WordPress.com or WordPress.org

Not everyone knows that WordPress.com and WordPress.org are essentially two different platforms. Let’s look into this in more detail.

Choosing between them (WordPress.com or WordPress.org), novice developers often make the wrong choice. As a result, the platform for creating a free website is not suitable. But even those who are informed about the differences available, as a rule, do not know them thoroughly.

Our readers are constantly interested in which platform is still preferable. In order to answer this question in as much detail as possible, we conducted a full-fledged comparison of both.

We set a goal – to determine the most important differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. As a result, you’ll be able to choose a platform that fully meets your goals.

Since the intended choice carries in itself a determining value for the success of activities in the global network, we have carried out a thorough comparative analysis.

In case you need to initially correctly organize your own blog or portal, you can not read this guide, but go straight to the instructions of narrow focus:

Now let’s turn to the immediate differences and pick WordPress.org and WordPress.com.

The differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org

The best method to understand the differences between the sites in question is to take a close look at each one.

WordPress.org

WordPress.com or WordPress.org

WordPress.org is one of the world’s best platforms for organizing portals on the global network. It is also called the “real” WordPress.

The software is open source. To create a site you will need a domain and hosting. Everything else is completely free.

Below are the positives and negatives of WordPress.org for running a blog or website of any kind.

Advantages of WordPress.org

WordPress.org gives you full control over the portal you create. Adjustments and changes can be made to anything.

There are a number of reasons why WordPress.org is the best choice when choosing a platform. Here are some of the positive aspects of WordPress.org:

  • The user is the full owner of the site with all the information placed on it. Full control eliminates the possibility of unforeseen disconnection of the site on a whim of someone else.
  • The software is provided completely free of charge, and the open source code gives ample opportunity to configure the platform.
  • The user can choose any of the numerous themes. There are thousands of both free and paid templates to satisfy every conceivable request of the developer.
  • There is a possibility of using free, commercial and self-written plugins for WordPress.
  • You can use extremely functional tools from Yandex or Google to analyze traffic and popularity.
  • You can use powerful tools like Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrika to analyze and track traffic.
  • Opportunity to get a permanent passive income by placing advertising materials on the site. In this case, the user is in full control of finances.
  • Possibility to place special content on the site on paid terms (by subscription), which may be of interest to regular subscribers or fans.
  • Possibility to create a trading platform for the sale of physical or virtual goods. In this case, payment will be made through a special payment gateway directly on your site.

Disadvantages of WordPress.org

Among the negative aspects of working with WordPress.org are:

  • You will need hosting to keep your site running. This is a place to physically store your files. The initial price will be only a few tens of dollars per month. But as the traffic grows, you will need to increase bandwidth. Therefore, the cost of hosting will increase. As a rule, with a growth of traffic increases and income. There should be no problems with payment.
  • The user is fully responsible for all updates. This process is not difficult, but it must be done independently.
  • The user also has the burden of backing up the portal materials. But for this, there are a large number of special plug-ins with the possibility of automatic backups.
  • The final price of the site using the solution WordPress.org directly depends on the purpose of the site (blog, shopping platform, interactive game site, portfolio, etc.). Also the cost will be determined by the range of themes and extensions used (paid or free).

For the vast majority of developers, we recommend that you turn your attention to WordPress.org and read our instructions on how to create a site.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com or WordPress.org

WordPress.com is a hosting service run by parent company co-founder Matt Mullenweg. For this reason, many novice developers confuse WordPress.com with WordPress.org

WordPress.com gives you the option to take advantage of one of five plans:

  • Personal – $48 per year.
  • Premium – $96 per year.
  • Business – $300 per year
  • E-commerce – $540 per year
  • VIP – Price over $5,000 per month

Let’s take a closer look at the positives and negatives of WordPress.com.

Advantages of WordPress.com

The free WordPress.com plan may only be of interest to beginner developers. Let’s note some of the advantages of the .com version:

  • No need to think about timely updates or backups. The platform handles this on its own.
  • Services are free, but only until the site does not require more than 3GB of disk space. This situation will lead to the need to choose a paid plan. Moreover, the more disk space you need, the more expensive plan you will have to switch to.

