WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: How to Decide Which One to Go With?

If you believe that WordPress.com and WordPress.org are the same, they are not. Even though you might feel that they are more or less the same, they should understand use, pros and cons of each platform to make out the difference. These are entirely different platforms and several WordPress users don’t realize the difference at first. Therefore, it becomes essential to gain in-depth knowledge and understanding about them when selecting a platform that suits your business needs.

To help them have a clear understanding of both these platforms, we will discuss them in detail in this blog. Getting a clear understanding about difference between wordpress.org vs wordpress.com will help you select the best suitable platform for your project requirements.

What is WordPress.org?

WordPress.org is the open-source WordPress software that can be downloaded and used as desired. The basic requirement involves purchasing a domain and web host to gain full control over everything.

Prices for WordPress.org

It is open-source software and is 100% free so that anyone can use it. All you require is just a domain and web hosting to get started. For this reason, sometimes, it is termed self-hosted WordPress.

Pros

• It is free, open-source and easy to use
• You own website and its data
• Can add free, paid and custom plugins or apps to the website
• Can customize web design as needed
• Make money from your WordPress website
• Can use Google Analytics for tracking and custom analytics
• Use self-hosted WordPress for creating an online store
• Can create membership websites

Cons

• You require web hosting where your website files are stored on the web.
• Need to install WordPress.
• You need to take care of updates and backups

When to use WordPress.org?

If you want to develop a WordPress website and manage the whole website, you should opt for this platform.

What is WordPress.com?

WordPress.com is a website platform with managed hosting service configured for the open-source CMS, WordPress. It eases the whole procedure of website creation for beginners. As it is fully hosted, users have to just sign up for an account and can launch their website without getting concerned about the hosting part.

The best thing about WordPress.com is that initially, you can create your website at no cost and can later transition to a paid plan to get more resources. You get both free and premium plans with this platform.

Prices for WordPress.com

It offers 6 pricing plans:

1. Free – Very limited features
2. Personal – $48 per year
3. Premium – $96 per year
4. Business – $300 per year
5. Ecommerce – $540 per year
6. VIP – Plan Start at $24,000 per year

Pros

• Free up to 3GB of disk space
• Auto-updates and backup
• Best suitable for bloggers

Cons

• Ads placement on free websites
• Not allowed to sell ads on your website
• Cannot install plugins and custom themes
• Can’t add Google Analytics or other tracking platforms
• Need a paid plan to get a custom domain
• Your website gets deleted anytime if it violates its terms and conditions
• Doesn’t offer eCommerce features or integrated payment gateways unless you opt for an eCommerce plan
• Can’t monetize your website or blog
• Can’t build membership websites
• Lack of customization options

When to use WordPress.com?

If you want to create your website and connect with visitors while assigning the task of maintenance and management of the website to professional experts, then this platform is the best choice.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org – What is the difference?

If you love blogging and don’t want to make money from websites, then it is better to opt for free WordPress.com. Whereas if you are a blogger or a business, who is planning to make money from your website, then it would be best to use self-hosted WordPress.org. Why? With this platform, you get the freedom and flexibility to grow and develop your website in your desired way.

As per expert opinion, WordPress.org is a better platform. This is the platform mostly used by big brands, professional bloggers and even small business owners.

It is very important to understand wordpress.org vs wordpress.com differences to pick the right platform for developing your website. Let us understand each difference in brief:

1. Setup & Installation Process

Herein, we will discuss the process of setup and installation with both platforms:

WordPress.com Setup Steps

• Sign up to the WordPress.com
• Choose the type of website you want to build
• Enter website name
• Buy domain name or make use of the free option with an auto-suggested URL
• Choose a free or paid plan
• Update your website

https://youtu.be/uA8FJekfy5U

WordPress.org Setup Steps

• Purchase a domain name
• Find and buy a web hosting plan
• Build a database for the WordPress on the server
• Download & unzip the WordPress software
• Using an FTP client, upload the software to your domain
• Run the installation script by visiting a URL
• Start updating your website

Winner

It is WordPress.com. Some might find it hard to install WordPress; therefore, there are some web host providers that have made the whole process simple just by 1 click installation.

