So you want to earn money online… You’re directed towards either starting up a blog or opening your YouTube channel. Both have potential, but which one ultimately delivers more money into your pocket? That’s the million dollar question (it really is!) thousands of hopeful content creators are asking themselves daily.
The truth? Blogging and YouTube both represent platforms for potentially making serious money, but work in completely different ways. Some bloggers are raking in six figures without even showing their face, and some YouTubers are purchasing mansions just from ad revenue. But here’s what no one tells you up front: your earning potential has to do with way more than just picking the “best” platform.
In this post, we will analyze everything that goes into earning money blogging vs on YouTube. We’re going to explore the actual dollars and cents, weigh various income streams against each other and help you determine what kind of work aligns with your skills, personality and financial goals. No fluff, no hype — just solid advice from self-employed numbers wonk will help you make the best possible decision for your future.
How Bloggers Actually Make Money
Let’s start with blogging. When the average person pictures blog income, they think of writing a few posts and then watching the cash start rolling in. Truth: successful bloggers have multiple streams of income, not just one.
Display Advertising
This is the first thing people think of when someone says “blogging for money.” You join ad networks — like Google AdSense, Mediavine or AdThrive — that serve ads on your blog. Each time a visitor comes to your site, you get paid. It can be a huge number based on your niche, traffic and ad network.
Here’s the thing: AdSense may also pay you $5-15 for 1,000 visitors while premium networks like Mediavine (which requires a mere 50,000 monthly sessions to join) can pay out $15-30+ per thousand. Finance and insurance blogs can make 40-50 dollars per 1,000 visitors because the ads pay so well for these areas.
Affiliate Marketing
This is where a lot of bloggers really make their money. You recommend products or services, add special tracking links and then get paid commission when people buy through your link. Amazon Associates may pay you 1-10% on the product category but some software and course affiliates are doling out 30-50% recurring commissions.
For example, a blogger reviewing tech products could generate $50-200 for each sale of high-ticket items. One good review editorial that ranks well on Google, and it could bring in money for years with very little updating.
Sponsored Content
After you’ve built an audience, brands will pay you to write posts about their products. A blog that attracts 50,000 visitors in a month might charge $500 to $1,500 for one sponsored post. Larger blogs charge between $5,000 and $10,000 per sponsored post.
Digital Products and Courses
Most successful bloggers eventually create their own products — ebooks, courses, templates, software. The profits here are absolutely insane (often around 90% and there is no need to hold inventory), thanks and you can pocket all of the cash instead of having to share with broadcasters or affiliate programs.
Other Income Streams
Bloggers make money with contracts, freelance work, membership sites and email sponsorships as well as selling their own expertise. The options increase with expanded power.
How YouTubers Cash In
YouTube creators have their own set of opportunities to make money — and some are already surprisingly lucrative.
YouTube Ad Revenue
It is the most high profile income. As soon as you reach the threshold of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours — these things are per year — you can join the YouTube Partner Program and make money from ads on your videos.
YouTubers usually make $2 to $12 per 1,000 views via AdSense and it’s based on the niche. Financial channels could bring in $15-20 per 1,000 views, compare that to an entertainment channel earning as low as $2-4. It tends to average around $3 – 5 per 1,000 views.
So for example, a video with 100,000 views could bring in anywhere from $200 to $2,000. YouTube channels that attract millions of views a month can easily make $10,000-100,000+ streaming ads alone.
Sponsorships and Brand Deals
And this is where YouTubers often earn much more than ad revenue. Brands pay creators — directly, now — for featured spots in videos. A channel with 100,000 subs may charge $1-5K for a sponsored video, whereas channels with millions of subs can get paid $50-200K for an integration.
YouTube Memberships and Super Thanks
Fans can pay monthly membership fees ($4.99-$24.99) for access to exclusive perks, badges and content. Viewers can also send one-time “Super Thanks” payments while someone is live streaming or on regular videos.
Affiliate Links in Descriptions
Like bloggers, YouTubers also include affiliate links in their video descriptions. A tech review channel can generate huge commissions through Amazon or website-to-manufacturer links.
Merchandise Sales
A lot of successful YouTubers hawk branded merchandise — t-shirts, hoodies, mugs or bespoke items that tie-in with their content. Platforms like Teespring are purpose-built, and they integrate closely with YouTube, so in some ways this can be easy.
