Tumblr against Typoza for long-form writing
Reblogs bring you readers on Tumblr. Read this if you also want an archive at an address of your own.
Free to start, no card. You can export your posts at any time, on every plan.
Where a post goes on Tumblr
- Onto the dashboards of the people who follow you
- Onward through reblogs, to people you will never meet
- Into notes, replies and tags while it circulates
- Onto a tumblr.com address, or a domain bought through Tumblr
Where a post goes on Typoza
- Onto an address on your own site
- Into the inboxes of your Letter's subscribers
- Into the sitemap and the feeds, with a share image
- Onto your site's category and tag pages
Post on Tumblr and your followers see it on their dashboards. They reblog it, and it reaches people who never went looking for it. Tumblr is a community with a blog attached, and no search engine distributes writing that way; neither does Typoza.
That reach lives inside Tumblr. Followers read you on the dashboard and reblog you onto their own, and a new custom domain has to be bought through Tumblr's own registrar.
Typoza has no dashboard and no reblog. A post goes up at an address on your own site, with a title and description for search engines, a place in the feeds, and an email to your subscribers. Readers come from searches, links and inboxes.
Point by point
| What we compare | Typoza | Tumblr |
|---|---|---|
| Where readers come from | Search engines, feeds, links, the Letter, and a directory you can join. | The dashboard, reblogs and tags inside Tumblr. |
| What you publish | Posts and pages, with blocks for long, structured pieces. | Text, photos, quotes, links, audio and video; short posts feel at home. |
| Your address | Free on a Typoza subdomain; bring your own domain on Collective. | A tumblr.com address, or a domain bought through Tumblr. |
| Conversation | Comments and reactions under each post, on your site. | Notes, replies, reblogs with added comments, and asks. |
| Price | Free to start; paid plans for your own domain, a team and more room. | Free to use. |
| Newsletter | Subscribers get each post by email, or a daily or weekly digest. | None; followers read you on the dashboard. |
| Writing together | Members invited with roles, and review before publishing, from Collective. | Group blogs, where members post under a shared name. |
| Taking your content out | A Markdown and JSON archive, with each image's address. | An export of the blog, and an API. |
What Tumblr does better
Every comparison has this section, and it is never empty. We lose on these points:
- Reach without an audience. On the day you publish, readers can reblog a post far beyond your followers. Typoza has nothing like it.
- It is free, with no plan to outgrow.
- The community: its own manners, its humour, and room for the niche and the odd.
- Short form. A quote, an image or three lines make a complete Tumblr post; our editor and theme are built for longer pieces.
- Mobile apps for posting and reading. Typoza runs in the browser, on a phone as on a desktop.
Moving from Tumblr
Tumblr's export and its API hand you your posts, but our importer reads only the WordPress export file, so the move is by hand. Start with the posts worth keeping.
What comes across
- The long posts you choose to bring, pasted with their headings, quotes and links.
- Readable slugs. A Tumblr address ends in a post number and a slug; keep the slug and drop the number.
- A domain registered elsewhere, which points at Typoza from the Collective plan. A domain bought through Tumblr has to leave Tumblr's registrar first.
- The Tumblr blog, if you leave it up. It costs nothing, and old links keep landing there.
What does not
- Reblogs as a way to reach readers. You lose them from the first post you publish here.
- Notes, asks, and the followers who read you on the dashboard.
- The short-post habit: three lines look thin in a layout built for long reads.
- Your images, which you upload again.
- Anything built on a custom theme or on Tumblr's API.
So, which one?
Pick Tumblr if…
Tumblr fits short posts, quick reach among strangers, and a community that answers with reblogs and notes.
Pick Typoza if…
Typoza fits long posts you want people to find later, at an address you control, with subscribers who receive them by email.
Questions people ask next
Is Tumblr still worth using?
For being read by people who were not looking for you, yes, and Typoza does not replace that. For an archive at your own address that search engines can index, a site of your own does the job better.
What about a domain I bought through Tumblr?
Transfer it to another registrar first. A domain you registered elsewhere needs no transfer: point it at Typoza from the Collective plan.
Does Typoza have reblogs or a dashboard?
No. Readers react and comment under your posts, on your site, and Typoza gives them no way to pass posts along. The nearest thing is opt-in: a public directory of workspaces, and an “Elsewhere on Typoza” list that sites on the same topic share.
Can I use Tumblr and Typoza together?
Yes. Publish the full post on Typoza, then share an excerpt with a link on Tumblr: people can still reblog it, and the full text stays on your site.
Tumblr is free. What does paying for Typoza buy?
You can start free, on a Typoza subdomain. Paying adds your own domain, a team and more room for images and subscribers. If you write three lines at a time for the dashboard, Tumblr serves you better.
The post you keep putting off
Write its first paragraph today. The post stays a draft until you publish it, and no reader sees it before then.
Free to start, no card. You can export your posts at any time, on every plan.