GitHub will definitely get the job done if you like going the static site route. Otherwise Ghost [0] is a popular alternative to WordPress for self-hosting.
The answer really comes down to how much time you want to spend maintaining and updating your blogging software. If you don't want to worry about the backend, Medium is a popular free hosted solution, even if they've had some shakeups lately. Otherwise some popular paid platforms are Svbtle [1] and Posthaven [2], and I'm building Write.as [3], a light, writing-focused platform.