The big three
Apart from Livejournal, these are the big three LJ-like sites that are used by RPers. I've listed their ups and downs (If you have more to add, feel free to inform me about them). IJ and Scribbld are both made using the old Livejournal Code, while Dreamwidth was modified and branched up so much it became a completely unique off-shot from the source code, while remaining open source.
1) Dreamwidth
Basic account:
* 15 icons
* Most of LJ's current options and layouts, completely revamped
* List of differences from the LJ source code listed here. There are some completely new ones too.
* 25 character usernames
* CSS / Richtext / Expand menus
* You can import your LJs, Communities should be allowed to upload next week (paid accounts only for now capped at around 100,000) due to the large importing queue.
* Username.dreamwidth.com
* Active creators and mods, excellent response times if you ask a question.
* No ads due to their running policy.
* Currently running a promotion where you do not need invite codes (should still be good for now).
Paid account (CHECK OR CREDIT CARD ONLY):
* Price: 35$ Per year (6 Months 17.50$ 6$ 2 months, 3$ Per Month)
* 100 Icons
* Price: 50$ Per year (6 Months 25$)
* 250 Icons
* No paypal option
* Talk of more icon options for paid users later (This is just in discussion, and not final)
2) Insanejournal
Basic account:
* 100 icons
* No CSS layouts (Paid only)
* Can have subscriptions
* Mail notifs
* username.insanejournal.com
* Rich text option!
* No Expand option
* The mods have fast replies when a question is asked.
* No individual thread tracking option. It is the entire post only (paid or not)
* 1000 max friends (Not a problem with community games)
* They've been running for 10 years so no sign of them suddenly dropping off either (granted this is the internet who knows what might happen)
* Insanejournal has the whole 'making fun of insane people' motif going against it that some people might not appreciate (This, of course, depends on each person. There are also tools available and plugins for firefox to remove most of this)
* 5000 max post replies to a thread/log count (vs LJ's current 10,000)
Insanejournal Paid account Options (CHECK, MONEY ORDER, CASH, PAYPAL)
They have all sorts of options!
* 250 icons (20$ Year | 1 month 5$ | 6 Months 10$)
* Extra Userpics Only (DOES NOT REQUIRE YEARLY PAID ACCOUNT!) (10$ 6 months | 16$ Year)
* 4$ Rename Tokens
* 40$ permanent accounts (300 icons) + 25$ permanent account icons which boosts it to 500.
* CSS Layouts once you go paid
3) Scribbld
Basic account:
* 50 icons
* Allows styles and CSS
* Can have up to 50 subscriptions
* Mail notifs
* Basic accounts don't go into username.scribbld.com but scribbld.com/username only
* Can bookmark/flag up to 20 messages
* 50 messages can be stored in their Inbox
* No Rich Text Option, HTML Code only
* No Expand option
* Basic layout option viewed in scribbld's layout
* 500 max friends (Not a problem with community games)
* The community does not seem to be updated much
* No rename accounts
* 5000 max post thread count (vs LJ's current 10,000)
Scribbld Paid account Options (PAYPAL ONLY)
* Price: 20$ For a year | 5$ per 1 month | 10$ for 3
* 225 icons (+15$ for 100 icons more + 200 icons more for 30$ so 445 icons for 50$ if you were so inclined)
* Can bookmark/flag up to 500 messages in their Inbox
* 1000 messages can be stored in their Inbox
* Unlimited friends
1) Dreamwidth
Basic account:
* 15 icons
* Most of LJ's current options and layouts, completely revamped
* List of differences from the LJ source code listed here. There are some completely new ones too.
* 25 character usernames
* CSS / Richtext / Expand menus
* You can import your LJs, Communities should be allowed to upload next week (paid accounts only for now capped at around 100,000) due to the large importing queue.
* Username.dreamwidth.com
* Active creators and mods, excellent response times if you ask a question.
* No ads due to their running policy.
* Currently running a promotion where you do not need invite codes (should still be good for now).
Paid account (CHECK OR CREDIT CARD ONLY):
* Price: 35$ Per year (6 Months 17.50$ 6$ 2 months, 3$ Per Month)
* 100 Icons
* Price: 50$ Per year (6 Months 25$)
* 250 Icons
* No paypal option
* Talk of more icon options for paid users later (This is just in discussion, and not final)
2) Insanejournal
Basic account:
* 100 icons
* No CSS layouts (Paid only)
* Can have subscriptions
* Mail notifs
* username.insanejournal.com
* Rich text option!
* No Expand option
* The mods have fast replies when a question is asked.
* No individual thread tracking option. It is the entire post only (paid or not)
* 1000 max friends (Not a problem with community games)
* They've been running for 10 years so no sign of them suddenly dropping off either (granted this is the internet who knows what might happen)
* Insanejournal has the whole 'making fun of insane people' motif going against it that some people might not appreciate (This, of course, depends on each person. There are also tools available and plugins for firefox to remove most of this)
* 5000 max post replies to a thread/log count (vs LJ's current 10,000)
Insanejournal Paid account Options (CHECK, MONEY ORDER, CASH, PAYPAL)
They have all sorts of options!
* 250 icons (20$ Year | 1 month 5$ | 6 Months 10$)
* Extra Userpics Only (DOES NOT REQUIRE YEARLY PAID ACCOUNT!) (10$ 6 months | 16$ Year)
* 4$ Rename Tokens
* 40$ permanent accounts (300 icons) + 25$ permanent account icons which boosts it to 500.
* CSS Layouts once you go paid
3) Scribbld
Basic account:
* 50 icons
* Allows styles and CSS
* Can have up to 50 subscriptions
* Mail notifs
* Basic accounts don't go into username.scribbld.com but scribbld.com/username only
* Can bookmark/flag up to 20 messages
* 50 messages can be stored in their Inbox
* No Rich Text Option, HTML Code only
* No Expand option
* Basic layout option viewed in scribbld's layout
* 500 max friends (Not a problem with community games)
* The community does not seem to be updated much
* No rename accounts
* 5000 max post thread count (vs LJ's current 10,000)
Scribbld Paid account Options (PAYPAL ONLY)
* Price: 20$ For a year | 5$ per 1 month | 10$ for 3
* 225 icons (+15$ for 100 icons more + 200 icons more for 30$ so 445 icons for 50$ if you were so inclined)
* Can bookmark/flag up to 500 messages in their Inbox
* 1000 messages can be stored in their Inbox
* Unlimited friends