lot more information, check out these posts.

And here is another look at these 2 blog engines.

~Susie