Self hosting WordPress is usually a good option but if money is a problem it will mean more work managing your install, if money isn't much of a problem take a look at the many managed hosts (wpengine, wpsynthesis, zippykid).
You also get more options with theming and plugins if you host WordPress yourself.
If you just want to blog, a free wordpress.com, a blogger blog, or a tumblr should all serve you well enough.
You might want to invest in your own domain name though, as *.example.com isn't the best way to bring people in.
I played with Ghost (https://ghost.org/) a couple of weeks ago and loved it. It's less about content management and more about content publishing. The editor is wonderful!
Wordpress seems bloated for blogs nowadays, but to each his or her own.
On that basis changing the software seems unrelated.