Best Blogging Platforms in Kenya: Top 10 Picks

WordPress.org is free, open-source blogging software that you install on your own hosting account. Because it is not owned by one company, you fully own your content, your design and your data. It is by far the most popular way to blog in Kenya, since it works with thousands of free and paid themes and plugins for SEO, speed and M-Pesa payments.

The trade-off is that you must choose and pay for hosting yourself. The good news is that Kenyan hosts like HostAfrica and HostPinnacle now offer one-click WordPress installs, free .co.ke domains and M-Pesa billing, so getting started takes under 15 minutes. Read our full Best WordPress Hosting in Kenya guide for a deeper comparison.

WordPress.com is a hosted version of WordPress run by the company Automattic. It removes the need to find your own host, while still running on the real WordPress engine, which means you can move your blog to self-hosted WordPress.org later without starting over. Storage, themes and plugin access depend heavily on the plan you choose.

Blogger is Google's free blogging tool, hosted at no cost on Google's own servers. You can still point a custom domain, such as a .co.ke name, to your Blogger site. It allows nearly unlimited custom coding for those who know a bit of HTML and CSS, and it works well with Google AdSense for earning ad revenue.

Wix is a drag-and-drop website builder with blogging tools built in, so your blog and the rest of your website live in one place. The newer Studio builder adds more hosting resources and design power, though the menus can feel confusing for first-time users. You can add affiliate links on any plan, but accepting payments needs a paid plan.

Squarespace focuses heavily on design and monetisation, letting you paywall individual posts, courses or full memberships. This makes it a strong fit for a Kenyan fitness coach, author or consultant who wants to charge readers directly. Templates are beautiful but less customisable than some competitors.

Ghost is a modern, minimal publishing platform built specifically for writers and paid memberships, not general website building. Unlike some rivals, Ghost never takes a cut of your subscriber revenue, so once you have covered hosting or the Ghost Pro fee, the rest of your income stays yours. Self-hosting Ghost is possible but recommended only if you are comfortable managing a server.

Medium hosts your writing on its own domain and can put your posts in front of its existing global readership through its recommendation feed, which is useful if you have no audience yet. Medium's Partner Program can pay writers based on reading time from members, though payouts are modest. The catch is that Medium keeps the SEO value, not you, and you cannot fully brand or customise the page.

Weebly, now owned by Square, is a simple drag-and-drop builder that pairs blogging with a small online shop. A Kenyan crafts blogger, for example, could write about her work while selling handmade items using Square's built-in payment tools. The design options are simpler than most rivals, so it suits people who want speed over deep customisation.

Substack blends blogging with email newsletters, so every post you publish is automatically sent to subscribers' inboxes as well as posted on the web. It is completely free to start, and Substack only takes a cut once you turn on paid subscriptions: 10% of your subscription revenue plus card processing fees. Other writers on Substack can also recommend your newsletter to their own readers, which helps with early growth.

Tumblr is a free microblogging platform built around short posts, images, GIFs and reblogging content from other users, making it feel more like a social network than a formal blog. It suits Kenyan hobbyists, artists and fan communities more than businesses, since monetisation and SEO tools are thin. A custom domain can be added for a small yearly fee if you outgrow the free tumblr.com address.