You must have made a website using WordPress, or maybe you are just getting started in Website development or maybe in the blogging field. But you are confused, which one is best for you. And this happens to most people who are confused about WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

Did you know? WordPress powers nearly 27% of all websites, which is vast.

And so, you could assume that how much WordPress has gained soo much of popularity. But as you know, WordPress.org is a free open source project, and WordPress.com is a freemium product, So if any newbie wants to create a website, they would probably confuse on WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

That’s where this article will educate you about the key difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Key Difference

The fundamental difference between both platforms is the hosting and the price, but it doesn’t stop there. So there are plenty of differences between these two that we are gonna look at.

WordPress.com

In WordPress.com, you don’t have to worry about the hosting, as it is hosted by themselves; only you just have to pay for their paid services.

WordPress.com provides a free plan, but it limits you to using 3GB of data, but when you host your website in their free plan, you would actually be creating under their subdomain (like mywebsite.wordpress.com).

This platform is a good choice for those who mostly do blogging for their hobby or want to share their writings with their family as it will act as a digital diary.

Well, as it has only a very limited space in its free plan after you have to switch to a paid plan, which would start with:

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

WordPress.com could be suitable for those with money but who don’t have enough technical skills to manage the hosting and domain. Also, it provides you the updates and backups, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Cons of WordPress.com

  • You cannot upload plugins, as you will get many limited sets of features but still, having the freedom to customize the core functions is essential.
  • You cannot upload any themes, Most of the users are in love to try different stunning themes and cutomize it, but in WordPress.com, it has very limited number of choices. Also, for adding custom CSS, you would actually have to pay 30$ extra for more functions.
  • There is a restiction to run any kind of ads or any sponsored posts. They strictly doesn’t allow the users to use their platform for any commerecial activity in their free plan. But there’s a advertising program called “WordAds”, from where users could apply for it, based on some certian criteria.
  • You cannot add any tracking platform like google analytics. Only Business plan users are allowed to integrate to such platforms.
  • For making every free wordpress.com website, there is a branded subdomain which will be included on every newly created free site, To get it rid off, you will need to upgrade to its paid plan and you would also need a custom domain name.

There are many other cons of WordPress.com, other than these disadvantages. But as we have already mentioned, plenty of it.

WordPress.org

WordPress.org is a popular CMS platform loved by millions of users and developers. It’s 100% free, and anyone could use it for almost any kind of purpose.

All you need is hosting and domain to let it install on the webserver. WordPress.org allows you to do anything, But to be more specific, you could easily customize and alter its core files and other things as per your needs.

If you want to make a website for the primary purpose, like starting a blog or using it for a commercial purpose, in both scenarios, you have to purchase at least a basic web hosting plan to host your website.

This would cost you around $3-$10 per month only for hosting it properly. But as said, you also have to pay for the domain, which costs you around 5-10 dollars a year. But this cost is only the upfront; for every premium theme or plugin, you have to pay extra for that.

But even so, you still have the edge over WordPress.com; once you install it, you automatically will start realizing its benefits.

Cons of WordPress.org

Apart from its endless benefits, it also has a few cons of using the self-hosted WordPress.org site.

  • As like the WordPress.com, it does’t comes along with the hosting, you have to purchase a domain and web hosting to host and keep its files somewhere. But having it ready in few dollars, would be worth if your website traffic grows in months, so then you could make enough money to cover the costs.
  • You need a lots of plugins for getting every additonal features you want and this might put stress to the server and it may slow down the loading page.
  • For keeping the website more secure, you would actually need to do additional steps like having the secure web hosting, SSL connection, hardening your wp core files and you will also need to reguraly update the themes and plugins.
  • You may not get the regular backup facilities, as many hosting providers doesn’t give that kind of feature in its basic web hostings.
  • If you are not a kind of tech geek, you may find the setup of your website, a little bit confusing and typical. But since there are many guides out there, so that’s not should be a big problem.

These are all the possible cons that we have mentioned, but other miscellaneous things like poor SEO ranking or slow page speed could be a problem for some people.

But that’s about the benefits and cons of WordPress.com vs WordPress.org. So now, let’s move to which platform is better for you?

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Which is Better?

If you are a hobby blogger or like to write just for fun, go with the free WordPress.com.

You may need those advanced featured as a personal blogger, but if you are not good with so many technical things, then getting paid plan of WordPress.com could be a decent choice.

But I personally would suggest going for WordPress.org, as using the self-hosted site. It gives you the freedom of customizing and adding multiple functionalities to your website.

However, WordPress.org is suitable for those who want to make money or use it for business purposes; it is for all.

Many big brands like sony music, Spotify newsroom, TechCrunch, PlayStation blog, and more use the WordPress.org platform.

Conclusion

Now your doubts must have been cleared till now about WordPress.com vs WordPress.org. We saw many criteria, of which you could determine to choose of which platform is best suited for you.

WordPress.org has the great potential of providing a great CMS platform for every newbie blogger or any business owner. But, just in exchange, it would require some money to keep it up running.

But for those, who are passionate about writing essays or books, WordPress.org’s free plan is good for getting started.

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