Top Free Blog Software and Hosting Services

Here are the list of free blog services in the market.
1. Blogger (BlogSpot)
Most popular free blog hosts in the market. This service is provided by Google.
2. WordPress
This is Blog Software which requires PHP and MYSQL to be hosted in a webserver.
3. Movable Type

This is another most popular Blog software which requires programming language to customize it.

4. GreyMatter
It is the original blog software developed as opensource which requires PERL 5 to run.
5. Live Journal

This popular free blog host is preferred by many individuals who enjoy a community-based blogging system.

6. Multiply

This is where blogging meets social networking. It also supports photo blogging and video/audio uploads.

7. Xanga
This free blog platform is web-based.
8. Mindsay
This free blog system offers features and plugins including templates, friends' list, favorite links, music playlists, recent visitors list, comments, and ratings.
9. TypePad

This is a blog system you can try for 30 days free after that you need to pay to use their service and becoming popular among other blog systems.

Free Blogger Templates

Normally you can find the standard templates for your blog at the template settings in blogger.com itself. Other than that some websites are providing free blog templates to use. I am listing few websites which is providing free templates below:
Beccary Blogger Templates
A small collection of blog skins for Blogger.com weblogs from Beccary.
BlogSkins.com
A collection of resources, news and features on blog templates and skins for various platforms like Movable Type, LiveJournal, WordPress, Blogger.com and Xanga. This site is also a community for blog design enthusiasts.
Blogger Templates
These are free blog templates for Blogger.com weblogs. This is a terrific source for good looking blog skins.
Point of Focus Blogger Templates
This is a small collection of linkware blog skins for Blogger.com weblogs.
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Noipo.org Blogger Templates
These are blog templates (blog skins) that you can use in your Blogger.com weblog. They're under Creative Commons License.
Not That Ugly
There are several great templates available in this site. Some blog-specific templates are available for Diaryland, Diary X, Movable Type, Blogger, WordPress, b2 and Xanga.
http://blog-templates.ravasthi.name
http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com

source: About.com