Comparison Of WordPress.Org and WordPress.Com

What is WordPress.com?

WordPress.com is a hosting provider that gives you the flexibility to either set up a simple blog site or an advanced website for your business. With its free themes and plugins, a beginner can get the most out of it. But what sets WordPress.com apart from WordPress.org? The major benefit of WordPress.com is that it offers multiple choices of basic hosting plans. The flexibility of hosting plans further caters to the needs of your business. You can have a look at the WordPress pricing for details.

Pros of using WordPress.com

• It’s easy to set up and customize
• You get 3GB storage on the free plan
• It sets you free from the worries of updates, backups, and hosting
• With its 100% free plan, you can set up a complete blog or website fulfilling your basic needs

Cons of using WordPress.com

• You have to use paid upgrades for better customization and advanced feature utilization
• You can’t upload third party plugins
• You cannot upload any theme you fancy
• Only a limited number of free WordPress themes are available
• You cannot monetize the website with your free plan. You have to upgrade it to the premium version
• Free plan users have no access to databases
• Free plan users have no access to HTML/CSS customization
• Only business plan users can install Google Analytics for advanced stats
• Free WordPress.com users will always have a website name that is the subdomain of WordPress.com. For example, https://yourwebsite.wordrpress.com. To get a fully customized domain name, you will have to get a paid plan
• Your free plan website can be deleted by WordPress at any time if it deems to be violating any of their policies
• Your website/blog will always display the link of “powered by WordPress.com” which can only be removed by getting the Business plan, which in many cases is not the need of the user
• You are not offered with any eCommerce features on WordPress.com
• To integrate payment gateways, you will have to get the eCommerce plan
• Membership websites cannot be built with WordPress.com

What is WordPress.org?

Well, the truth be told is that it is WordPress.org that is also known as “the real WordPress”. It’s an open-source website platform that’s 100% free for anyone who wants to use it. Unlike WordPress.com, it is downloadable software that you can set up and host on your desired web server. You need a valid domain name and a good web hosting service to get started with WordPress.org.

Pros of WordPress.org

• Absolutely free to download
• You don’t need to create an account as in the case of WordPress.com
• No limitations on plugin installation
• You can use any theme you want
• You can monetize your site with your desired ads
• You get full control over the code for website customization
• You can configure Google Analytics on your site to get better analytics of your website traffic
• WordPress.org is licensed under GPL
• You have complete control over your website and its data and decide your website policies. Unlike WordPress.com, no one can take your site down.

Cons of WordPress.org

• If you are not a tech-savvy person, you need a developer for installation, customization, and hosting of your website.
• With external hosting, your hosting cost increases when the website traffic grows.
• You have to take the responsibility of updating the site yourself
• You need to be responsible for keeping the backup of your site. You can install any WordPress backup plugin to automate the process.