WordPress.com and WordPress.org – though they both offer a popular WordPress site building and content management system, however, there is a difference. Learning about their differences can help you make the right choice for your new website and WordPress hosting needs.
What is WordPress.org?
It is the place where you can find the free programme that you shall download and install to build a website on your own web server. You shall host your own blog or website with WordPress.org.
What is WordPress.com?
It is responsible for all of your web hosting. There’s no need to download any software, pay for storage or maintain a web server. However, you will need to create an account on WordPress.com, and other website features can get paid upgrades.
Comparing features on WordPress.com and WordPress.org
Keeping these discrepancies in mind, here is a look at how WordPress.com and WordPress.org match up in terms of core features of WordPress.
Themes –
Themes are a feature of WordPress pages. You can pick from a wide variety of pre-made free themes with a WordPress.com site — all you need is to add the content you want. However, unless you pay for the upgrade, you cannot add a theme from an external source.
The self-hosted Word Press version allows users to install and change themes at will, and themes are allowed from any source. Using software on the site’s admin dashboard, both premium and free themes can be personalised. Professional designers can work directly with their files to customise the template to the full premium themes. They usually have more abilities and configuration options compared to free themes.
Plugins
Plugins can be used to create a contact form, to construct an online store or to attach a gallery to the web. Through downloading the Jetpack app, an all-in-one social media application built through WordPress.com, users can also fill the analytics void at their pages.
Self-hosted WordPress is well-known for its long list of paid and free plugins. Bits of code created by it’s community developers to add unique functionality which is not included in the regular WordPress installation.
Domain Names
Once you choose a domain name, it is an online identity for a website and most industry experts recommend owning their own domain. WordPress self-hosted sites have unique domain names that specifically show that the site is not being hosted on a third-party website. However, when you pay to get a custom domain for premium, a WordPress.com website still comes with the suffix “WordPress.com” after your domain name.
Both offer different ways to take advantage of WordPress’s site building capacity. It takes care of everything, for those who want to focus on producing material for a blog, without having to be concerned about web maintenance and technological problems.
WordPress.org basically makes the WordPress website as user-friendly as possible — and the rest is up to them. Which one would you pick? It depends on the site plans, and how you want it to be managed.
Pros and Cons of WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
In case you don’t want to pay for your own hosting, run your own web server or pay someone else to do it for you, then you’ll probably want to use WordPress.com. It’s free and easy to set up and you’ve got plenty of options to customize your account.
Some of the drawbacks of using WordPress.com are that your domain must contain “WordPress.com” by default. You cannot add any custom themes, plugins or change the PHP code behind your site, either.
While WordPress.com is free to set up, they provide some premium upgrades, like registration of domain names (if you don’t want WordPress.com with your domain name), the ability to upload photos, and the ability to use their premium themes.
Using the downloaded version of WordPress from WordPress.org allows the WordPress site more power and flexibility, but it also requires greater responsibility. Having a self-hosted WordPress version ensures you can use your own domain name, upload and install themes and plugins, change the code behind your site and access the database (or files) for your site.
Many of the showcase sites you see on the WordPress website page are WordPress’ self-hosted edition, and many of them have exclusive features or a custom design.
WordPress.com
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy to install, no hosting, installation or server messaging | No plugin uploads |
| Easy to personalize | Charges applied for advanced customization enhancements |
| 100 percent free | Free only for a limited number of themes |
WordPress.org
| Pros | Cons |
| 100 percent free to download | Paid hosting |
| Upload custom plugins | Have to install WordPress on your own via web hosting |
| Allowed to use any theme | Self-responsibility for website maintenance and server (although most web hosts perform simple tasks for you) |
| Unlimited customization potential; full file and code access |