When comparing Tumblr vs Wordpress.com, the Slant community recommends Wordpress.com for most people. In the question“What are the best hosted blogs?” Wordpress.com is ranked 2nd while Tumblr is ranked 4th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Free
It costs nothing to create a Tumblr account.
Pro Community-driven
It is built around sharing and discovering new, short-form content.
Pro Good customization options
Tumblr allow users to customize their website with many built-in themes. In addition to theme selection, user can also further customize their website either through a customization editor wizard or through a HTML and CSS editor for advanced users.
Pro Supports responsive design & mobile-friendly websites
Tumblr supports responsive design for the website as it will be fitted with the same theme based on which device the user is using to view the website. It can also vary by theme with responsive design availability.
Pro Great mobile apps
Easy to use Windows Phone, iOS and Android are available.
Pro Custom domain support
If you want to use your own domain instead of *.tumblr.com, you can.
Pro Huge collection of free and paid themes out of the box
Pro Pretty easy to create and maintain a blog
Pro Import from other blogging platforms
Such as blogger.
Pro Bulk media options
Pro Widget management
Pro Support sort post by name
Pro Powerful analytics out of the box
Pro Plugins for every occassion
There are a wealth of plugins that can cater for just about every requirement you may have, and many of these plugins are free.
Cons
Con Post must has category else it will be labeled as uncategorized
Con Freemium
Plugin cannot be used, custom html/css, Date Permalink cannot changed on free wordpress
Con Slow Speed
Navigating between action took around 3-5 seconds and longer for bulk action.