Any good alternatives to TypePad?

January 29, 2005 9:58 AM

Any good alternatives to TypePad? It looks good, but I'm wondering if there are any other options for cheap blog hosting.
posted by punishinglemur to computers & internet (10 answers total)

Blogger?
posted by mhaw at 10:26 AM on January 29, 2005

If you have your own web space, you can install Movable Type yourself. It has almost all the same features as TypePad but you don't have to pay a monthly fee.

I know almost zilch about the command line and I had no problem walking through the step-by-step instructions to get it running.
posted by bcwinters at 10:32 AM on January 29, 2005

I've been using TypePad since it launched and I've always been really happy with it. They're a bit on the slow side when it comes to adding features (although the features they do have already - such as TypeLists and photo galleries - are things you'd have to set up yourself if you went with MT, I think), but the support is excellent. You'd have to go with the Pro option if you want full control of the design though.
posted by eatcherry at 11:47 AM on January 29, 2005

Inknoise
posted by caitlinb at 11:52 AM on January 29, 2005

Log Jamming, perhaps? Never used them and never heard too much about the service, so I can't vouch for how good it is.
posted by mkn at 12:02 PM on January 29, 2005

I've been really happy with LiveJournal -- the community aspect is something I think I would miss a great deal on a run of the mill blog host. Sure, there are a lot of angsty teens there, but it's a couple million users, so it's easy to ignore the segments you don't like. (Avoiding the self-link: same username there as here, if you're curious.)
posted by mendel at 2:14 PM on January 29, 2005

www.textdrive.com
posted by specialk420 at 3:13 PM on January 29, 2005

WordPress, obviously. Free, open-source, standards-compliant (in general). Some ISPs have one-click WordPress installation as a free feature, which fits your criterion of "cheap" rather than "absolutely free." (For that you need something like Blogspot, which has notable disadvantages WordPress doesn't.)
posted by joeclark at 4:16 PM on January 29, 2005

The people who use LiveJournal seem to really really like it, and it definitely comes across (to this non-LJ user) as a more inward-focused community than the blogworld in general.

However, if you're not about showing Ben & Mena the love, Six Apart does now own LiveJournal (and of course they own TypePad and Movable Type.)

I use Logjamming for hosting, by the way, and have had zero problems. When I've had questions, they've had quick and helpful responses. Good guys. However, they are just a hosting provider, compatible with GreyMatter, MT, and some other CMSs, and do not do anything other than host your site.

Then again, for my personal site I've been using TypePad since its beta test, and I think it's great.
posted by Vidiot at 9:18 PM on January 29, 2005

What are the features you're looking for, or the way you'll be using a blog tool?
posted by anildash at 11:08 PM on January 29, 2005