Nowadays, most businessmen, shoppers, marketers, marketing consultants and entrepreneur want to spread their products and services to various customers and that is why they like to build a functional website. But many people don’t know what to do, how to do and what to choose. Some people choose WordPress.com and some others prefer WordPress.org to WordPress.com. Both are WordPress site building platforms but you should know what is best for you. So, this article will explain the Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. This guide will show you the details about WordPress.com vs WordPress.org. Site owners use the both of these two platforms to build WordPress sites yet there exists a lot of difference in customisation, support, plugin usability, user- friendliness, pricing, theme, backup, security and monetization. So, you should know the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org while you are going to create a website.
WordPress.com is a hosting service plus site builder and WordPress.org is a site builder platform with more advanced options, tools and equipments. This is the difference Between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.org is most popular but it needs self-hosted site along with premium or registered domain. On the other hand, WordPress.com provides free web hosting and domain with WordPress sub-domain. Also, it provides web hosting service such as personal, premium, business and e-commerce plan but you need to upgrade to paid plan if you want to use these services.
Page Contents
What Is WordPress.com?
WordPress.com is an all-rounder hosting service plus site builder platform founded by the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg. This is 100% free. It is not obligatory to have an external hosting and an external domain in WordPress.com. All that you need is to sign up for an account, choose a subdomain with WordPress.com and start building a website with the required tools and equipments integrated with your plan.
Pros of WordPress.com
Do you know what are the pros of WordPress.com and why people use it to start a website? It gives you a number of free essential resources and equipments like free hosting, free site builder, free storage, free domain, site stats etc. Go through the following points to know more about the advantages of WordPress.com.
Free Hosting: Free hosting is the most important advantage of using WordPress.com. Using this platform gives you free hosting,namely, it is 100% free and you need no to pay a single penny. No matter, how many sites have you hosted.
Free Builder: It not only provides hosting but also builder. If you host a new site onto it, you need not another site builder, rather it has built-in and integrated website builder. This is a great advantage without which you can’t build a site.
Free Storage: A single account allows you 3GB storage including media, files etc. If you need more space then you can upgrade to a paid plan.
Free Domain: You can use free domain but it will have a subdomain with WordPress.com, or WorPress.net based on TLD( Top Level Domain). Suppose you want to create a website with yourbloggingtips.com domain but WordPress.com will not allow you to use this domain, rather it will be yourbloggingtips.wordpress.com because you are on free plan.
Cons of WordPress.com
WordPress.com has several limitations that make different from the WordPress.org. Go through the following points to know the disadvantages of using WordPress.com:
No custom Domain: In the WordPress.com hosting service you cannot use a custom domain (like yoursite.com), rather you have to use a domain ending with WordPress.com branding( yoursite.wordpress.com). You can use custom domain only in paid plan. So, you have to upgrade to a paid plan if you want to use a custom domain, free plan does not allow to use such kind of domain.
No Custom Themes: Another major disadvantage of using WordPress.com is that you can’t install or upload a premium theme, rather you have to install a free theme.You need to upgrade to premium or business plan if you like to use and install a premium or paid theme.
No Custom CSS: You cannot use custom css to change or modify certain things of your website provided that you are on the free plan. Custom css is only for premium themes, that is to say, you have to upgrade to either premium or business plan if you want to use custom css. So, it has set forth limitation on customisation.
No Plugins: In WordPress.com, the free plan users cannot upload, install and use plugins. However, for the shake of security, it provides built-in Jetpack and Akismet. This Jetpack provides limited features and the Akismet blocks spam. In order to use plugins, you need to upgrade to business plan, however, you can install plugins from a selected list provided by WordPress.com.
Restriction to Stats: You cannot add Google Analytics or similar advanced analytical tools to inspect your traffic interactions with your web resources, rather they will restrict you to their stats. It is only the business or higher plan that lets you install Google Analytics to observe traffic insights.
No Integrated Payment Gateways: WordPress.com does not give any ecommerce feature like Integrated Payment Gateway to its lower plan users. This feature is available only to ecommerce plan.