2. Ease of Use

Both WordPress.com and WordPress.org require a certain level of technical knowledge to use it. With WordPress.org, you can get into detail of the underlying code to customize your website. For this, you need to have coding skills or hire a professional developer. You can create a new website from scratch to meet your principal objectives with this open-source version.

With WordPress.com, the entire process of setting up a website is streamlined and easy. Since it is a full-featured hosting solution, it has everything a user requires to start going online. Creating and setting up a website can be done in a few minutes with this version.

Winner

WordPress.com is the clear winner, since it is easy to use and the process of setting up a website is streamlined.

3. Design & Customization Flexibility

WordPress.org offers unlimited customization flexibility for users, which is one of its main benefits. You can easily adjust extensions, themes and plugins and can be develop to customize the look and functionality of your website. Therefore, you get greater control of your website with WordPress.org and gives you the ability to add specific features that suit your business needs.

With a WordPress.com website, you have certain limitations as you can only do what the platform gives you access to. It helps limit the software depending on the subscription level opted by you. You cannot freely edit your store or website with WordPress.com.

Winner

WordPress.org offers more design flexibility compared to other website builders. Even though you might find it a bit of work, you can customize your website in your desired way as WordPress.org has 59,600+ plugins and 9,000+ themes.

Related Read >> 5 Best WordPress Themes For 2023 – Paid and Free

4. Features & Plugins

With WordPress.com, you can only install a few plugins that too with paid plans. Even though there are several pre-installed plugins like Form Builder, Social Media buttons and Essential SEO, the choice is very limited. WordPress.com pre-selects plugins based on your website objective. For an online store, you will have to purchase the ecommerce plan, which has its own set of plugins. Whereas in blog, you have advanced commenting. Even though there are limitations, but you are safer from making mistakes.

On other side, In WordPress.org you can install multiple plugins with no restrictions at all, but you need to handle the risk yourself, customize themes and add various functionalities via 3rd party plugins.

Winner

WordPress.org is the clear winner, as it has no restrictions on customization of features and installation of plugins.

5. Blogging

WordPress.com helps to build websites and is a web hosting service. This simply means that you can sign up for an account and start building your blog right away with this version, no hosting is needed. The only drawback is that you get less control as you are not hosting your blog and you don’t get a custom domain when you create a blog with WordPress.com.

WordPress.org is an open-source website software which can be used to create blogs. You can customize the look of your blog and can install any WordPress plugin. Even though it is free and anyone can build a website or blog, you need to pay for hosting and domain name. As you are paying for web hosting, it means that it is a self-hosted WordPress blog. This gives you great control over your blogging website and you can easily scale up WordPress for high traffic blogging website.

Winner

WordPress.org is the clear winner as it gives you great freedom over your blog. You can customize the look of the blog, own the blog, you don’t need to pay for hosting and domain name, use plugins to add extra features and can earn money from your blog.

6. eCommerce Online Stores

It is easy to turn your WordPress running into a fully functional eCommerce website using plugins such as WooCommerce. It helps you give complete flexibility regarding accepting payments, making editions to products, and changing shipping options. You can easily create an ecommerce website and scale it in the desired way with WordPress.org and the plugin selection.

You can use WooCommerce with WordPress.com, but only with expensive plans. For entry-level ecommerce websites, the company has selected other plugins, so it becomes easy to take payments or donations, add images, text, products and other multimedia, set up taxes, price and shipping and accept payments using the Simple Payments Block.

Winner

WordPress.org gives you great control over your online store, no matter how much you pay. Whereas with WordPress.com, you can do a lot only if you have opted for higher ecommerce plans.

Related Read>> 10 Tried & Tested Ways to Speed Up A WooCommerce Store

7. Monetization Scope

With WordPress.com, there are several restrictions from the monetization aspect. In the case of the free version, you will have ads on all your web pages. You will not be able to make money from it and moreover will have no control over the ads or what they look like on your website.

