The best Tumblr alternatives
Since 2007, the Tumblr platform has made it possible to publish content in a blog format. Over 490 million blogs and more than 800 million readers are using the popular platform. So that every reader can discover suitable content, the micro-blogging platform offers numerous features. For example, users are recommended topics by specifying their interests. In addition, a user’s dashboard automatically displays the content of all the blogs they follow.
However, there are also some disadvantages because Tumblr focuses primarily on the sharing of content which makes its design less suitable for long texts. According to your personal interests and type of use, a Tumblr alternative may be a better solution for publishing your content.
A comparison chart of Tumblr and its alternatives
Platform | Release | The most important forms of content | App for Android and iOS | Focus area |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tumblr | 2007 | Texts, images, GIFs, videos, audio files | Blogs | |
DeviantArt | 2000 | Images, videos, GIFs | Art | |
2010 | Images, videos | Photography | ||
WordPress | 2003 | Texts | Blogs | |
Medium.com | 2012 | Texts | Articles | |
Blogger.com | 1999 | Texts | Blogs | |
2010 | Images, videos | Images | ||
memosnag | 2015 | Texts, images, GIFs, videos, audio files, | Articles, Images, Videos |
Tumblr is one of the largest blogging platforms and, accordingly, offers a lot of content and a large user community. In addition to texts of limited length, other media formats can be shared. The features and tools to share content are ideal for users who can’t produce their own. Here is a summary of the different blogging platforms available:
- DeviantArt is a great choice for active artists and visual creatives who would like to sell their own work. Art lovers also find their preferred content here.
- Instagram puts the focus on visual content and is suitable as a social network for interacting with many other users.
- WordPress is a classic content management system and a perfect option for creating a blog or website with your own domain without any programming knowledge.
- Medium is a good alternative for longer and more high-quality blog articles.
- Blogger is a Google service that provides effective search machine optimization and options for monetizing via AdSense.
- Pinterest is primarily used as an image database for visual content and is a great alternative for sharing creative or aesthetic content.
- Memosnag is great for creating collections for the most diverse kinds of media, from articles and papers, to a birthday wish list, to a video compilation list.
DeviantArt: for artists and art lovers
With its focus on visual content, the DeviantArt platform is the ideal Tumblr alternative for artists. Your photos, graphics, and illustrations are conveniently shared and displayed to other users. Drawings, paintings, and photos are among the most popular forms of content. However, anime, stock photos, vector graphics, and flash movies are also presented on the platform. Although text content can be published, it’s rather rare on the platform. In addition, users can communicate with one another via commentary, their profiles or in numerous groups and forums.
One of the most appealing features for artists is the chance to display their own content on the homepage. However, due to the growing community, this is becoming increasingly more difficult. The integrated shop offers special added value for those who create art. User works are displayed and can be purchased by other members. The purchasers receive the artwork either as an art print, canvas, photo or as a print on a product – cups, mousepads and magnets, for example. Best of all, to make use of the shopping feature, a free membership is enough.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
---|---|
Focus on art and visual content | Hardly any text content |
Communication via forums and groups | |
Monetization through an integrated shop |
Instagram: visual content feed meets social network
Besides Facebook, Instagram has become one of the most important social media networks. For this reason, the online service is at best suitable as a Tumblr alternative for those who would like to share their own or third-party content with real or virtual friends. The requirement for its use is a free registration. Though it’s true that Instagram is also available as a web version, the features are optimized for use on mobile devices.
On Instagram, photos, and videos can be shared. Conveniently, images are edited directly in the app through integrated filers and optimized before uploading. Photos that are taken spontaneously can be shared quickly and easily with the community. In addition to profiles, users can also follow hashtags – as a result, the feed automatically fills up with interesting content. Furthermore, the use of hashtags makes it easier to disseminate your own content. If you set up a free business account, you can view statistics to monitor audience reach of your posts and absolute visitor numbers.
Like Facebook, Instagram is a complex social network. In the US alone, around 110 million users are registered. As a result, large follower numbers can be acquired for your content campaign. However, shared content now often contains advertisements because of numerous creators and influencers making deals with brands to promote their products.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
---|---|
Integrated filter for images | Optimized for square formats |
Use of hashtags | App necessary for optimal use |
Social network | Increasing commercial content |
Business accounts with additional features |
WordPress: the CMS alternative
Wordpress is a free content management system. In just a few steps, you can create a blog or a separate website using open-source software – without any programming knowledge. WordPress provides you with the hosting, domain and storage space. The available features are continuously expanded thanks to a large community which regularly develops new plug-ins, widgets and themes. Mobile-friendly templates make it easier to create responsive designs. Statistics, SEO functions or buttons for sharing content in social networks are among the standard features. Packages available for purchase offer optional customized domain names, additional designs and plug-ins.
