WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Isn’t it a bit confusing? Well, I was feeling the same at first.

Many newbie WordPress bloggers jump directly into one of them without knowing or researching anything about it. And that’s the reason why most bloggers regret it at first.

In this article, we’re going to cover everything that you’ll need to know about WordPress before selecting the right platform for you.

What is WordPress?

Before going into WordPress.com and WordPress.org, you need to know what really WordPress means.

WordPress is the largest and most well-known way to create a site. It powers about 43.3% of all websites that are available on the internet. However, despite its popularity, there’s one issue that new users struggle with: What’s the distinction between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?

It’s fairly easy to distinguish the two platforms: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. When you look at factors like potential monetization as well as the possibility of customization and pricing, you can choose which platform is best for your website.

This article will help you to find the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. We’ll go through a deep study of both platforms and examine each CMS by analyzing different important factors to determine which one best suits your website’s requirements.

Let’s get started!

What is WordPress.com?

WordPress.com is a managed hosting platform that runs on top of the software from WordPress.org. It is owned by Automattic, the powerhouse behind other well-known platforms such as WooCommerce and the Jetpack plugin. Additionally, it operates as a for-profit business that can host and manage various aspects of your website.

If you use WordPress.com then, you’ll have access to an online builder, hosting account, and domain name in one. The entire process is managed through the dashboard of the software, and (depending on the plan you choose to purchase) you can expand your website using different options of plugins and themes.

The free plan limits you to 3GB of data and a subdomain (like mywebsite.wordpress.com). It also comes with WordPress.com advertisements.

Additionally, you won’t be able to create your very own “plugins” as well as “themes” except if you sign up for the costly business plan. Themes and plugins are some of the best features of the WordPress software as they allow you to modify your website which is quite a big loss.

Pros:

• User-friendly and has an easy to master
• Includes automatic site maintenance
• Includes integrated hosting

Cons:

• Doesn’t have many options for monetization
• There are fewer options for customization and the ability to scale
• The plan is limited to access to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and analytics tools, especially for the free plan.

What is WordPress.org?

WordPress.org is an open-source Content Management System (CMS). It is the basis of the software WordPress.com is built on.

This open-source platform for free lets you modify, use, and even contribute to the software’s core. The dashboard is similar in appearance to WordPress.com It also gives you access to an array of themes and plugins to customize the appearance and function of your website.

While WordPress.org is free to use, users will have to pay for hosting and a domain to keep your site operational. Additionally, you’ll have more control over the site and the ability to alter each aspect of your site when you want to.

WordPress.com VS WordPress.org – Which is Best?

If you’re just a blogger and you don’t care about making money from your website then you can go on with WordPress.com.

If you’re a business person or a blogger who wants to make money from your site then you can go on with WordPress.org.

The reason why most people use WordPress.org instead of WordPress.com is its flexibility. You can get several advanced features with the WordPress.com Business plan ($300 / year) while you can save much money on a self-hosted WordPress site which costs only ($46 / year).

In our personal experience, WordPress.org is a far better platform compared to small businesses or bloggers who want to make money.

Can I Monetize the Free WordPress.com Website?

The simple answer will be NO! WordPress.com doesn’t allow its free users to run ads on their website. If you run a high-traffic website then you can apply for WordAds and share your revenue with WordPress.

You can add some affiliate links to your website. That’s a different case but you’ll have very limited options to monetize your content through WordPress.com.

While you’ll have full control of your website if you use the WordPress.org website. You’ll be able to have unlimited monetization options on your website if you’re using WordPress.org.

How to Start a WordPress.org Website?

To start a self-hosted WordPress.org website, you need to have a domain and WordPress hosting. To buy WordPress hosting you can use different platforms like BlueHost, Hostgator, NameCheap, Hostinger etc.

For step by step guide, you can check our free guide on How to Start Your Own Website.

Comparison

So here’s an all the required comparison between WordPress.com and WordPress.org that you need to know before choosing the right platform for you:

	WP.org (Platform)	WP.com (Free)	WP.com (Premium)	WP.com (Business)
Cost	$46 – $100 / year	Free	$96 / year	$300 / year
Custom Domain	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Hosting Storage	Unlimited	3 GB	13 GB	200 GB
Monetization Freedom	Yes	No	Yes (revenue share)	Yes (revenue share)
Branding Freedom	Yes	No	No	Yes
All SEO features	Yes	No	No	Yes
Powerful analytics	Yes	No	No	Yes
Theme Support	Yes	No	Limited	Yes
Plugin Support	Yes	No	No	Yes
Ecommerce Store	Yes	No	No	No
Membership Site	Yes	No	No	No
Maintenance	Yes	No	No	No
Full Control	Yes	No	No	No

Conclusion

The confusion created by WordPress.com and WordPress.org is quite unfortunate for beginners. It’s all your choice to choose which platform you’ll use to host your website.

We recommend you to use WordPress.org because of different factors like cheap, flexible, full access, and many more. Hope this article helps you out.