Digital Products and Services
YouTubers also sell courses, coaching programs and paid communities. Others make the transition into consulting or speaking as their credibility increases.
The Numbers Game: Comparisons of Real Income
Let’s dive into some numbers so you can get an idea of what is actually possible with each platform.
Blogging Income Potential
| Monthly Traffic | Estimated Monthly Income | Earnings Breakdown |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 visitors | $100-500 | Some affiliate sales, display ads also pay off for beginners in this range |
| 50,000 visitors | $1,000-3,000 | Higher ad rates + solid affiliate revenue for blog in this range |
| 100,000 visitors | $3,000-$8,000 | Multiple high-end ad networks (and more than one) + multiple affiliate programs |
| 500,000 visitors | $15,000-$50,000 | Each income stream on their A-game but also: sponsored content and so on |
| 1,000,000+ visitors | $200,000+ | All of the above at peak/optimal levels |
These are pessimistic estimates of the sort of niches in which life might exist. High value niches (finance, insurance, law and B2B software) can bump this figure 2x-5x.
YouTube Income Potential
| Monthly Views | Estimated Monthly Earnings | Income Sources |
|---|---|---|
| 100,000 | $200-800 | Ad revenue only |
| 500,000 | $1,000-4,000 | Ads maybe first sponsorship |
| 1,000,000 | $3,000-10,000 | Ads and sponsors |
| 5,000,000 | $15,000-60,000 | Multiple sponsors strong ad revenue |
| 10,000,000+ | $50,000-200,000+ | Multiple revenue streams at scale |
Again, niche matters enormously. At the same time, finance, business and tech channels make much more per view than an entertainment or vlog channel.
Time Investment: What Each Platform Actually Requires
Time is money, and here’s something that most comparison articles don’t talk about: how much time you need to invest in these platforms.
Time Required for Blogging
The average time to write a good blog post is 3-8 hours; including research, writing, editing, sourcing images, SEO optimization and formatting. If you’re writing long, in-depth articles (the kind that really do well), you can probably shoot for the upper end of that range.
New blogs usually require 30-50 strong articles before it starts to really take off. That’s 150-400 hours of your time before you might get to see a hundred dollars. But once published, blog posts just keep driving traffic and earnings for months or years with little to no extra effort.
SEO results are also a long-term thing — on average, it takes about 3-6 months before the posts begin to rank better in Google. You’re playing the long game.
Time Required for YouTube
Creating, devoting and uploading a YouTube video sucks up most creators time (4-10hrs+) per video – ESPECIALLY when you’re new to the game and learning the ropes. Good looking videos with well edited, good thumbnails and descriptions take even more time.
YouTube channels can often take 50-100 videos before thrusting forward. That’s even more time consuming for blogging, or about the same at least.
But YouTube’s algorithm can function faster than Google. Certainly, you can have 1 video go viral and skyrocket your channel overnight (not that common). For most channels, progress will be slow when you’re uploading regularly—it generally takes 2-3 videos a week to gain traction.
Start-Up Costs: What Will You Contribute?
Money is a factor, especially when you’re young. Now, let’s get into what it actually costs to launch in each of these platforms correctly.
Blogging Start-Up Costs
- Domain name: $10-15/year
- Web hosting: $3-30/month ($36-360/year)
- WordPress theme: $0-60 (one time or per year)
- Essential plugins: $0-200/year
- Stock photos (optional): $0-30/month
- Email marketing tool: $0-50/month
- SEO tools (optional, but nice to have): $0-100/month
First-year cost: $100-800 for basic, $500-2,000 for professional
With shared hosting and free tools you can start a blog for less than $100, but generally more up front investment leads to quicker results.
YouTube Start-Up Costs
- Camera: $0-1,500 (phone cameras suffice initially)
- Microphone: $20-200 (crucial for quality)
- Lighting: $30-200
- Video editing software: $0-300/year
- Thumbnail creation tools: $0-15/month
- Background/setup: $0-500
One-year total cost: $50 to $2,700 depending on the quality level
Honestly you can begin YouTube with absolutely no money, your smartphone and free editing software such as DaVinci Resolve. But sound quality matters a lot — investing $50-100 in at least a good mid-range microphone is one of the best things you can do.
Skills You Need for Success
Different platforms prize different skill sets. Here’s what each really requires.