There are 2 ways in which you can run advertisements on your website, one with a paid plan, one is to use Google AdSense or WordPress.com VIP. With AdSense, you can earn money through impressions, but you are eligible to use it only when your website meets basic traffic requirements. Also, when you use AdSense, you share some profit with WordPress.com. You cannot use affiliate links if you created a blog to drive traffic to affiliate partners.

With WordPress.org, you get full control over your blog’s monetization capabilities. You have the freedom to choose sponsors, affiliate programs, advertisements and even products which you eventually sell. You don’t have to share your profit or deal with unwanted ads from WordPress.com. Further, you can monetize your blogs without any limitation and can easily generate revenue through affiliate programs, blogging books, sponsorships, podcast hosting ads and a lot more.

Winner

WordPress.org has no restrictions on the monetization part. You get complete control over the content management system, so you get unlimited options in it. You can add eCommerce solutions like WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads to your WordPress website. This will let you sell things from your website, provide premium content and help in business expansion too.

8. Security and Maintenance

With WordPress.com, you need not worry about the security and maintenance part. You need not worry about plugin compatibility or keep a check on release notes. It manages the hosting part as well.

Whereas with WordPress.org, you need to take charge to update the software and plugins. You receive notifications in your dashboard, so it is all about clicking a button once every 2 weeks. You need to have SSL certificates and HTTPS. These useful features help us encrypt your website and make it secure.

It also helps from an SEO perspective as Google always favours secure websites. In this case, WordPress.com takes care of all these aspects. With WordPress.org, you will have to ensure that your hosting provider provides these options.

Winner

WordPress.com simplifies the whole process.

9. SEO Features and Options

With WordPress.org, you get complete freedom and control over your website. There are several free themes available and you can also add custom themes that meet your business needs. WordPress.org has all the required plugins for repairing broken links, creating a site map and ensuring your website images are SEO-friendly.

WordPress.org have all the required plugins for SEO like Yoast SEO, Rank Math SEO, The SEO Framework, SEO Squirrly and All in One SEO Pack. You can also add Google Analytics tracking code to your website theme. You can either choose to manually add it in the tracking code or choose to download Google Site Kit plugin.

With WordPress.com, you cannot upload any custom themes or edit any code inside the themes. Upgrades are available, but you need to pay for them. It also has limitations when it comes to uploading plugins.

Tools like Yoast SEO or AIOSEO Pack are not available in WordPress.com, to add meta descriptions and page titles, you need to upgrade to the business plan. It has limited SEO tools and is not user-friendly as well. There is no redirect plugin available in case you want to redirect any 301 page. Google Analytics integration is not available with a basic plan, therefore you need to upgrade to a business plan to use it.

Winner

WordPress.org offers you complete manual control over SEO. If your industry is in a competitive niche, you will require a full range of options.

10. Support Team for Assistance

People who use WordPress.org are not aware that there is no support team. Therefore, they themselves need to find information on the community forums and FAQs created by other users. It can be tiresome to scroll through several pages of information to find exactly what you need. Based on the hosting provider you are using, you would be eligible to receive support. Some of the reputed ones are Siteground & WPEngine. Still, you have to deal with theme providers or plugin company’s support in case of any specific error.

Support is the main benefit when using WordPress.com, provided you are on a paid plan. With a free hosting plan, you are left with no option other than to browse community forums. When you opt for the monthly subscription fee, you can get access to features like live chat, email support, and forums based on how high your tier is.

Winner

WordPress.com is the best when it comes to support benefits only if you have opted for a paid plan. When you pay a monthly subscription fee, you get support features like live chat and support, based on how high your tier is.

Related Read>> How to Migrate Website From Wix to WordPress?

FAQs about WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

Over to You!

Whether you prioritize simplicity or flexibility, the decision between WordPress.com and WordPress.org rests entirely in your hands, based on your website’s needs. If you’re looking for a WordPress website development company, look no further than Samarpan Infotech. Our team of skilled professionals is ready to assist you in bringing your vision to life. Contact us today!