WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

Hi there, glad to meet you in another post. Firstly, this is my new blog and website which I plan to maintain as my online portfolio. I got it set up recently. It is built on WordPress. It took almost 3 hours to completely set this up. I believe WordPress is a great tool for building static websites and also provides the best CMS. While I was setting things up, I found out that there is a confusion between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org in the community.

Before getting into the details, you should know there are two types of WordPress sites. One is the wordpress.com and the other is wordpress.org. Firstly there is WordPress.com which is hosted and maintained by WordPress itself and it is easy for beginners and non-technical people. On the other hand, there is WordPress.org which is an opensource software that is used to build and maintain websites which gives you full control and flexibility over it.

I came to know about the differences because I maintain two websites one on each platform. The two sites that I maintain are listed below and hence I’m aware of the pros and cons of both the platforms.

WordPress.com vs worpress.org – Which is better? Which is cheap? Which is easy?

Following is a table that contains the feature comparison of both the platforms.

Features	WordPress.com	WordPress.org
Hosting	Default WordPress Hosting	Should be hosted separately
Features	Limited	Unlimited
File access	Available only on select plans	You are the one in control
CSS Customisations	Available only on select plans	Everything is under your control
Premium themes	Available only on select plans	Unlimited themes
Connection to wordpress.com	Built in by default	Needs a plugin called Jetpack
Plugins	Available only on select plans	Any plugin can be installed
Earnings	WordAds – Available only on select plans	Can integrate any ad Network
Cost	Overpriced	Affordable
Technical Knowledge	Not needed	Little bit required for custom hosting and setting up
Conclusion	Easy to get started, best for beginners and bloggers but the pricing is a bit high if you want to get the most out of it.	Initial setup is bit hard, best for developers, businesses etc. The pricing is affordable and offers full flexibility and control over the site.

In conclusion, I hope this post might have cleared your doubts a little bit. Meanwhile, I would say that the cheap one would be the WordPress.org platform if you are able to find a hosting provider that is cheap. I’m also up for suggestions and views, the comment section is open.

Optionally, if you have time, you can check out my first blog post. It ain’t much, but honest work 😉 Also check my motivational content at offshorewritings.com. Have a nice day!

Samuel Lawrentz