No Earning from Ads and Not Selling Ads: If you are free plan user, you cannot monetize ads. They place ads on your free websites, earn money from it and you will not get any payment. If you want to prevent displaying ads to your visitors, you have to upgrade to their paid plan.
Furthermore, you cannot sell ads on free plan. You have to upgrade to business or premium plan if you want to sell ads to earn money. You need to apply for Adwords, their advertising program.
Besides, it will add a WordPress.com link to your website if you are on free plan. They can delete your site anytime provided that you violate the terms and conditions set forth by WordPress.com
What Is WordPress.org?
WordPress.org is the most used and popular website builder in the world. It is the real WordPress. About 37% websites built on WordPress in the world.
Being open-source and free, people love it to use. To build a website, you can use it but all that you have to own is a custom domain and a web hosting service. If you have not a domain, you can register a new domain and similarly choose a web hosting to start your site. You must provide domain and hosting service in order to build a new site on this platform. Hence, WordPress.org is self-hosted.
You are going to build a new site, a good work but you should know what are the pros and cons of using WordPress.org. Now, go through the following points:
Advantages of WordPress.org
Building websites on WordPress.org lets you customize your site using a lot of options. You can have full control over your WordPress site. That’s why most site owners like it to build websites.You can have advantages of WordPress.org ony when you create a new website through web hosting and a registered domain.
100% Free and No Cost: WordPress.org is an open-source software and 100% free. Anyone can use it. No need to pay to build site. On the other hand, if you use other paid site builders, you have to pay money on monthly or yearly basis.
Use Free or Premium Themes: You can upload and install any kind of theme–free or premium. The WordPress theme directory contains thousands of themes, you can choose a suitable one based on your site’s niche and you can install it right within from your WP-admin dashboard. On the other hand, in case of premium theme, you need to upload it and then install. So, there is no restriction on using themes.
Use Free and Premium Plugins: Another major advantage of using WordPress.org is that you can install and upload plugins— free or premium as per your need. Here you are your own boss.
Custom CSS: You can use the built-in coding section known as custom CSS to add certain codes to carry out a desired change or modification in an element of your site. This adds to an extra functionality to control and customize your site as and when you need.
Use Analytical Tools: You can add Google Analytics or any analytical tool to look into traffic source, traffic interactions and other things in your website. Run Ads: Here you can run ads to earn money. No need to pay anyone and share your revenue.
E-commerce Features: You can make e-commerce site like online store and sell your products– physical or digital. Even you can add Integrated Payment Gateways like PayPal, debit card, credit card, goods delivery and shipment.
No Terms and Condition: You run your own site, control it and enact terms and conditions. So, there is no scope or fear about deleting your site as there is such possibility in WordPress.com provided that you violate their terms and agreement.
Disadvantages of WordPress.org
WordPress.org offers you various features, a great platform for building websites, however, it not above limitations. While using WordPress.org, you have to maintain certain things such as site backup, update and a separate web hosting. So, go through the following points and know what are the disadvantages of WordPress.org:
No Backup: WordPress.org does not provide you automatic backup of your site. In order to back up your website, at regular interval, you have to install a premium backup plugin.Backup plugin will download your website and save it somewhere like Google drive, Dropbox or to its own server. In case of accidental deleting of your site, you can restore it from backup.
No Automatic Update: WordPress.org will not update on auto-pilot, you have to check up for update and need to click update to get it updated at regular basis—weekly, biweekly, monthly or whatever you like. This update is too much required for security concern.
No Hosting Service: To host a website, you need a hosting service if you use WordPress.org. Hosting cost is variable and depends on the type of plan you choose, features, addons and the length of service. However, a basic or starter plan costs about $5to $20/month or $120-to $300/year. So, you need to purchase a good web hosting. However, it is not denying the fact that you can earn money to run the expense of your site.
