As an organizer for the Metro Detroit WordPress and West Metro Detroit WordPress meetups, one of the most frequent questions I get asked is:
Which one should I use, WordPress.com or WordPress.org?
What’s the difference?
Why would I choose one over the other?
I’ve replied, “ Those are good questions to ask about WordPress. And you’re not alone. A lot of people ask similar questions.”
It’s confusing when you hear someone talk about WordPress and then discover there are two different flavors.
More than five years ago, it was easier to explain the difference between WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress.
Once you knew the requirements for the site, you could advise people which one to use for their website.
But with the paid plans offered by WordPress.com, the decision between the two options is a bit more complicated.
Here’s info I share with our meetup members.
WordPress
WordPress is free, open source content management software used to create websites and blogs. WordPress runs on WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress sites.
WordPress.com
WordPress.com runs the hosted version of WordPress.
It’s the site that lets you quickly create your own free basic website within minutes at https://mywebsite.wordpress.com/ or whatever you want your website to be named.
You don’t pay separately for hosting nor do you have to worry about maintaining and updating WordPress when you create a free site with a subdomain on WordPress.com.
WordPress.com is operated by Automattic, a company run by one of the co-founders of WordPress. Automattic has full-time developers, designers, and support staff.
For the Free plan (free website) on WordPress.com, you get:
- Up to 1GB of space (as of February 28, 2024)
- Site with wordpress.com address
- Access to free themes
- Ads on your site
- No plugins
- Support via the WordPress.com community forums
Paid Plans
In the past few years, WordPress.com began offering and expanding the features on their paid plans. The plans constantly change, so I refer you to their plans page for a review of the space, features, support, and cost.
Plugins and Themes
You can’t install plugins or themes on free or lower cost paid WordPress.com plans.
However, many features and functionalities of plugins are included with those plans. And all of the features and functionalities have been tested to run in WordPress.com.
Plugins and themes can be installed on higher-cost WordPress.com plans.
Self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org)
WordPress.org, the self-hosted version of WordPress, allows you to download and install WordPress, plugins, and themes to create your own WordPress website.
To run the self-hosted version, you’ll need to have website hosting and a domain name.
Costs for hosting and domain names vary. Hosting can start as low as $10/month for a basic hosting plan and go up. Domain names can cost $10 or more a year.
Customize Your Site
Once you’ve installed WordPress on your web host, you have complete control over the look and feel and the functionality on your site.
You can build your own themes and plugins or hire developers or designers to create an ecommerce site, portfolio site, blog, forum; the options are wide open.
Or you can choose to use ready-built themes and plugins; you’ll have thousands of themes and 59,000+ plugins (as of February 28, 2024) to choose from in the WordPress repository.
And you also have the choice of hundreds of premium themes and plugins from third-party developers and designers.
Website Space and Maintenance
Depending on your host, you may be limited in space, but you can always upgrade for more space. You’ll need to set up a backup schedule for your site.
And if you need support for your site, you can use the WordPress.org forums and WordPress Codex, or hire out for support.
For a self-hosted site, you are responsible for maintaining and keeping your site secure by upgrading WordPress, plugins and themes versions regularly.
That takes time and technical knowledge, so you may want to consider hiring out for site maintenance.
Or upgrading to a managed WordPress hosting plan that maintains the site for you (WordPress core versions and backups only).
Which Will You Choose?
How do you decide between WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress?
It depends.
If you’re not looking to learn the technical background of setting up and managing a website, I recommend the WordPress.com plans.
You’ll have dozens of themes to choose from and lots of built-in functionality for your site.
You don’t have to worry about maintenance and security; WordPress.com takes care of it for you.
And if you’re looking to for more features, you can choose one of the higher-priced WordPress.com plans.
However, if you prefer to have more control over the look and feel of the site and want to manage the technical aspect of the site, choose self-hosted WordPress.org.
You can have a custom design along with custom features, but you’ll need to maintain and backup the site yourself. You’ll need to commit to a minimum of a few hours each month for reviewing and updating plugins/themes as well as WordPress versions.
Originally published February 25, 2015.