As an alternative to Tumblr, WordPress lets you publish long texts with integrated images or videos. Though it’s true that creating content is easy, its distribution is relatively difficult. Unlike with Instagram or DeviantArt, there are no hashtags (but keywords instead) and no comparable integrated social network. This is because a WordPress project is always an independent work project. For this reason, anyone who wants to expand their reach must post regular content and remain patient. There are ways to attract more people to your site, for example, by commenting on others’ posts, networking with other bloggers or using internal links.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
---|---|
Simple creation of separate blogs | Expanding reach is difficult |
Numerous free add-ons | Plug-ins can lead to complications among each other |
Comprehensive SEO optimization is possible | Regular updates necessary (with self-hosted version) |
Generates long text content |
Medium: quality blogs with a simple design
Evan Williams, the co-founder of Twitter, developed Medium – a Tumblr alternative which provides the option of publishing your own blog posts in an appealing and consistent design. With respect to text length, there are clearly more liberties as well. In addition, the content can be enhanced through embedded videos, images or even Pinterest Pins. Other users can like, comment on, and share your post. With every blog entry the average reading time is automatically indicated. Medium also shares insights on the reader statistics for your posts.
With over 60 million active users, it can reach many potential readers. The articles on Medium’s dedicated publications are of high quality. If your content has already been shared to other pages such as WordPress, for example, you can easily import your posts to Medium. Google views this only as distribution of content and for this reason does not punish any duplicate content. Of course, other changes can be performed before publication.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
---|---|
Over 60 million active users | Harder to find via Google |
Easy to use | No separate web address available |
Consistent, appealing design | |
Integrated analysis tools |
Blogger: Google’s Tumblr alternative
Google has its very own blogging platform among its portfolio of products. Conveniently, it’s called Blogger and makes for a good alternative to Tumblr. Similar to WordPress, each blog in the content management system receives its own domain. Authors also don’t have to worry about hosting and storage space. For the design, many templates, layouts, and background images are available.
However, the Google alternative contains some additional advantages. With the AdSense online service, advertisements can automatically be displayed in your blog. As a result, you can monetize your posts. To integrate the Google program, no programming knowledge is necessary. With Blogger, you’ll obtain insight on different statistics such as monthly page views or data regarding traffic sources. The connection to Google Analytics also expands the evaluation options. Furthermore, your blog may be more visible in Google search engines than on other blogging platforms.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
---|---|
Your own domain | Google account required for registration |
Different design templates | Less add-ons than WordPress |
Good visibility with Google | No shop function |
Advertising revenue through AdSense |
Pinterest: the search machine for inspiration and creativity
The name Pinterest combines the words pin and interest. Interesting content is pinned according to the name and thus stored in a separate collection. The visually-oriented platform is similar to an image database. Both your posts and those by third parties are displayed to users on boards with different topics. Those who are interested have the option of following those Pins that are of interest to them. As a result, it’s much easier to address different target groups when using this Tumblr alternative. Pinterest is also convenient for sharing YouTube videos or Instagram postings.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
---|---|
Content remains accessible for a long time | Hardly any exchange in the community |
External content can be integrated | Focus on visual content, hardly any text content |
Indexing through Google | |
Pinterest Analytics |
memosnag: The solution for diverse content collections
The Tumblr Alternative memosnag enables the user to collect and publish any web-based and offline content - whether images, videos, text, links or complete web pages. The content can be easily sorted and presented in galleries or as comprehensive collections. Users can choose between private and public collections, which can be commented on and shared, similar to Tumblr’s reblogging system. Browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox as well as apps for iOS and Android make storing and collecting content easy. In most cases, a simple click is enough to add what you want to your own memosnag project.
Memosnag gets used in all kinds of ways, just like it caters to all kinds of content-collectors! Students who conduct research can systematically store relevant articles and sources and retrieve them at any time, while teachers can use the platform to distribute learning materials or research references, for example. The alternative to Tumblr is also great for domestic use too, though. Shopping wish lists or a collection of favorite videos from well-known video platforms such as YouTube can be shared via memosnag, you can start discussions on topics, or you can publish your own content on the platform.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
---|---|
Easy integration of external web content, including the required source references | You can’t create your own website address, e.g. www.MyExampleBlog.memosnag.com |
Browser extensions and mobile apps available | |
Content either private or public |