Essential Blogging Skills
Writing ability is non-negotiable. You don’t have to be Shakespeare, but you do need to make your meaning clear and keep people reading. If writing is like pulling teeth, blogging will be tough.
SEO is what distinguishes successful bloggers from hobbyists. You have to understand keywords, how Google orders content and why someone actually clicks into your articles when they see them in search results.
Basic technical skills help too. You will be required to figure out WordPress, learn a little HTML here and there, troubleshoot problems and optimize the speed of your site.
Research abilities matter more than most realize. Great bloggers are good researchers, finding unique angles and accurate information.
Essential YouTube Skills
On-camera presence is huge if you’re showing your face (though many successful channels never actually show the creator). Are you able just to speak naturally to a camera? Are you energetic enough, do you have the personality? This matters.
And if you don’t, then video editing is it. You’ll need to cut video, add graphics, tune audio, create transitions and assemble all the moving parts.
Your visual creativity sets you apart. Thumbnails, video composition, color grading — YouTube is visual, and good-looking videos get more clicks and retention.
Knowledge of audio production makes your content so much better. Smash good video with bad audio and your video will die a quick death.
Storytelling and scripting hold viewers on. Even the seemingly spur-of-the-moment videos are usually meticulously planned.
SEO or Algorithm: How do people discover your content?
This spread is huge, and changes everything about what your strategy should be.
How Blogging Works (SEO-Driven)
They rely heavily on SEO for most of their content in the blog. You write articles that are focused on particular keywords, and when those keywords are searched for on Google your articles appear in the returns.
This creates passive, evergreen traffic. You write a blog post today, and it ranks #1 for that keyword and leads 1,000 visitors to your site every month over the next five years without you doing anything else. That’s what I love about blogging — it feels like planting trees that provide fruit year after year.
But ranking on Google is a race, and it’s slow. You’re up against thousands of other sites, and Google needs months to properly evaluate and rank new content. Patience is required.
How YouTube Works (Algorithm-Driven)
YouTube employs a recommendation algorithm that recommends videos to users according to their watching history. If YouTube’s A.I. determines your video is addictive, it shows the video to increasingly bigger throngs of viewers.
It can be explosive growth that blogging hardly ever experiences. If you crack the algorithm, a channel can go from 1,000 to 100,000 subscribers in weeks.
But here’s the thing: YouTube favors regular publishing. Take a month’s hiatus from posting, and the momentum behind your channel can dissipate. The algorithm gives priority to channels that frequently post new material.
YouTube does drive search traffic (people searching directly on YouTube), but recommendations are the main drivers of views for successful channels.
The Passive Income Debate
Everyone wants some passive income, but which platform gives you more that?
Blogging’s Passive Income Advantage
Once a blog post is ranking at the top, you can sit back and collect ongoing traffic and income. You might add to it once or twice a year, but largely you have something that is working for you 24/7.
Most bloggers get to a point where they blog less because of the income it pulls in. Some successful bloggers hardly post any new content and continue to make good money from their archives.
This is pure passive income — you do something once, and it keeps paying off.
YouTube’s Active Income Reality
YouTube requires more ongoing effort. Every good channel must continue to upload new content in order to stay in the good graces of YouTube’s algorithms and its own, but finicky, audience. Leave and your perspectives plummet.
Old videos do continue to accumulate views — and money — but the impact is less than blogging. YouTube’s audience demands new and fresh content, and the algorithm incentivizes channels that serve it up.
That said, there are types of YouTube content that have more staying power — explained, educational and how-to material is money in the bank for years to come. Entertainment news-style content has a shorter shelf-life.
Which Niche Performs Better Where?
The subject that you choose has a profound impact on which platform is best suited for you.
Niches That Favor Blogging
- Finance and investing (high ad fees, great affiliate programs)
- Legal advice and information (longform good for complex subjects)
- Technical tutorials and programming (code that readers can copy)
- B2B and business services (business decision makers read)
- Comprehensive reviews and comparisons (it’s easier to scan detailed information in text)
- Recipe and food blogs (people will want printable recipes)
Niches That Favor YouTube
- Entertainment and comedy (visual media do well here)
- Gaming and gameplay (The other kind is the whole point here.)
- Beauty and makeup tutorials (seeing is easier than explaining)
- Follow-along exercise and workout videos
- Product unboxing and reactions (visual counts)
- Vlogging and personal stories (personality-based content)
- Do-It-Yourself (or craft): watching people build these things is good
Some niches work as well on one platform as the other — personal development, business advice, marketing, cooking and travel can all do just fine in either format.
