The Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org

What is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?

1. WordPress.org – referred to as the “real WordPress” and it has unlimited customization options, which range from payment, shipping, and membership options to the use of plugins, ads, and themes.
2. WordPress.com – geared more towards casual and less-techie users since it has better storage and automatic backups and updates a website.

 

A big mistake beginners do on website hosting service is choosing the wrong WordPress survey tool. However, there is a much bigger mistake and this is not knowing the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. This mistake often leads to first timers making the wrong choices, when deciding between the two. When this happens, such users would often have to start the whole process of starting a blog again because of how different the two websites are. They may even find themselves paying too much because they did not know that this certain service is being offered for free on the other one.

Because of this, one may ask: “which one is better?” And to answer this question, a comparison must be made between the two.

What is WordPress.org?

This is often referred to as “the real WordPress” because more often it is being used by more websites today. This is particularly because it offers multiple customization options and it is an open source hosting service that is 100% free to use. Users would only need web hosting and a domain name, which shouldn’t already be taken by anyone else.

With the .org website, users enjoy full control. They are free to customize to their heart and mind’s desire. Because of this, it has become the go-to choice for the experienced WordPress user.

To know more about it, below are the following features it holds:

• It is user-friendly.
• Users have ownership of the website and all the data it has. The site will be completely theirs and cannot be turned off/deleted even when they break the terms of service – given that nothing illegal was done.
• There is an option to add custom, free, or paid plugins to the website.
• Custom, free, or paid themes may also be applied.
• Ads may be placed on the website, which allows a user to generate some income.
• Powerful tools such as Google Analytics can be used on WordPress.org websites. This tool allows users to track website activity and create custom analytics.
• It is often used to create online stores for users to sell digital and physical goods. This is because a WordPress.org website allows for shipping and payment to be made directly on the site with their integrated systems.
• Membership sites can also be created so that users can sell members premium content and products while creating an online community within the site.

On the other hand, there are also some cons you need to be aware of when using WordPress.org. Here are some of them: 

• Users will need web hosting (as with all websites). This is because website files need a place to be stored within the internet and a web hosting service does exactly that. Availing of such service costs users $3-10 per month. The price varies because the need for more memory increases, when the traffic in a certain website also increases.
• It does not update automatically. Users will need to do it themselves, but this is just a one-click update so it’s not much of a burden to do.
• It also doesn’t backup data for users, which is why it is recommended for them to use a WordPress backup plugin.

 

What is WordPress.com?

This is a hosting service found by WordPress’ co-founder, Matt Mullenweg. Because it is by the same founder, this is often confused with the original .org version of WordPress.

In the .com site, 5 hosting service plans are being offered:

1. Free: $0.00 (but the site is very limited)
2. Personal: $36 per year
3. Premium: $99 per year
4. Business: $299 per year
5. VIP: $5000 per year and above

Though it may seem that the .com site is a lesser version of the .org one, it has its own benefits that are not offered on the original site. In general, the WordPress.com is great for those who look to use it for casual purposes, such as blogging about your hobbies. These are its following benefits: 

• The site has 3GB of free space, which allows them to avoid needing to avail of web hosting services.
• com updates and backs up the website for users.

Of course, WordPress.com also has its fair share of disadvantages – especially when you avail its Free, Personal, or Premium plans. Here are a few of them:

• All free websites will have ads, but the users will not get any money from them. In order to get rid of the ads, users will have to upgrade to at least a Personal plan.
• Users are only allowed to use ads from the WordPress’ advertising program called WordAds. For those with Personal plans, they must first get high traffic before being offered this. Those with Premium and Business plans have this feature available immediately.
• Users cannot upload their own plugins. Free users can use JetPack while Business plan users can select from a list of plugins. Only VIP users get the whole range of WordPress’ plugins.
• The same goes for themes, wherein users cannot upload their own custom themes. Free users can choose from a limited set of themes while premium themes are available to Premium and Business plan users. Customization of these themes is available, but it is limited for Free users, while Premium and Business can use CSS.
• Google Analytics can only be used by Business users and above while the rest are restricted to using the “Stats” function of the site.
• If a user violates the Terms of Service, then their site may be deleted.
• The websites will display a link saying “Powered by WordPress.com.” This will only be removed, when users upgrade to a Business or VIP plan.
• There are no ecommerce features or integrated payment systems.
• Membership websites cannot be created.

 Key Takeaway

Basically, WordPress.org is better for the more serious users, while WordPress.com offers great free packages for the casual users. Depending on what purpose users would need, they can choose which website to use with the information above.