When we think about building a website, we immediately think about the term WordPress. We can
manage a website using a CMS like WordPress.
But when we go deep into WordPress, we find that there are two different flavors or types of WordPress i.e wordpress.com and wordpress.org.
But most of the beginners don't find, which one is best for them. In this blog, you are going to get a brief overview of both types of WordPress.
So, if you are confused about choosing the best platform, read this post till the end to find the suitable one for your business.
As there are different perspectives like flexibility, maintenance, and plugin, etc. for wordpress.com and wordpress.org, let us take a side by side overview of each one for basic wordpress.com and wordpress.org difference.
Hosting
Wordpress.com is the self-hosted platform where you get hosting from WordPress. As you are provided with manage hosting, you need not buy any hosting for it.
Simply, create an account on wordpress.com and go WordPress login to create a website. There are different hosting plans of WordPress hosting from free WordPress hosting and premium.
Of course, you get some restriction and branding ads of WordPress and limitations such as limited storage, etc. for free hosting. So, ultimately you have to choose a paid one to get rid of these branding ads.
On the other hand, as wordpress.org doesn't offer self-hosting, you have to buy hosting for your website.
As it allows you to buy hosting from third-party platforms ( such as BlueHost, Hostinger or GoDaddy Wordpress hosting, etc.) so you can choose hosting at an affordable price from different hosting provider companies.
In wordpress.org you are not bound to buy hosting from the only specific hosting provider whereas in wordpress.com you have to select its self-hosting plans.
Installation
Wordpress.com is a self-managed hosting provider, so you do not need to install WordPress.
But in the case of wordpress.org, you have to select a hosting to install WordPress on that hosting platform.
However, you can choose the hosting from many hosting providers like BlueHost, DreamHost, and SiteGround that are hosting services recommended by WordPress and allow one-click WordPress installation.
Custom Domain
Wordpress.com doesn't allow you to link a custom in its free hosting plan and you have to upgrade to the business plan of wordpress.com to enjoy the custom domain feature.
You can buy a domain from wordpress.com or any other domain name provider. The domain pricing is rather costly on wordpress.com.
But Wordpress.org is a completely free (open-source platform), so no condition applies to link a custom domain name.
Moreover, it also provides the service to buy a domain name that is less costly than wordpress.com.
But it is never advised to buy a domain name from any of these platforms.
You can think about domain provider companies such as godaddy.com or namescheap.com, etc. that provide domain names at affordable prices.
Plugins
Wordpress.com has a limited number of plugins which is the major weakness of wordpress.com.
If we look at wordpress.org we find that there are thousands of the plugins which make wordpress.org
more flexible than wordpress.com.
Plugins like Akismet Anti-Spam, Yoast SEO and WooCommerce, etc. have made the wordpress.org an ideal website builder.
Making Money
If you want to make money from your blog or website, wordpress.com is not the right place because of certain restrictions.
It only allows you to advertise (advertising is the major way of monetization) from third-party advertising companies like Google AdSense, OpenX, and Media.net, etc. only in its business plan that is comparatively much expensive and costly
Moreover, it doesn't allow you to show your ads widget on your desired place.
On the other hand, wordpress.org is the best platform if you are thinking about monetizing your blog. There is no restriction to use ads on your blog or website.
You can use ads widget on any desirable place of your website or blog unless it violates the terms and conditions of your third-party advertising company.
Theme Editing
Wordpress.com allows you to edit your blog or website theme through drag and drop of different widgets for the contents of your website.
It does not allow you to add any additional HTML or CSS code to edit the theme of your website.
If we look at wordpress.com, we see that it has much flexibility to edit the theme of the website.
In wordpress.org, you cannot edit themes by dragging and dropping content widgets. But it is possible thanks to different plugins like Elementor Page Builder.
In wordpress.org, you cannot edit themes by dragging and dropping content widgets. But it is possible thanks to different plugins like Elementor Page Builder.
You can also add additional CSS or HTML to edit the theme of your website.
SEO
Sometimes, you have to edit the HTML and CSS code for the SEO of your website. As wordpress.com doesn't allow you to edit the HTML or CSS, you cannot manage the SEO of your website efficiently in wordpress.com.
On the other hand, wordpress.org is an ideal platform to manage the SEO of your website or blog.
It not only lets you control the SEO of your website or blog by editing the HTML and CSS code but also have plugins that do it for you.
It not only lets you control the SEO of your website or blog by editing the HTML and CSS code but also have plugins that do it for you.
The plugins like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, and Google XML Sitemaps, etc. help you manage the SEO of your blog or website.
By all the above overview of wordpress.com and wordpress.org, we find wordpress.org is the winner in most of the fields.
Wrapping Up
By all the above overview of wordpress.com and wordpress.org, we find wordpress.org is the winner in most of the fields.
We can build entirely different types of a website using unique features of wordpress.org like plugins that are almost impossible in wordpress.com.
However, you have not to care about the maintenance of a website as WordPress does it for you.
On the other hand, it is also not difficult to manage the maintenance of a website in wordpress.org thanks to thousands of plugins.
So, overall wordpress.org is the best platform to build a professional and desirable website as it is continuously improving since its beginning due to open-source contribution by the volunteers.