Monetization Quickness: Who Will Pay You the Quickest?
So how about landing that initial paycheck?
Blogging Monetization Timeline
With affiliate links and AdSense, you can actually monetize a blog on day one. But if you don’t have traffic, it won’t amount to anything.
Most bloggers earn their first dollar between months 3-6, and it’s less than $100 too. You’ll usually reach $1,000/month on your 9-18 month anniversary of working the platform. It’s rare to get to $5,000/month or more in less than 18-36 months.
These are the estimates with consistent enough good quality content publishing and decent SEO practices. Most bloggers never make substantial money because they fold during the slow early epoch.
YouTube Monetization Timeline
YouTube has the following requirements before you can monetize via its Partner Program: 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past year. For the majority of channels it’s probably at least 6-12 months of uploading continuously.
You can though make money through sponsorships, affiliate links and merchandise before you hit Partner Program status. So low are the subscriber counts at which some creators land their first sponsored video: including 5,000 to 10,000.
$1,000/month usually won’t happen until 12-18 months in. Hitting $5,000/month usually takes 18-30 months and great viewership.
These times range drastically depending on niche and content quality. Some channels explode rapidly, while others grow bit by bit.
Long-Term Growth Potential
Which is the best place for long-term potential?
Blogging’s Long-Term Outlook
Blogs build compounding value. Every high-quality post you write contributes to the overall authority of your site, which will contribute to ranking well. After hitting 100-200 articles, new posts could rank in a matter of weeks rather than months.
In the process you get an email list, which means that your access to your audience isn’t subject to the whims of Google. Valuable stuff—Google changes their algorithm and all that crap goes flying out the window, but you still have your email subscribers.
Successful blogs are business assets and they fetch between 30-50x of its monthly profitability on the market. For example a blog making $10,000/month may sell for $300,000-500,000.
The downside? Google algorithm updates might punch your traffic in the face overnight. This is where increasing your sources of traffic (email, social media, direct) becomes a safeguard.
YouTube’s Long-Term Outlook
YouTube channels also build authority. In some ways, subscribers are more valuable than email subscribers — they’re reminded automatically of your new content, and they consume again.
Big channels have massive influence, and can do product launches, or courses or enter any business with your loyal audience.
But YouTube is the platform’s landlord, and algorithm shifts can destroy channels. YouTube policies, which are constantly changed, can be a creator’s life and death sentence.
Yes, you can sell a YouTube channel though it is not as popular as selling blogs. Valuations are less standardized.
Why Not Both? The Hybrid Approach
Here’s a plan that works for many of the most successful creators: both.
Begin with the medium you’re naturally drawn to, build an audience and then expand to the other platform. A blogger could repurpose their blog posts into videos on YouTube. One can take the content of a Youtube channel and transcribe it to blog posts.
This approach:
- Reaches maximum audience (some like to read and some like video)
- Creates more than 1 income stream (not dependent on a single platform)
- Introducing algorithm protection (if one platform changes, you still have the other)
- Compounds authority (the more places you show up, the more credible you are)
The catch? Its lot of work and takes forever. You are in effect running two content businesses, not one.
Many successful creators suggest mastering one platform first, then diversifying once you have a regular income and systems in place. For more insights on building multiple income streams online, check out expert resources on diversification strategies.
Deciding: A Personal Inventory
Here is an exercise to help you make the decision that is right for you.
So which should YOU choose? Ask yourself these questions:
- Are you comfortable on camera? If not, blogging may be preferable (although faceless YouTube channels do exist).
- Do you enjoy writing? YouTube might be a better fit if writing is agony for you.
- What’s your budget? Blogging is cheaper to get started, but both can be done on a budget.
- How patient are you? They both require patience, however blogging tends to take more time to yield results.
- What’s your niche? Certain subjects lend themselves to one platform far more than the other.
- What skills do you have? Leverage your existing strengths.
- How much time can you invest? They both take a lot of time, but in different ways.
- Are you interested in passive income or active income? Blogging is more passive; YouTube is a bit more active.
There’s no universally “better” option. The best option for you will be the one you feel is right with your specific circumstances, abilities and objectives.
True Stories of Success from Both Ends
Let’s look at a few real-world examples to ground this in reality.
