As blogging is in the air and everyone wants to avail this tool to get web presence at cheaper rates, many software houses have produced blogging software. Some of which are downloadable desktop applications and some are paid price depending on the features offered by blogging tools.

Blogging Platforms can be categorized as follows:

1. Hosted Weblog Providers.

2. Stand alone Blogging software.

3. Combination Tools.

Hosted Weblog Providers:  These blogging tools are easiest to use and are only  meant for a non-technical user. One has to initially signup and automatically a  blog facility is created with just few clicks using inbuilt templates, though you can customize the templates to some extent.

Examples of such a blogging platform include: Blogger, Typepad, LiveJournal, and Blogware

 Stand alone Blogging Software

 This is a type of blogging platform where the user has to download and install weblog software on a web server in order to start blogging. These tools are available generally in PHP and one requires having some technical skills to work with this blogging platform. Bloggers who wants fully customizable blog templates prefer these standalone blogging applications. Some of these applications are available free to download such as Wordpress, B2evolution etc.  Examples of some paid tools include: Moveabletype, Pmachine

 Combination Tools

 This type of blogging platform is in-between a hosted weblog provider and stand-alone blogging software. Users have the option to host the blog on service provider’s server (like Blogspot ) or they can host the blog on their server and can choose their own domain name for blog.

 Examples of such a blogging platform include: Blogger