If you are new to WordPress, you must be wondering about the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
The one major difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is who’s actually hosting your website.
I can say, the major difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is who is going to actually host your website
On WordPress.org, You can host your WordPress website on any 3rd party web hosting company like Hostgator or Bluehost. WordPress.org provides you free WordPress software installation, that you can install on your own web server.
On the other hand, WordPress.com provides you the functionality to just sign up at WordPress.com using your own email address and then start installing themes and plugins available on the platform.
You do not need to buy any separate web hosting server to host your website when you are using WordPress.com.
With WordPress.com, even you can start your own blog or website with sub-domain of WordPress.com, like websoft.wordpress.com without paying a single penny.
Later on, as per your need, you can upgrade your free plan to any premium one and use your own domain and unlock few more features.
Pros and Cons of WordPress.com and WordPress.org
Both platforms, WordPress.com and WordPress.org have their own pros and cons. It totally depends on your needs, to which one you choose.
If you are not willing to pay for web hosting to host your website, if you do not want anyone else to manage your web hosting server or paying someone else, the server handling fee, then you should go with WordPress.com.
It’s free and very easy to set up and have several options to customize your blog or website.
A few of the cons of using WordPress.com include that your domain will, by default, include “WordPress.com.” You also can’t upload any custom themes, plugins or modify the PHP code behind your site.
Cons of WordPress.com
- WordPress.com itself have their cons i.e. when you will start with it, your website URL will be by default have wordpress.com as a suffix. For ex, if you create your username as “websoftglobal” on WordPress.com then your website URL will be wikitalks.wordpress.com.
- To use your own domain name like “www.yourdomainname.com”, you need to pay fees to wordpress.com and upgrade your plan.
- You are not allowed to upload and use any of your custom or 3rd party WordPress themes on wordpress.com
- You are not allowed to upload and use any 3rd party plugins to add functionality on wordpress.com
Though, WordPress.com is free to set up and easy to use, they do offer few Premium account upgrade plans which include your own domain registration (if you do not want to use “wordpress.com” as suffix in your website URL), you can upload videos and custom themes to customize your WordPress blog or WordPress website.
Why use WordPress.org and not WordPress.com?
Using WordPress.org platform of WordPress opens up more flexibility and control to your WordPress website. But you will be responsible for each and every module of your entire website.
By using a self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org), it means you can
- Use your own domain name (www.yourdomain.com)
- You can upload and install your own themes and plugins
- You can edit the codes of your website as per your need and have full access to your website’s database (or files).
You must have seen a lot of showcased website on WordPress Site Showcase, they are all done on the self-hosted version of WordPress.org as it allows numerous possibility to add custom designs and functionalities on your WordPress website or blog.
I think its all clear now. So, let’s start developing your first WordPress Website. Read the complete step by step tutorial: Create a WordPress website for free
