Beginners often confuse WordPress.org and WordPress.com platforms when they resolve to launch their blog or any other website for the first time. These two solutions differ in many aspects but both of them are really reliable and very convenient ones for those who want to create their worthy presence on the Web.
Here at WP Daddy, we are focused on everything concerning WordPress.org – a free self-hosted platform providing multiple possibilities for a website owner including free and premium themes, plugins, customization possibilities, and flexibility of design.
WordPress.com is another great website building tool offering the opportunity to create a website with premium quality.
So let’s see what are the differences between these two platforms, and which one will be better to choose for a beginner.
This is an open-source platform that you can download without any restrictions on its official website absolutely for free. This is a self-hosted solution because you can choose your own domain name and hosting provider to start working with WordPress as the main engine for your entire website functioning.
As a self-hosted variant, this WordPress gives you full control over your website and its content. You can move to another hosting provider, another server; you decide whether to publish any content or delay publishing; you can hide a post or make it a private one; manage the user roles and their access to the dashboard; sell the ad spots to product owners and advertisers; publish reviews on any products you want to promote and get your revenue for promotion, etc.
This is a hosting service that is available based on any of the 3 pricing plans including personal, premium, and business ones. You don’t choose any other hosting provider or domain name, WordPress gives it all to you and supports your website completely.
However, if you want to get all the benefits of this WP platform but don’t want to leave your existing hosting provider, connect your website to Jetpack – an all-in-one WP.com plugin made for those who need a hassle-free design, security and marketing.
WordPress.org is better to use for those who are about to launch a serious business project, personal blog (to get revenue from ads, reviews, etc.), an eCommerce shop, or any other related website.
If you just want to try yourself in running a blog and writing for your readers, or if you want to create a test site for a definite period of time, you can try to choose WordPress.com. It has loyal rules for everyone who wants to get more – it allows upgrading to more comprehensive plans and getting more features and possibilities than a free user initially has.
Just thoroughly learn all the peculiarities of both solutions and decide which one is better for your own needs.
Hi! I’m an experienced writer exploring WordPress for more than 6 years. I’m happy to share my knowledge and ideas with you and I hope you join me.
Cheers,
Melany H.