If you don't want to use Medium or similar solutions, I would check out Ghost.

Their dashboard and editor is imo one of the best out there, really easy to use.

It's easy to host, works headless, and works well with Next.js and others (https://ghost.org/docs/jamstack/next/).

Usually the downside is that it can be a bit limiting in features , but it's perfect for blogging.

Thanks I've looked at Ghost but I wasnt sure you could use it for free ?

You can! They are focussing on their publishing platform, but it's open source https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost, see the self hosting guide https://ghost.org/docs/install/

Edit: I see you mentioned no self hosting in an other comment, then it might not make sense for you as the hosted version is indeed paid.