Don’t know the 4 basic differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? Well, keep on reading to know more.
WordPress is the easiest and the most efficient site builder, when it comes to hosting and designing a site.
Amongst Bloggers and Digital Marketing Agencies, WordPress has achieved an irreplaceable position.
With its responsive design and easy to use tools, it has become the first choice for people who aren’t tech-savvies.
WordPress not only allows you to make blogging sites, it also has a large number of features to support an online store, membership sites and so on.
While typing “WordPress” on Google, have you ever given a thought about WordPress.com, or did you feel it is same as WordPress.org?
If you thought that both are same then let’s fill up your knowledge jar and clear your confusion with facts.
WordPress.com & WordPress.org are NOT SAME– hosting, control of site, plans, everything differs though the internal working of both platforms are similar.
To understand the 4 basic differences between WordPress.com & WordPress.org we will first have to look at what WordPress.com & WordPress.org is!
Table of Contents
What Is WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a free, website building platform, where the entire control of your website is with WordPress. You cannot monetize it or use it for commercial purpose until you upgrade it to a paid plan.
Benefits Of Using WordPress.com
- To get started with WordPress.com is easier since you just have to make an account on their site and you can get started for free.
- Free WordPress.com is a good choice when you just want to blog as hobby and don’t want to monetize it.
- You can use up to 3GB of space for free. To further extend the space, you need to buy one of their premium plans.
- WordPress.com takes care of the updates and backups, hence you do not have to periodically take backups.
- Premium plan of WordPress.com provides you with extensive range of themes and plugins. You can also monetize site and add payment gateway, once you upgrade to paid plan.
The WordPress.com premium hosting service has following plans:
- Free – Very limited.
- Personal – $48 per year
- Premium – $96 per year
- Business – $300 per year
- eCommerce – $540 per year
- VIP – starting at $5000 per month
What Is WordPress.org
WordPress.org is an open-source software, for your site. It is free to use this software but you need to have a domain and a hosting, which might cost you some dollars.
Benefits Of Using WordPress.org
- It is not a simple path to get started on WordPress.org. For using the software, you first need to buy a domain name and hosting (from Bluehost, HostGator, SiteGround etc.) then you need to install the WordPress software on your hosting.
- WordPress.org gives you full control of your website – You own your website, data and files. It is powered by your brand not WordPress.
- Using WordPress.org, you can place ads, which generates you a steady income.
- Allows you to add Google analytics and other tracking tools to your website.
- Provides you with e-commerce features and also allows you to integrate the payment gateways.
- It provides you with a huge repository of free and paid plugins and themes.
4 Basic Differences Between WordPress.com And WordPress.org
The 4 Basic differences between WordPress.com & WordPress.org are as follows,
- Ease of use – WordPress.com is much more easy to use & manage than WordPress.org especially for a newbie.
- Cost effective – WordPress.org is cost effective than WordPress.com in the long term as you can buy hosting plans for WordPress.org starting from as low as $2.65, where as the WordPress.com paid hosting start plan is from $4.
- Freedom to monetize – When it comes to monetizing your website, WordPress.org gives you full freedom & control but with WordPress.com the freedom is limited to the paid plans.
- Installation of 3rd party plugins – There are thousands of 3rd party WordPress plugins available in the market, which WordPress.org allows you to install, where as WordPress.com allows you to install 3rd party plugins with their business & eCommerce plans only which again limits the scope for the blogger.
These 4 basic differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org are of great relevance while selecting the platform.
WordPress.com Vs WordPress.org – Which Is Better?
As mentioned above the 4 basic differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org should be enough to make a decision as to which blogging platform to use.
Having said that, it could be an endless debate but the efficacy of any platform depends on your needs. Technical tools come with different prices and benefits, what suits best is the one that complies with your needs and is feasible with your budget.
If you have long-term plans in the digital world, like setting up a store, developing a membership site, become big name among bloggers, want to earn doing blogging, become an affiliate marketer, develop learning management system, the best choice is to go with WordPress.org.
But if you just want a site to post your articles or blogs, with no intention of earning or fame, going with WordPress.com will be the best choice. Their upgrade plan is also not too expensive, so you can keep your hobbies on open web with minimum prices.
Conclusion
In my opinion, WordPress.org wins over WordPress.com any day since the 4 basic differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org can determine the success that you will get in blogging.
If you want complete freedom & autonomy for your website then, go for WordPress.org platform.
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