It's 2025 and publishing tools abound. Every day, it seems new publishing tools emerge, giving content writers more choices about how, when, and where to publish new content. Not all of these newfangled tools are worth your time. On the other hand, there are some proven, tried and tested, publishing tools that will still do the trick. Even in 2025.
Let's take a look at 5 Web publishing tools you can use in 2025. Then I'll tell you which publishing tool wins the prize for the best—hands down.
5 Popular Web Publishing Tools in 2025
I'm not going to say you shouldn't try these publishing tools, but these are not the best publishing tools for every occasion. Still, these 5 publishing tools are pretty decent depending on what type of publishing you do and your audience.
- Medium - Medium has been around a while. Writers who want to build a platform flock to Medium because it's easy to use. Plus, Medium publications allow writers to extend their reach and audience engagement by leveraging the audience of niche publications that align with their content. Some writers are even able to earn income from their articles on Medium. These are all huge pluses. Why you should publish on Medium: Ease of use and monetization opportunities. Why you should NOT publish on Medium: It may not be right platform for you, especially if you have a brand that you want to promote through your content publishing assets.
- Substack - Substack is growing in popularity for one good reason. It's doing to newsletters what Medium did for blogs. Anyone with an audience can migrate that audience to Substack and have a built-in network of readers. Plus, Substack's app will extend your reach and the network effect kicks in, growing your readers faster and further than you ever dreamed you could. On top of that, through subscriptions, you can monetize your newsletter and turn it into a revenue channel. Why you should publish on Substack: Grow your newsletter audience through Substack's app and monetize your premium newsletter content. Why you should NOT publish on Substack: Effective newsletter require ongoing attention. You must publish on schedule and deliver high-quality content consistency if you want your newsletter to grow, particularly if you plan to monetize your content. Not everyone has the time for that, and if you don't want to publish a newsletter, then Substack is not the right publishing tool for you.
- Ghost - Ghost is open source and non-profit. That combination is powerful in many people's eyes. Because it is open source, Ghost is more flexible than either Medium or Substack. If you want a newsletter that you have complete control over, with monetization options, and the ability to design your content publishing assets your way, then Ghost is the platform for you. To make a good thing even better, Ghost has a platform option where you can build your newsletter, blog, or publication on a web-based domain like Substack or Medium, or you can download Ghost and develop your own publication brand that you have complete control over. Why you should publish on Ghost: Flexibility and control. Why you should NOT publish on Ghost: Ghost is not free. It costs $15/month if billed yearly. If have a no-budget startup, that may be prohibitive, but in the long run you'll pay less because Ghost doesn't take a percentage of your sales like Patreon and Substack do. If you download the Ghost software, you're on your own with development.
- Shorthand - While Ghost, Medium, and Substack are family sedans, Shorthand is a Cadillac. If you want a luxury enterprise publishing solution, Shorthand is your ticket. Beyond just a blog or newsletter publishing tool, you can use Shorthand to embed rich media into your publication. You can use animation techniques, build a collaborative team to work on your publication, brand your publication with customized elements, and publish a sleek, magazine-quality Web publication using easy-to-use tools. Your publishing options are also more flexible with Shorthand than with other Web publishing tools. You can store your publication on S3, embed it into your own Web properties, export to a ZIP file, or publish to your Shorthand subdomain. Why you should publish on Shorthand: Use the same Web publishing tools Fortune 500 brands use to publish their brand magazines. Why you should NOT publish on Shorthand: Shorthand is expensive. It starts at $40/month. But what you get for that $40/month is pure gold.
- Quark - Quark has been developing desktop publishing solutions since 1981. By the 1990s, QuarkXPress had become the premier desktop publishing solution. Quark Publishing Platform is an AI-powered automation solution designed to make the publishing process more streamlined for enterprise businesses. Why you should publish on Quark: If you've got the budget and the team to produce your publication, Quark has the resources to make it happen. Why you should NOT publish on Quark: You simply don't have the budget.
Which Publishing Tool Still Has the Most Users?
WordPress has been around since 2003. They practically built the blogosphere. From individual bloggers to enterprise publishing teams, WordPress is well trusted to deliver the best publishing tools on the Web—even in 2025.
What makes WordPress the best publishing tool? It's not just one thing. It's many things.
- WordPress started as a blog publishing tool but has grown into a full content management system, powering everything from small business websites to e-commerce stores
- WordPress has an arsenal of plugins that can help you expand your publication's abilities
- WordPress has a ton of themes to help you design your website to look the way you want it to look
- WordPress is totally and completely 100% free to use
- It's also open source, which means you can alter the code, design it the way you want to design, and put your development chops to work to make it what you want it to be
- Where other publishing tools claim to democratize publishing, WordPress actually did it
- With content blocks, WordPress is flexible and easy to use, allowing you to build the website, blog, newsletter, membership site, e-commerce platform, or any other publication and do it your way
- WordPress patterns allow you to easily insert a block of code into your website to something that is common so that you don't have to recreate the wheel
- WordPress also has a worldwide network of developers ready and willing to assist you with any problem you encounter with the software
Do you have plans to build a blog, website, newsletter, or online publication? If so, have your WordPress solution installed and set up by an industry veteran who has set up thousands of WordPress sites since 2003.
