WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com
WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system and blogging tool.
Millions of websites are already hosted using WordPress and there are many millions more that are about to be hosted now and in the near future.
The fact that WordPress is an open source software makes it all the more interesting because there can be infinite amendments and upgrades as time goes on, unlike closed systems that are not available for adventurous and ambitious developers to suggest or make changes to the software.
Now, there are two types of WordPress sites that you can host.
One is WordPress.com. When you put up your sites on WordPress.com, it is a free hosting account and you don’t need the hosting infrastructure. Your website will be hosted on WordPress servers.
The other one is WordPress.org. When you host on this domain, it has to be self-hosted, which implies that you need to have the hosting servers or you need to hire a web host to put up your website.
Differences in Wordpress.org vs. WordPress.com
Differences in Wordpress.org vs. WordPress.comIf you have been wondering whether you should go with WordPress.org or WordPress.com, then you can really get some help from this list of differences. After all, you need to compare the pros and cons and only then can you make up your mind. Take a look at WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com and make an informed decision.
First
With WordPress.org you would get support for all kinds of themes. You can come up with unique themes, customize existing themes and can also modify the themes as you go ahead using them for your website.
In effect, you have full theme support.
With WordPress.com, you get limited theme support.
There are some free themes that you can use but you cannot customize them and there are very few you can actually choose from considering their quality even when there are quite many at your disposal. However, there are paid upgrades that you can opt for on WordPress.com to expand your theme options and support.
Second
You get all the plug-ins on WordPress.org.
You can use the free plug-ins, paid ones and customized ones that you may develop on your own. You actually get to explore WordPress with all its potential as a state of the art content management system.
With WordPress.com, there is no plug-in support.
You cannot use any paid or customized plug-ins. There are some built-in plug-ins and you have to be confined to that. However, here again, you have upgrades available which you can pay for and get more plug-ins and support for the same.
Third
WordPress.org will cost you money.
You have to pay for the domain and you need to pay the monthly charges to your web host. If you are hosting a website that is expecting a lot of traffic then you need a lot of bandwidth, disk space and the web host must offer you a horde of round the clock support services. This cost can be anywhere from a few scores to hundreds of dollars.
WordPress.com is absolutely free.
You get 3GB space for storage and you can have your own site. However, if you need an exclusive or customized domain and not a sub-domain then you need to pay and if you need any more storage space or additional services then too you have to pay.
The limitation with WordPress.com, although it is free, is that you cannot host a website that would be very busy. If you want to do that then you will end up paying hundreds of dollars anyway which is what you would have paid to your web host for a state of the art high traffic site on WordPress.org.
Fourth
You control all the monetization on WordPress.org, a luxury you don’t have on WordPress.com.
On WordPress.org You can customize the ads, choose what is going to go on your site and make all the decisions pertaining to money matters.
On WordPress.com, you cannot sell ads or put up ads unless you have more than 25,000 page views every month.
WordPress.org sites would need to be maintained and any cost will have to be taken care of by the website owner. With WordPress.com, one doesn’t need to bother about maintenance. The platform will update and upgrade itself, troubleshot and maintain itself as and when needed.
A WordPress.org site is an independent site and will not benefit from the network of WordPress or the traffic that the network draws by the virtue of its popularity.
With WordPress.com, you can get a share of the traffic or at least be noticeable in the network and that just might work to one’s advantage. Other site optimization requirements still apply to both platforms.
Conclusion
Weigh your priorities and see what you need and what you can do without. Following such an objective and comprehensive analysis, zero in on your choice.
