I started off using TypePad, then went to self-hosted MT, and then started a second blog on self-hosted WP. (I also have one on WordPress.com, but I don't recommend that to anyone serious about blogging due to lack of plugins and other advanced functionality.) I think if I were starting another blog today, I might actually go with self-hosted MT.
I had my WP blog compromised by a security flaw and then listed as a spam site by Google, meaning that anyone who came there in Firefox (which is most of my readers) got a warning rather than my homepage. Never had that happen with MT.
I also had an article take off on StumbleUpon and let's just say Wordpress doesn't handle traffic well. I later tried tossing in the most popular caching plug-in, but it borked my RSS feed such that Feedburner wouldn't recognize it.
Long story short, the last 6 months of WP have been nothing but headache after headache for me. I write all of my posts in Word and then publish via xml-rpc, so I don't care much about the interface, but I think MT's and WP's are pretty comparable.
So yeah, though a year ago I was considering converting my older blog to WP, now I'd vote for MT. (Haven't used TypePad in years, so I can't tell you about that one specifically.)
How serious are you about your intention? My suggestion is, that if you want to just try it out, register instantly on wordpress.com or blogger.com and try to run it for a few weeks. The thing is, that maintaining you own installation at your own domain takes quite a lot of time.
On the other hand, if you really want to run a successful blog, register your own domain and install...well, you will not go wrong with Wordpress.
> [M]aintaining you own installation at your own domain takes quite a lot of time.
Not sure I agree with this, at least where WordPress is concerned. What, after all, is involved? Grabbing the source from the latest stable branch on the WP svn repository takes less than a minute. Creating a new database is a few seconds; adding the database details to the config file is less than a minute; and the install routine can also be run in under a minute. That's installation. Then there's maintenance: a cron job that updates the source from svn every night, and a one-line svn command to switch to a new branch when it comes out. A database backup script which, like the domain configuration, is not WordPress-specific.
Actually, having gone halfway through this response, I'm not sure I agree with my disagreement. Once you've sorted all of the above, you need to start doing things specific to your installation: choosing or creating a theme, installing plugins (preferably over svn from the WP plugin repository so you can update them automatically), and tweaking the various settings to your liking. But only the details are specific to WordPress, or Movable Type.
It would be more accurate to say that maintaining any reasonably complex website takes quite a lot of time. But then, we knew that already, and it still only takes five minutes to get WordPress installed on your server.
I don't run my own installation (used the hosted one for about a year) but have seen friends upgrades go not so smoothly. In keeping with various updates I'd say it'd take a bit of time.
The only time I've had problems upgrading was when, running off the trunk svn build, a new tags system which changed a bunch of database tables was introduced and then scrapped shortly afterwards. Repairing the tables was annoying, but that's life on trunk for you; there's a reason it's not recommended for production sites. Other than that, all of my upgrades have gone smoothly. In my (anecdotal) experience, most problems with upgrades (and, indeed, most problems generally) are caused by badly written or incompatible plugins.
I use both. For personal use, I chose TypePad, but my company's blog runs on Wordpress.org.
Honestly, for personal use, I should have went with Wordpress. I thought that by going with a hosted solution I'd save myself time and server hassles. I also thought that new features would miraculously show up frequently.
It couldn't be further from the truth. TypePad has a horrible admin interface and they don't seem to be making things better at all. In fact, in the 8 months I've used them, I don't think I've noticed a single new feature or enhancement that's made me say "damn, these guys are awesome, I should spend more money on them"
Wordpress on the other hand is becoming easier and easier to host. Now they've got this 1-click upgrade, which makes hosting your own site a walk in the park. In addition to countless plugins and themes, they're releasing new features all the time.
That said, I know that at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter, if it generates an Atom feed, I'm happy.
If you don't want the programming and behind the scenes nature, maybe Wordpress or Typepad to get you up and running quickly without a fuss.
If you don't mind getting your hands dirty with ultra-customizing every facet of your blog without closed-source woes, Joomla or Movable Type. The latter of which I've been using for about 1.5 years now and am absolutely in love with. That's not to say you can't get up and running quickly with these, but the level of customization they offer are top notch and take a little more time and patience. You can get right into their source code and make your own plugins... in my opinion these also have that "professional"-ism attribute as well.
I recommend Wordpress. The main reason I went with it was really group think - so many of my favorite blogs use Wordpress. Looking for comparisons online, it didn't appear like either was a clear winner or had some killer feature. I have been using it for my blog and am very happy with it - I find plugins for just about anything I want, or just customize the PHP if needed. I also like that there are two multiple blog projects (Wordpress MU and Lyceum) so that if I ever decide to go that route for a new site, it should be comparable and I can leverage some knowledge I have from my current install - and perhaps plugins, though that is more hit or miss.
Strongly advise against hosting your own blog. The code quality on both MT and WordPress is very, very low. WordPress, for instance, is probably worth at least another 4-5 game-over security flaws in the next 6 months, and that's before you take the plugins into account. Kids scan the Internet for installations to drop with PHP zero-day.
I would go with Wordpress if you are just looking for a blog. If you want something more robust then you should look at Drupal. Steer clear of Joomla unless you just like messing around with platforms. (I have used Joomla for a few projects and have grown to hate it)
I'd like to hear why folks prefer Wordpress...I use Typepad for Altgate.com and I have to say that I'm not terribly impressed. I also use Blogger for a company blog (virid.us/blog/) and it's fine.
On a related note, has anyone done a Typepad-->Wordpress conversion? How'd it go?
We'd love for you to try posterous.com -- it's a YC 2008 company and we're growing fast.
It's great for a beginning blogger. It's dead simple blogs by email, and it's the easiest way to post a ton of photos or video straight from your digital camera.
I'd never actually checked this out until this post :)
Had a look and I'm very impressed!
I'm putting together a personal blog and thought it'd be a good idea to do the posts by email - was a bit unsure on the anti spoofing measures though. I'm sure you have it sorted!
I've recommended it to a friend already- Well done!
I shopped and tinkered, and eventually went with WordPress. Be sure you use the subversion install so you can easily update down the track. Choose a simple skin and away you go.
I've heard (and found from experience) that wordpress is a bit more professional and polished. Not having used TypePad a bunch, I couldn't give a very detailed comparison. But those are my two cents.
I had my WP blog compromised by a security flaw and then listed as a spam site by Google, meaning that anyone who came there in Firefox (which is most of my readers) got a warning rather than my homepage. Never had that happen with MT.
I also had an article take off on StumbleUpon and let's just say Wordpress doesn't handle traffic well. I later tried tossing in the most popular caching plug-in, but it borked my RSS feed such that Feedburner wouldn't recognize it.
Long story short, the last 6 months of WP have been nothing but headache after headache for me. I write all of my posts in Word and then publish via xml-rpc, so I don't care much about the interface, but I think MT's and WP's are pretty comparable.
So yeah, though a year ago I was considering converting my older blog to WP, now I'd vote for MT. (Haven't used TypePad in years, so I can't tell you about that one specifically.)