This is Day 11 in the 30 Day Blogging Challenge. You can read Day 10’s post here.
When setting up a website, many people will turn to WordPress due to its popularity and ease of use. But it’s easy for people to get confused by the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. So what’s the difference, and which one is best for you to use?
What you need to set up a WordPress website
At minimum, you need:
- A domain name – this is the name like www.abrightclearweb.com, which people type in to find your site. You can buy a domain name from a domain registrar company – though I don’t recommend using the same company for hosting as well.
- Hosting – this is like rental space for your website real estate. Your host should support PHP and MySQL or MariaDB, and ideally run on Linux. There are thousands of web hosts worldwide, and prices start from a few pounds a month. In general, though, you get what you pay for.
- The WordPress software – WordPress is open source, meaning it is continually worked on by hundreds of contributors. Best of all, the software is free.
- A theme for your site – this is the code that displays your website’s content in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
What does WordPress.com offer?
WordPress.com offers the simpler way to get started. WordPress.com is a subsidiary company of Automattic, founded by Matt Mullenweg, one of the co-creators of WordPress.
With WordPress.com, installing the WordPress software and hosting are taken care of for you. That includes all the software updates and security.
You can sign up for a free account and start a blog or website within minutes.
Choose from many free themes, or pay for a higher plan to install a premium theme.
For your domain name, you are assigned a subdomain of WordPress.com that reflects your username (e.g. https://example.wordpress.com/). For a fee you can pay for your own domain name e.g. myawesomesite.com.
Pros of WordPress.com
- WordPress.com has different pricing tiers, but you can start with the free plan.
- Easy to get going and create a site and/or blog quickly.
- Hosting is included.
- Site security is built in. I’ve never heard of a site on WordPress.com getting hacked.
- Updates are done automatically.
- SSL is included for free.
- Akismet is built in – this protects your site from spam comments, at no extra cost.
- Social sharing links are installed and ready to use.
- Polls for your site are included.
- Supports SEO (search engine optimization) out of the box.
- Storage is generous – you get a 3GB limit for free, which is pretty big.
- Choose from a large number of blocks to construct your site, including some that aren’t available on WordPress.org yet, such as the Time to Read block, the Story block, the Repeat Visitor block and the Image Compare block. (Some of these are available in the Jetpack plugin for WordPress.org users.)
- Anti-spam comment protection is built in by default.
- Free support is available on the WordPress.com forums.
- You can make your site/blog private if you want to, and share with selected others.
Cons of WordPress.com
- You don’t have full control over your site – WordPress.com does. Though if you’re on the Business or Commerce plan, this is less applicable as you can get file and database access to your site.
- Have to pay for extra features. If you want to add videos, you need the Premium plan. If you want an ecommerce store, you need to pay for the Business plan or the more specialized Commerce plan.
- Theme choice is limited. You need to subscribe to a paid plan for premium themes. You can’t use a WordPress theme downloaded elsewhere unless you’re on the Business or Commerce plan.
- For some block themes you need the Premium plan or higher to use style variations – alternative combinations of colours and typography.
- Email or live chat support requires a paid plan. There is no phone support.
- Domain names are expensive to buy compared to other domain registrars.
- On the free version, adverts are shown.
- Can’t upload certain file types unless you upgrade (e.g. mp3, video).
- Some blocks require a Premium or higher subscription e.g. the WhatsApp Button block.
- You can only use the features supplied by WordPress.com. No plugins can be installed, unless you upgrade to either the Business or Commerce plan.
- If you want to make money from your site with ads, you need to use WordPress.com’s ad program, WordAds.
- Unless you’re on the Premium plan or higher, you can’t use Google Analytics for tracking your site visitors. (There are site stats built in, but they tend to inflate the figures a bit, I find.)
- You can’t run a WordPress multisite on WordPress.com.
- You can’t make changes to php.ini or the NGINX configuration on WordPress.com.
What Does WordPress.org offer?
