If you have just begun your WordPress blog or are thinking of starting one soon, then you need to know the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.
In this post, we are going to talk about these two options and the pros and cons of them. For more information on WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com, we recommend you go here.
What is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
Which kind of WordPress blog is suitable for you?
What are the pros and cons of each of them?
Table Of Contents
About Free WordPress Blog
WordPress.com is a free service where you don’t have to handle the hosting servers, back-end or front-end coding.
You can sign up and design your blog for free, customize it with the available themes and post content such as text, image, video and documents.
In this, though there is also an option that includes a cost to be paid, that is when you want to upgrade your free WordPress plan to Personal, Premium or Business Plan.
Following are the things that come with each WordPress plan,
Free WordPress Plan
- WordPress.com Subdomain
- Jetpack Essential Features
- Community Support
- Dozens of Free Themes
- Basic Design Customization
- 3GB Storage Space
Personal WordPress Plan – ₹200 per month, billed yearly
- Custom Domain Name
- Jetpack Essential Features
- Email & Live Chat Support
- Dozens of Free Themes
- Basic Design Customization
- 6GB Storage Space
- Remove WordPress.com Ads
Premium WordPress Plan – ₹575 per month, billed yearly
- Custom Domain Name
- Jetpack Essential Features
- Email & Live Chat Support
- Unlimited Premium Themes
- Advanced Design Customization
- 13GB Storage Space
- Remove WordPress.com Ads
- Monetize your site
- VideoPress support
Also Read: How to add table of contents in a WordPress post
Business WordPress Plan – ₹1,665 per month, billed yearly
- Custom Domain Name
- Jetpack Essential Features
- Email & Live Chat Support
- Unlimited Premium Themes
- Advanced Design Customization
- Unlimited Storage Space
- Remove WordPress.com Ads
- Monetize your site
- VideoPress support
- Attend live courses
- SEO Tools
- Install Plugins NEW
- Upload themes NEW
- Google Analytics Integration
- Remove WordPress.com Branding
Pros of a free WordPress blog
- Start with zero investment
- Better choice for hobby bloggers
- Get up to 3GB of free storage space for your blog
- WordPress will take care of backups and regular site updates for you
About WordPress.org
Coming on to WordPress.org, it is free software that you can download and install on your self-hosted site.
Bluehost offers one-click WordPress installation.
WordPress.org is a website platform that is more popular than WordPress.com.
It is basically a free open-source software that you can install on your web hosting and take advantage of it’s site building features.
You just need to purchase a domain and web hosting.
Pros of WordPress.org or a self-hosted WordPress blog
You’re in complete control
When you create a self-hosted blog, you have the complete control over all of the aspects of your blog/website.
Design it, place ads, customize the code to your heart’s content.
With WordPress’ own gallery of plugins and useful site builders, site designing becomes easy for beginners as well.
Build sources of income
Earn money through your blog by selling ad space or using ad media networks like media.net, Google Adsense etc.
You get all of the ad revenue generated without any other company cutting its own share from your hardwork.
You can also sell your own products, digital or physical on your blog by using the WooCommerce plugin.
Use payment gateways like Razorpay, Paypal, etc.
Get access to analytics
Set up and connect your website to Google Analytics and Google Search Console to learn more about your visitors.
Learn their interests, demographics, and the content on your blog that they’re most interested in.
Also Read: How to Add Infinite Scroll to your WordPress Blog
Pros of WordPress.com
Pros of WordPress.com are that you can begin with zero investment and avoid the hassle of actually coding your site from scratch. Many useful plugins are by default installed to ensure the site performs its best.
Also Read: How to improve readability of your content
Differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
If you are looking forward to blogging as a hobby with not enough money to begin with, and not as a profession, not making it a source of earnings, then WordPress.com is the one for you.
Similarly, if you are pretty serious and make a living out of it then you should go for WordPress.org.
If you have doubts or questions, comment down below!
Let’s connect on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Subscribe to never miss a post!