Many people think that WordPress.org and WordPress.com are the same. But that is not true! They are completely two different platforms. Because of the same name, it can be quite confusing for you to choose the right one for your blogging needs. If you are not aware of the differences between these two platforms, then you are at the right place. We are here to guide you through a detailed comparison between two platforms for blogging tools and platforms. Read on to know more about WordPress.org vs WordPress.com.
What is WordPress.org?
This website offers you an open-source and free CMS (content management system) for hosting your website or blog. You can find free software tools that you will be able to download and then install on your web server for creating a website or blog of your own. This platform allows you to host your website or blog.
What is WordPress.com?
On the other hand, WordPress.com is a service that can help you in building a website or blog of your own. It can take care of every bit of your web hosting needs for you. It is a platform for publishing your own blogs with ease and it is not directly related to the .org website.
Comparison between WordPress.org and WordPress.com
Now that you have an idea about what basic difference is between the two WordPress sites i.e. .com and .org, it is time for a thorough comparison. There are several important factors that you need to consider when comparing these two platforms. Here is the list of those factors along with comparison:
1. Cost or Price of WordPress.org and WordPress.com
When choosing between these two platforms, one of the main factors that you need to consider is the cost. The .com website comes with many pricing options. You can check their different packages or plans to know which one is ideal for you. Though it has a free option too, it doesn’t include all the best features. To avail the best and most advanced features, you need to choose one of the paid plans from:
Personal Plan: It is made for people who want to have a blog of their own or a hobby website. This plan includes email support, hosting as well as a payment receiving option. It costs $48 every year.
Premium Plan: This one is more like the Personal Plan with some more advanced features like capabilities for videos, support for live chat, Google Analytics. It costs $96 every year.
Business Plan: This provides you with a complete library of SEO tools, SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol), plugins ad automatic site backups. It costs about $300 every year.
Ecommerce Plan: This is designed for those who want to have an online store for them. This plan comes with most of the international gateways for payments, shipping features, and shop display design. It costs about $540 every year.
On the other hand, WordPress.org is completely free for you to use. But, you can pay independently for the domain name and hosting.
wordpress.org recommends these 3 hostings:
Bluehost
DreamHost
SiteGround
in case you’re interested in checking more hosting and see which suits you more regarding price and performance, here is a list of hosting (some with free domains). Hence, the total cost can vary drastically. It depends entirely on what provider you will choose.
2. Features of WordPress.org and WordPress.com
Both being reputed and reliable platforms, they come with some distinct features. WordPress.com comes with various Plugins and Themes that can help you to enhance your websites or blogs according to your needs. Plugins can help you to enhance the website to make it more efficient and effective. Themes can also help to enhance the appearance of the site. Some more features of the .com website are:
- Inbuilt sharing on social networking sites
- Detailed stats
- Optimization for search engine
Some of the features that are included in the .org website are SEO features, storage for hosting, powerful analytics, etc. It offers unlimited storage options along with a lot of themes and plugin options to choose from. Some more features of the .org website are:
- Freedom for branding
- Availability of custom domain
- Maintenance and complete control
Both the platforms provide great features catering to different needs and requirements of the people who want to host their blog or website.
3. Benefits of WordPress.org and WordPress.com
There are lots of benefits that both of these two platforms provide. While WordPress.com can offer some eye-catching benefits, .org too can offer some amazing benefits. The .com platform is great for startup blogs and websites as it is free of cost. Some more benefits that this platform can offer are:
- The WordPress platform is free to use for up to about 3 GB of storage space. Beyond that, you have to apply for the paid plan.
- Even the paid or premium plans are quite cheap. You can either pay them every year or even monthly.
- The next benefit of the .com website is the proper backups and updates. This platform can take care of all these situations efficiently.
There are a lot of benefits that WordPress.org provides us. You can enjoy some great benefits like it is free of cost and also it is open-source. Along with these, it is very easy for you to use. Some more benefits are:
- You will be able to own the website of your own and along with it all the data too.
- You will be able to add paid or free custom plugins based on your needs and requirements.
- You will be able to customize the design of your website according to all your needs
- You will be able to use Google Analytics to the .org website for customized tracking and analytics.
- You will be able to create your membership sites or to create an online store of your need.
4. Security of WordPress.org and WordPress.com
There is no doubt that both WordPress platforms i.e. .org and .com offer good security. But there is a chance of security threats too for both of them. From the year 2018 to the year 2019, we have seen a lot of cyberattacks and malicious activities. It has increased by 11% and the statistics suggest that the chance is still rising. The main problem is the third-party plugins which can be a problem for the site.
While the WordPress.com site takes updates automatically, the .org does not update the software tools automatically. When you update the plugins and themes automatically, the core software gets the updates too which can help you to get the best result. But in the .org platform, you will have to enable the updates for upgrading. Hence, you have to keep an eye on the updates and constantly monitor the site.
5. Customization of WordPress.org and WordPress.com
Customization is always a good option to design your website according to your needs. The .org platform comes with several plugins and themes that you can choose for your website. With full control over choosing the right theme or plugin tools for your website, you will be able to customize the website according to your needs and requirements. You can also choose the paid themes or plugins according to your budget to get the best result.
On the other hand, you will not be able to choose any plugins if you are not subscribed to one of the paid plans of the .com platform. You will not be able to use any advanced features for customizing the design. But you can customize the site with different free themes even if you do not have a paid plan for your .com account.
WordPress.org Vs. WordPress.com: Pros & Cons
Before you finally make a call about choosing the right platform between .org and .com platforms, you have to know the advantages and disadvantages properly. Comparing these pros and cons can help you to decide which one can be helpful for you. So, here is a detailed list of all the pros and cons of both WordPress.org and WordPress.com:
Pros & Cons of WordPress.org
Pros:
- You will complete control over your website
- It offers the best tools for customization
- Quite flexible
- You can create the eCommerce store
- Self-hosted website and free to use
Cons:
- You have to purchase the web hosting and domain name
- You will be responsible for updating WordPress core
Pros & Cons of WordPress.com
Pros
- Quite easy to maintain and setup
- No need for purchasing web hosting or domain name
- Ready with search engine optimization
- Comes with lots of themes and plugins
- Convenient syndication and easy backlinking
Cons:
- Very frequent updates
- Can be vulnerable to threats
Summary: Which Is Better?
After a detailed explanation on WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com, it is quite evident that both of these websites are quite efficient in whatever they do. Differentiating both of these websites can be quite simple. While the .org website platform is meant for building a site which will be completely yours where you can manage, create and maintain according to your needs, the .com website platform is more of a combination. The latter one will support you for creating your own website which will allow you in maintaining and managing the system efficiently all by yourself.