No Free Domain: You cannot use a free domain, rather you must use a registered or premium domain provided that you want to launch a new wordpress site through this platform.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Difference Explained
So far, you have perceived the features of both the platforms individually. Now, We are going to mark out WordPress.com vs WordPress.org difference. Each platform has some peculiar features, differs in service and pricing. Follow the article till the end to comprehend the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
WordPress.com is a hosting platform and works as a site builder. Choosing this service you can do two works together, namely, having a hosting service and build a site with it. On the other hand, WordPress.org is a site builder platform, here you need to purchase a web hosting plan from any third party web hosting service. Also, you need a custom domain to start building a site.
As we are illustrating the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org simultaneously, we should also take into account other important tools, equipments like themes, plugins, security, backup, customisation, control panel accessibility etc.
At WordPress.com you can install only free themes insofar you are a free plan user. You can’t install a premium theme until you subscribe to a paid plan. But at WordPress.org, you are free, there is no restriction. You can choose and install both the free and premium themes. It provides you coding section through custom css. You can have more control over your site but the former doesn’t offer you this option.
There is also difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org in the usability and installation of plugins. At the former, as a free plan user, you can’t have plugins accessibility. The only alternative is that you ought to purchase a paid plan provided you want to use plugins. However, you can’t use any plugin of your choice, rather you have to sort out a compatible one from their recommended and selected list. But, at WordPress.org, there is no such limitations. You can choose and set up any plugin—–be it free or paid.
Backup and security too play vital role in website performance and reliability. In this concern, WordPress.com has built-in Jetpack features integrated with the plan concerned. You do not need to be worry. However, this feature is not completely equal in the free and paid plan. But in WordPress.org, you can install security plugins or web applications as per choice. Also, you can use and install plugins to back up your website.
Look below to mark the ‘Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org’ through chart:
| Features | WordPress.com (Free plan) | WordPress.org |
| Software | Free subscription | Software |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Web hosting | Available | Required to purchase |
| Free Theme Upload | Can’t be uploaded or installed | Available, can be uploaded and installed |
| Paid Theme | Not available | Available and can be installed |
| Plugins | Not available | Available and can be installed. |
| Custom css | Not available | Available |
| Storage | 3GB | Depends on hosting plan |
| SSL Certificate | Available | Depends on host and hosting plan |
| Custom Domain | No custom domain | Custom domain |
| Ads | Adwords by the WordPress.com but no earning | Supports ads and earning |
| Advanced Customisation | Not available | Available |
Pricing: Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
You should know the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org in terms of pricing. When pricing compared, you will have more advanced idea regarding both the platform. WordPress.com offers six types of plan including the free plan and each plan differs in pricing, features and usability:
- Free (plan)—-No price, free for ever but limited in many aspects.
- Personal(plan)—-It costs about $ 48/year.
- Premium(plan)—-$ 96/year
- Business (plan)—$ 300/year
- Ecommerce(plan)—$ 540/year
- VIP(plan)—- It costs about $ 5000/Month at the beginning.
You can choose anyone out of these six plans, according to your needs. But if you choose WordPress.org to host a website, you can choose any web hosting out of the available web hosting services. Each web hosting offers you various types of plan and hosting costs too differ in each plan. Now, it is up to you, which plan you choose for your website. Normally, a starter plan is the cheapest one in pricing, however, it may cost about $6-25/Month or $150-300/year. If you like other plan, then cost will vary based on the type of plan and other add-ons.
Which Is Best? WordPress.com or WordPress.org
Actually which is best? WordPress.com or WordPress.org. It is a matter of question that needs to be addressed with exact answers. It depends on the type of site you are going to create and for what you are creating it. With WordPress.com you can create a site with WordPress.com brand at free plan, but it is limited in many aspects. If you are creating a website just for hobby and not serious about it, then you can choose it. You need not to care about security, backup or hosting. WordPress.com will provide you everything.
On the other hand, if you want to make your website grow fast, like to add more tools with advanced customisation, then choose WordPress.org to build your website. You will have more tools like plugins, themes and other resources to let your site grow as quick as possible.
Also read:
