WordPress.com vs WordPress.org – What’s the Difference

1 WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org: The Ultimate Comparison

For comparing WordPress.com with WordPress.org, there are certain things that you need to consider.

We will break the pros and cons of both the platforms for you so that you can decide and choose the best platform for your current need.

1.1 WordPress.com

Pros

• WordPress.com is free.
• The upgrades are automatic.
• Security, backup, and spam control are taken care of by the WordPress staff.
• Although the interface takes some time getting used to, you will love it when you get familiar.
• You don’t need to show your presence to Google as the posts are automatically indexed by it.
• You can change the website design by purchasing a premium theme and without actually upgrading your website to a premium plan.



• You can also upgrade new features as there are plenty of paid features available that you can add to your blog.
• Automatic social media integration makes sure you stay on top of the game by allowing your content to be shared automatically on your social media handles.
• Domain Mapping Upgrade, which costs $18 per year, allows you to map your existing domain name.
• If you have a custom domain name, you are eligible to use WordAds which is equivalent to Google AdSense and can be used to monetize your blog.

Cons

• The biggest drawback is that your website will show ads to non-logged-in users also without giving you any share of the money those ads make. You can, however, remove them by purchasing “No ads upgrade” for $30/year.
• You can’t change the structure of your post links.
• Not being the real owner of your website, if WordPress finds any of your content violating their rules, they have a right to block your website straight away.
• No FTP access and no access to 3^rd party WordPress plugins. The latter is the most important facet of WordPress, as it is the plugin which makes WordPress so unique. They provide you with the functionalities to transform your Website into anything you like.
• You cannot edit the CSS code to add your own scripts.
• Because you can’t add custom codes, you cannot add 3^rd party analytics tools like Google Analytics unless you pay for the upgrade.
• WordPress inserts Footer credits without asking for permission.
• Domain mapping is not free like in the case of Blogger.
• Using upgrades and premium features is possible, but it all adds up to a hefty sum to just use the features that are standard on WordPress.org
• Add-ons are also expensive. If you buy few add-ons on WordPress.com site, it becomes much more costly than owning a self-hosted blog.
• A mere 3GB fixed limit will vanish quite quickly if you have a photography blog. This will eventually force you to go for an expensive upgrade.
• There is no option to monetize your website with your own ads.

1.2 WordPress.org

Pros

• WordPress.org provides you with credibility.
• You get entire control over your website including its design, functionality, and content.



• Post link structures can be modified.
• You can use any form of advertisements for monetization. There are no “forced ads” with no benefits.
• There is complete freedom as to what you want to edit and how you want to handle your website.
• FTP access becomes possible. Using this feature you can edit WordPress themes and functions of your website.
• There are thousands of free and premium themes that you can use to make your blog look stunning.
• Custom themes and plugins can be uploaded instantly.



• Like Linux – WordPress is an open source which means you don’t have to pay any licensing fee.
• Codes and Scripts can be added to your site anytime, provided they are compatible with WordPress.
• You can install third party scripts like Google Analytics to know the statistics about your website thus, staying more productive in the professional market.
• Search Engine Optimization is taken to a whole new level as you have full access to your content.
• You can use your website for blogging and also, you can also turn it into an E-Commerce or a membership website.
• You can create a personalized email with your domain name, like- YourName@YourBlogAddress.com
• Installing WordPress on your server takes only 5 minutes. Thanks to the one-click install support offered by popular Web hosting services.

Cons

• Although the WordPress software is free, to actually host your website and own a domain name – you will need to pay for their specific price. It usually costs around $9.95 per month for a domain + hosting package but, you can grab the hosting offer for just $3.95/month with our 60% discount.
• If you don’t like all the geeky stuff, things can become cumbersome as the usage of WordPress.org is a bit technical – especially when you starting out as a newbie.
• Setting up WordPress is quite easy, but to run it smoothly, it requires technical knowledge of programming languages like PHP, HTML, CSS, SQL, FTP, etc.
• Because you take full control of your Website, you have to devise methods to tackle security and other such issues. If you don’t update your themes, plugins, and WordPress often – your website becomes vulnerable to attacks.
• The process becomes more costly when the number of visitors increases to your website. You will need to upgrade to more servers which will incur a good investment from your side.
• Spam is a major issue for WordPress.org in the form of comments. You will need suitable WordPress plugins to fight them.