Are you considering developing a website or blog in WordPress and confused between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? Though both are popular Content Management Systems, there is a difference between them. Thanks to its flexibility in making different types of websites, WordPress is one of the most potent platforms owning 43% of all the websites on the internet. But WordPress.com and WordPress.org are two different website solutions formed for distinct requirements.
Thus, understand the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org before selecting the one for your website.
What is WordPress.com?
WordPress.com is a hosted software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that helps you build a website using WordPress software. It is a profit-hosted blogging service made on the WordPress.org framework, which gives full-featured hosted solutions.
What is WordPress.org?
WordPress.org is a self-hosted content management system that requires downloading it on your system and finding your own hosting provider. However, it is free to use, so the user needs a hosting server before using it.
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
1) Requirements:
You can simply sign up and start building your primary site on WordPress.com with your email address, whereas you need a paid hosting account with database and admin ability to begin building s site on WordPress.org.
2) Domain:
Leveraging a free plan, you can have your choice of a subdomain, and by paying some basic amount, you can have a custom domain name on .com. However, to build a website on .org, you must buy a domain along with hosting services.
3) Customization:
One of the most incredible benefits of WordPress.org is that the users can have unlimited customization possibilities making it easier to scale the website. In addition, many themes, plugins, and extensions give you complete control of your website. WordPress.com, of course, offers fewer customization opportunities, limiting the platform offerings.
4) Plugins:
If opting for a free plan, you have to select plugins from limited options from WordPress.com, where there is no option for custom plugins. Here, only the business plan at 300$ has the facility of custom plugins. However, by building a site on WordPress.org, you will have complete freedom to choose plugins from plenty of them.
5) Backups:
WordPress.com takes regular backups and gets over server redundancies, freeing you from thinking about backups. But, if you have built a website on WordPress.org, it is your responsibility to take care of your backups. Although, no doubt, most of the hosting service providers provide it, you have to arrange for your backups.
6) Space:
The free plan of WordPress.com offers storage of 3GB, the Personal plan provides 6 GB, and the business plan offers unlimited storage. Whereas, using WordPress.org, your storage limit depends upon the hosting provider, where the basic plan usually provides high storage option.
7) SSL:
It is included for free and on all plans on WordPress.com, but to display https://on your WordPress.org website, you must purchase and install an SSL certificate which becomes your recurring expense.
8) Database:
WordPress.com provides no direct access to the database, whereas, on the WordPress.org website, you can access your database through Mysql admin.
9) eCommerce:
There is no scope to build an eCommerce store on WordPress.com free plan; a shop’s full features are accessible only under the Business plan. On the other hand, on WordPress.org, you have all freedom to build complex and feature-rich eCommerce stores.
10) Content:
The content published on WordPress.com is copyrighted under your name, but WordPress has the right to delete any content in case of violation of the content restriction. However, for A website built on Wordpress.org, you have all the rights to maintain your copyright, as it is improbable for a hosting provider to delete any content except for some judicial issues.
11) SEO:
WordPress.com-based website has limited SEO options except for business plans, whereas WordPress.org-built websites have unlimited SEO options.
12) Themes:
With WordPress.org, you will have thousands of theme options; on WordPress.com, you will have them in hundreds. Only if you update the business plans will you have access to 200 more themes than the free plan. In addition, it is believed to have more than 9000 themes on WordPress.org, giving you a wide choice to select the one matching your business and ideas.
The above mentioned are some fundamental differences that help anyone to choose between WordPress.com and org, but there are many more differences too. You can hire a WordPress developer to harness this technology’s absolute power. Let’s look at the pros and cons of both to have further clarity before coming to any decision.
If you want a business website with comprehensive features and complete control over it, WordPress.org can be your choice. But if you don’t wish to have third-party tools and plugins access but want a simple face on the internet, WordPress.com will serve the purpose very well. So do not wait longer; select the right one for your business requirements to enjoy its power.
