WordPress .com or .org; which one should you pick?
If you’re new to website building, you may not be aware of the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. You may not even be aware that they were two different sites.
There is in fact a big difference between the two, which you need to know about if you’re considering using one of these platforms.
What are WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
WordPress.com and WordPress.org are platforms which can be used to build a website. The two platforms have a co-founder in common, hence the name similarity – which causes an awful lot of confusion.
The main difference between the two is in the hosting.
- On WordPress.com they take care of the hosting for you, so your website is hosted on their server.
- On WordPress.org you have to purchase your own hosting.
About WordPress.com (free version)
WordPress.com offers a variety of plans, it’s most basic being free. This allows you to start a website without having to invest in it straight away. This is a good platform to use if you’re not sure whether to commit to updating your website regularly, or if you just want a website for personal use such as a family blog.
However, there are a lot of disadvantages in choosing to build your website on wordpress.com.
- Customisation is very limited. You have to choose from a small range of ready-made themes, and these cannot be edited.
- Plugins are not compatible with wordpress.com so these cannot be used to add features to your website. This further limits the possibilities of your website if you choose to build it on this platform
- Branding and adverts are a big downfall on this platform. WordPress place their branding not only on your website but also in your domain name (which they give you for free). They also place their own adverts on your page, which you don’t earn anything from.
- Earning money from a website is not an option with wordpress.com.
- The Paid plans aren’t up to scratch. They give you some more customisation options, but still limited compared with other platforms.
About WordPress.org (paid for version)
WordPress.org is a service that is much better suited to those who wish to build a website that has the opportunity to grow, be unique and potentially earn an income.
Building a website with wordpress.org is not necessarily harder, but there is more you have to do, such as buying a domain name and hosting.
Take a look at this post about the first steps to building your own website
For every disadvantage of wordpress.com, wordpress.org has the solution.
- The customisation possibilities are endless, as you can use custom themes, or any other theme you like. You can also edit these in any way you fancy.
- There are over 48000 free plugins available for wordpress.org. You can install any free or paid for plugin, meaning there are so many features your website can have to make it more functional.To find out what a WordPress plugin is, click here.
- You can remove the WordPress branding from your site and because you buy your own domain, you won’t have WordPress in that either.
- Your website can earn an income on wordpress.org. You can even have adverts that earn you money.
- There are multiple SEO plugins available, that can help you keep track of detailed analytics to further help your website to grow.
The platform you use is entirely up to you, and depends mainly on what you want from your website. If all you want is a simple and easily built website, set up in 5 minutes, WordPress.com will be fine. It’s limitations however, will be a massive hurdle if you want your website to grow and expand.
Using WordPress.org gives you the opportunity for growth, and endless possibilities in terms of customisation and earning an income.
So for businesses, we recommend WordPress.org.