A WordPress.org or self-hosted WordPress site is a little more work to set up. You need to make sure you have bought a domain name and have suitable hosting in place to begin with. You also need the latest WordPress.org software. You then need to install WordPress on your host. The install process takes only a few minutes to do. Many hosts offer a one-click install option through the hosting control panel which makes it even more straightforward.
Some things you will want to do after installing WordPress are detailed in this WP Beginner post.
Once you are set up, you have a whole heap of goodies to play with. You are supplied with three default themes, but can choose from over 12,000 others from the WordPress.org theme repository or many other commercial sellers.
The array of plugins is also another major plus point. Plugins allow you to add extra functions to your site. There are currently over 59,000 plugins free to download from WordPress.org. There are also many premium plugins you can buy. For example, Gravity Forms lets you build advanced forms through a drag and drop interface.
Examples of common plugin types
- Social media sharing /feeds
- Email subscription forms
- Contact forms
- Google Maps
- Ecommerce i.e. online shops
- Image sliders
- Galleries
- Events management
WordPress.com now allows you to add plugins if you subscribe to the Business or eCommerce plans, but there are some limitations on the ones you can use.
Pros of WordPress.org
WordPress.org vs WordPress.com in general:
- You have full control over your site and what goes on it.
- You have direct access to your site files and database, which is only possible on WordPress.com if you choose the Business or Commerce plan.
- No unwanted adverts. You can choose to add your own if you wish!
- You can use Google Analytics or other tracking software.
- Far greater selection of themes than WordPress.com, and you can modify them much more.
WordPress.org vs WordPress.com business plan or greater:
- Self-hosted WordPress offers a completely free choice of plugins, as some plugins on WordPress.com are disallowed.
- WordPress.org is better suited to some kinds of specialist sites such as membership websites.
Cons of WordPress.org
- You pay for your domain name and hosting. Some hosts offer domain names for free when you sign up, though it’s better to have domains and hosting in separate places.
- You (and/or your host) are responsible for backing up your site – this means both your database and files.
- You need to set up your own SEO – I recommend the Yoast SEO plugin for this.
- Some hosts charge for an SSL certificate, though most good ones offer them for free.
- Site security is your responsibility. This includes anti-spam comment protection. (There are a number of good free plugins available for this.)
- You need to update and maintain your site yourself, or pay someone to do it for you.
- More can go wrong!
So which version is better?
It really depends on the purpose of your website, and how happy you are to take care of it.
If you are just starting out in business, wanting to get a blog going quickly or are not technically minded, WordPress.com is probably the better option, as a lot is managed for you. Though you still need to add the content (!)
If you’re looking for more control, innovative features and the ability to extend your site further in the future, I would go with WordPress.org. However, the WordPress.com Business plan offers more features than before and is on a par with managed WordPress hosting. Check out Winning WP’s review of WordPress.com’s Business plan to find out more.
Do you have a WordPress site? Which do you think is better – WordPress.com or WordPress.org? I’d be interested to know your thoughts.
Really good points and could have done with this when I was doing my research several months ago. Its concise and clear. Thank you
Thanks Gillian, I’m glad you found it useful.
Hi Claire, I’ve always been WP self-hosted so I’ve been spoilt :D. Servers that run on Linux are important as it makes it easier for you to update your themes and plugins. On a Windows based server I understand you have to upload the latest version of the plugin every time it needs updating. That’s a hassle I can do without!
I didn’t know that about Windows servers, Sarah. That would be a major inconvenience if you have a lot of plugins. Thanks for mentioning it.
Hi Claire, thanks for providing a very clear outline of the differences between the two … I had no idea there was a .com and .org version until recently and your list of the pros/cons is fantastic!
Thanks Michelle. It’s important to know the distinction between the two. WordPress.org is more powerful but WordPress.com may be perfectly adequate for your needs.
Hi Claire, I am quite new to the blogging just started my first wordpress.org blog, but still in the setup phase. Wish me luck.