Michelle from Making Sense of Cents has a personal finance blog that makes over $100,000 per month — her primary revenue stream is affiliate marketing and ads. She began in 2011 and grew her income gradually by offering valuable, consistent content.
Ryan Trahan on YouTube started from zero subscribers and built a following of millions with creative challenges and storytelling. His channel rakes in huge amounts of money on ads, sponsorships and his own ventures.
Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income is doing quite well as a blogger and YouTuber, raking in millions telling others how to do it from online marketing. He began with blogging, then branched into YouTube and now benefits from both.
These examples demonstrate that exceptional success can be had on both platforms—if you have the right strategy, follow-through and create value.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you still make money blogging in 2025?
Yes, absolutely. Despite “blogging” being a very popular activity, there are still people making lots of money with blogs. The solution is to produce truly useful, thorough content that provides answers to certain specific questions people are asking. It all depends on your niche, how good your content is and how you monetize.
How many subscribers do you need to make money on YouTube?
You need a thousand subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time to be part of the YouTube Partner Program and make money from ads. But you can start earning money before hitting these milestones with sponsorships, affiliate marketing, and merchandise. For significant earnings, most creators need over 100,000 monthly views.
What’s easier to grow: a blog or YouTube channel?
Neither is “easy,” but they are difficult in different ways. Blogs are incredibly competitive for SEO and slow to develop, but momentum grows. There can be faster growth on YouTube, if you crack the algorithm, but it does require consistent uploading and comes with its own competitive landscape. What you’re already good at and comfortable with is more important than which one is the objectively “easier” language.
How long does it take to make $1,000 a month blogging vs YouTube?
Most bloggers make their first $1,000/month after 9-18 months of hard work, but it’s certainly possible for that to arrive earlier or later. On average, YouTubers can expect to get there after 12-18 months. The same virtues, patience, good content and astute commercialization are required by both. Some creators hit this target more quickly, others take longer, or do not get there at all.
Can you blog or YouTube with no money?
You can start YouTube with absolutely no money by using your phone and free editing software. Blogging costs some money, at a minimum – you need to have invested in owning your URL / hosting (~$50-100 per year). Both platforms benefit a lot from small investments in good tools, but you really can get started with a super slim budget.
Which is more profitable on a per-visitor or per-view basis?
In general, blogs are making more revenue per visitor than YouTube is from impressions. Blogs might make $10-30 per 1,000 visitors advertising or through affiliations, whereas YouTube usually gets $3-10 per 1,000 views. But they can get there faster alone than you can with blog posts, and thus be more profitable in the end.
Is it necessary to show your face on YouTube?
No. There are many successful YouTube channels where you don’t see the creator’s face. Animation channels, tutorial channels using screen recordings itself, voice over channels and compilation channel works without showing face. Still, there are plenty of niches (vlogging, personal branding) for which showing your face does make sense.
What if I’m not one of those people who just loves writing and loves being on camera?
If that’s the case, you might have to delegate content creation or think of an entirely other online business model. Both require some writing or camera comfort. But you can develop both through practice — and there’s no need to be naturally gifted to excel.
Final Verdict: Which Earns More?
And now that we’ve considered everything: here’s the truth — it depends.
YouTubers make more at the top. At very high levels, YouTubers tend to earn nearly as much if not more than top bloggers. MrBeast outearns any individual blogger, sometimes. Blogging does reward passive income more than YouTube.
Choose blogging if:
- You enjoy writing and research
- You prefer behind-the-scenes work
- You desire more long-term passive income
- You are in a research heavy or complex niche
- You can take slow, steady growth in stride
- You have small video production budgets
Choose YouTube if:
- You’re at ease on camera (or behind a voiceover)
- You prefer creating visual content
- You are willing and able to upload regularly
- You are in visual or entertainment niche
- You’re seeking for some explosive growth opportunity
- You possess or can borrow video skills
Choose both if:
- You can afford the time commitment
- You want maximum audience reach
- You’re willing to repurpose content
- You want diversified income streams
- You have budget on both channels
Remember: success in both venues comes with regularity, quality, patience and providing value. The platform is just a tool. Your effort, quality of content and service to the audience is what really dictates how much you earn.
The perfect time to have started was five years ago. The second-best time is today. Choose the platform that excites you most, commit to it wholeheartedly and go from there. There is future income out there, waiting for you to build it.