Disadvantages of WordPress.com

Let’s list the main disadvantages of WordPress.com, which distinguish this platform from WordPress.org:

  • The user is not allowed to sell advertising spaces on their own. As a result, full-fledged monetization is compromised. Sure, you can apply to participate in the WordAds advertising program, but you’ll have to share revenue with the platform.
  • You’ll have to put up with other people’s ad units on all your sites. These ads will be placed by the platform itself, and all your visitors will see them. It cannot be removed, but the developer will not receive income from it either.
  • The user is forbidden to install any third-party plugins. To replace them, only Jetpack is provided. Full installation of plugins becomes available only to users who have purchased a VIP package for five thousand U.S. dollars a month.
  • Full attendance statistics is not available to users. This means that you will not be able to use popular tools from Google initially. Google Analytics becomes available only when purchasing the Business plan.
  • There is no option to use third-party themes. On the free plan, you can only choose the theme you like from the options offered. And the choice is quite limited. For customers who have paid an expensive rate, additional premium templates are available.
  • The free plan involves the use of a second-level domain. For example, https://site.wordpress.com. To get a second level domain will have to choose the paid plan.
  • The site, created on the platform, can be removed at any time. This is possible if the user violates just a couple of the many rules.
  • On WordPress.com and initially there is no way to open an online store, but this is solved by switching to an expensive, more expensive plan.
  • There is no opportunity to create a site with paid subscription options for visitors, which greatly impairs the potential for monetization.

As can be seen from the disadvantages, WordPress.com imposes serious restrictions on the developer. They can be partially removed only by switching to an expensive pricing plan, which for many users is unacceptable.

So, WordPress.com or WordPress.org – which should I choose?

If you’re creating a primitive blog and don’t intend to make money on it, you can safely take advantage of the capabilities of WordPress.com.

Well, if you intend to engage in serious network business or organize another ambitious project, you should pay attention to WordPress.org. You will get full functionality, extensive customization and optimization capabilities.

Of course, the plan Business and above from WordPress.com gives a good start. But over time, the costs will only increase. And a completely free WordPress.org provides full functionality right away.

Overall, WordPress.org is the optimal choice for both the novice developer and the seasoned professional. This platform is popular with many well-known bloggers, as well as representatives of world-renowned companies.

WordPress.com or WordPress.org – which is better for creating an online store?

WordPress.org gives unique opportunities for trade in the global network. The WooCommerce extension allows you to organize a marketplace in record time. Additionally, you can use any of the tens of thousands of extensions available.

WordPress.com also provides opportunities to create an online store. But you’ll have to use a tariff with a cost of more than $500. This is not everyone can afford. In addition, a number of limitations of the platform will not go anywhere.

See our guide on how to create an online store without a large investment.

So how do you create your own site using WordPress.org?

To start a personal WordPress site, you’ll need a domain and hosting.

The domain name is the address of your portal in the global network. For example, myportal.com. Hosting is where all of your site’s information is physically located.

In our free guide you can see detailed instructions on how to create your own site. It’s called – how to create a site on WordPress.

WordPress.com or WordPress.org – Summary

In order to understand the difference and still choose WordPress.com or WordPress.org, just compare your own place and a rented apartment.

WordPress.com is a kind of rent-to-own opportunity. You don’t have full control and are dependent on the company.

WordPress.org gives you full rights. It’s like owning your own home and being able to do whatever you want. You become the full owner of your own site.

In the table below, we’ve summarized all the comparative information provided on WordPress.com and WordPress.org:

#WP.org (ЦМС)WP.com (Free)WP.com (Premium)WP.com (Business)
Price$30-$90Free$96$300
Domain nameYesNoYesYes
Disk spaceNot limited3 GB12 GB200 GB
MonetizationYesNoYes (there is a committee)Yes (there is a committee)
BrandingYesNoNoYes
SEOYesNoNoYes
AnalyticsYesNoNoYes
Theme supportYesNoLimitedYes
Support for pluginsYesNoNoYes
Online storeYesNoNoNo
Paid MembershipYesNoNoNo
ServiceYesNoNoNo
Full controlYesNoNoNo

Conclusion

The confusion, in choosing WordPress.com or WordPress.org, is quite depressing for beginners. But there’s a big story behind this division, and we’ll be sure to write about it.

There’s a lot of confusion about the choice between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. There’s a big story behind it that we’ll be sure to tell.

We expect that this guide will be helpful in understanding the differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.

We wish you and your site prosperity! We hope you’ve chosen the best platform to build your portal or blog: WordPress.org!

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