I recently (as in, 2 days ago) set up a self hosted blog on Gitlab Pages using Hugo. As it's a static site, hosting is free, though the domain is paid. I was actually just about to start writing a new blog post after catching up with Lemmy. The thing about your own blog is that there are no requirements, constraints or limitations. My first article, about the naming of this blog, and how much I suck at naming things, was a pleasure to write because at times my mind went to whether that was the best way to write or portray something, but then I stopped myself. This is my blog, my rules, and as such, I have complete freedom over it. And it made writing a joy, because I could just be honest and unfiltered. It also quickly made me realise how much I'd hate writing for a big website, where they are likely to have restrictions on some things, or requirements, or promotion and monetisation, that could suck the joy out of doing this, making it something I'd absolutely hate.

But, to each their own. I guess it really depends on what topics you'd like to cover and how you'd like to cover them.