The Blogger site is owned by Google and is still the biggest blogging platform in the world. But Automattic, the owners of WordPress are slowly catching up. They have been adding new users faster than Blogger and so slowly closing the gap on them for that number one spot.

But if you are fairly new to blogging and are thinking of setting up your first blog, or simply a free blog rather than paying for hosting, which is best: Blogger or WordPress.com?

The answer to some extent depends on why you are planning on blogging. If you are doing it to make money then Blogger is generally going to be your better bet. If you are doing it purely for its own sake just to enjoy the experience then WordPress.com might be as good.

The clincher for a lot of people in deciding is the fact that with Blogger you can place adverts on your blog whereas with WordPress.com you aren't allowed to. Add in the fact that you can also sign up for and use affiliate schemes on Blogger which are again largely frowned upon on WordPress.com and you have a clear advantage to Blogger if you want to commercialize your blog.

Of course, some people hate the commercialization of anything so WordPress might appeal to them more for the very fact it is largely ad-free. Horses for courses. Some advertising is allowed on WordPress.com but only of your own products that you have created yourself. So if you made jewellery or some other arts and crafts based small business you could get away with limited advertising on Wordpress.com and they will allow you to link to your Etsy site for a little extra promotion. But then you could do all that from a Blogger blog as well.

The simple fact is if making money, at any level, is quite important to you then Blogger is your best route.

Behind the major difference area few more less easily spotted differences. For the more artistically inclined WordPress.com often appears aesthetically superior to Blogger. It is a bit like the argument between Microsoft and Apple.

However, I should point out that many WordPress.com themes are available to install on Blogger so you can get exactly the same theme look with a couple of other advantages. As you have complete access to the template and its code on Blogger you can tweak it as much as you like. On WordPress.com you aren't allowed any access to the template but if you pay an upgrade fee, currently around $15pa you can have access to the style sheet, handy for those who know CSS.

The WordPress.com dashboard is more pleasing to look at but is slower to load especially if you still have a dial-up connection. And all Google's other areas of Internet business, like WebMaster tools and Google Analytics are only available to Blogger users not WordPress.com, or not to the same extent.

For me, I go for Blogger as it easier to do what I want with it. With WordPress.com I always feel like I am having to look over my shoulder to make sure I am not breeching their Terms of Service and risking having my account suspended. With the ability to either make money, or at least be able to attempt to make money, and the ability to change the template to whatever you want Blogger is a clear winner for me. I get ease of use, ease of customization and a chance to make money. I simply find Wordpress.com to restrictive.