WordPress.com VS Self-hosted WordPress.org

Whenever we want to start a blog we have so many options like WordPress, Blogspot, Tumblr and so many. When it comes to a newbie, they always get confused on which platform they have to start their new blog.

Many users like Blogspot because it’s free of cost and does not require any technical skills to start the blog in Blogspot. Many users like WordPress because of its features, design and flexibility. Selecting the platform which you want to use always depends on your blog type. If you are a casual blogger and running blog for a personal journey, you can use any free platform like Blogspot, WordPress and Tumblr.

If you’re running a blog to promote products and to make money, self-hosted WordPress platform is the better choice. Most of the newbies confused about WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Today we will check about WordPress and differences between wordpress.com and wordpress.org.

What is WordPress??

WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms to create any type of blog. It started as a blogging platform but evolved to be used as rich content management system from a simple blog to massive e-commerce website. WordPress is an open source free software which allows you to create fully functional websites and mobile applications.

A user has two options, either setting up a WordPress blog on the own server (self-hosted) or create a WordPress hosting blog at wordpress.com.  WordPress offers a lot of themes, customization plug-ins and gadgets.

Setting up the WordPress blog is little tricky and require some efforts but WordPress community support system makes it simple. You can get help from WordPress users and developers from community forums. Well designed and SEO friendly blogs gain more visitors. If you want to make your blog more popular and make money with it, prefer self-hosted WordPress blog.

I always suggest starting with free a wordpress.com for a month. Once you adapted blogging and WordPress tools, start a new blog on self-hosted WordPress platform.

WordPress.Com VS Self-hosted WordPress.Org:

A user has two options, either setting up a WordPress blog on the own server (self-hosted) or create a WordPress hosting blog at wordpress.com.  Let’s check the differences between them.

WordPress.Com:

WordPress.com is a platform that makes easy to publish your blog for free. Anyone can register and get a free domain like name.wordpress.com and start blogging.

All free blogs will be hosted on WordPress server and users need not worry about their blog backups. WordPress team takes care of managing the blog back up. WordPress.com is perfect for the casual blogger who doesn’t want to invest and wants to run a blog for their personal writings.

However, In wordpress.com there are so many limitations in terms of managing your blog. They are:

• You cannot run Google Adsense on WordPress.com blogs.
• You cannot upload the plugins.
• Limited themes.

WordPress.Com Pros:

• Anyone can create a blog for free of cost.
• WordPress.com offers 3GB space for free. After that, you need to pay for extra space.
• WordPress team takes regular backup of free blogs.

WordPress.Com Cons:

• A user cannot run Google Adsense on WordPress.com blogs. However, you can only apply for WordPress advertising program which is called WordAds if the blog matches certain traffic and requirements.
• You can only use themes currently available in WordPress.com and you cannot modify themes and theme functionality.
• WordPress.com does not allow you to use plugins.
• WordPress.com team deletes the blog anytime if a user violates their terms and conditions.
• They place ads on every free blog, if a user doesn’t want ads they need to pay them to keep the blog ad free.

WordPress.com is good for:

• Casual bloggers who don’t want to invest and wants to run a blog for their personal writings.
• People who want instant setup and don’t have much technical knowledge.

WordPress.com is bad for:

• People who desire to have total control over their blog like custom themes, coding and plugins etc.
• People who are planning to make money with their blog by using ad networks like Adsense and Infolinks on the blog.
• People wishing to run their blog for affiliate marketing purpose.

WordPress.Org:

WordPress.org is a complete solution for people who want total control on their blog and to make money with their blog. Hosting your own WordPress site requires some technical knowledge and a user is the responsible for their blog and the backups. A user must download the software for free at www.wordpress.org and installed on their web hosting server to start working. Since wordpress.org is the most used platform, all hosting companies offer one-click install on their web servers.

WordPress.com and wordpress.org have the same interface but in wordpress.org user doesn’t have any limitations and you can do almost anything that you imagine. User can

• Extend the functionality of the website by installing the plugins.
• Create a custom theme and install third party themes.
• Make money with their blog by using ad networks like AdSense and Infolinks.

WordPress.Org Pros:

• WordPress.Org is free software and anyone can download and install on the web server.
• Not required any registration on WordPress.Org.
• A user can Install custom themes and build their own themes with CSS and PHP.
• A user has full control on their website and they can do and design anything as they imagine.
• Install custom plugins.
• A user can monetize their blog with ad networks, affiliate marketing and anyway they required.

WordPress.Org Cons:

• Need good Webhosting to use wordpress.org which is cost a bit.
• A user is responsible for any updates and backup of their blog.
• You are responsible for preventing the spam.

WordPress.Org is good for:

• People who want branding and full control of their blog.
• Individual who wants to make money by doing anything as they required.

WordPress.Org is bad for:

• People who don’t want to invest and branding for their blog.
• People who want instant setup and don’t have much technical knowledge.

WordPress.Com and WordPress.Org Which Is Better:

As discussed above, people who want instant setup without any investment and blogging for their personal writings can go with wordpress.com. People who want total control and make money with their blog should go with wordpress.org. To get self-hosted WordPress We need to invest a bit in web hosting but its worth spending.  Lots of cheap and best web hosting’s available and you can use Bluehost which is officially recommended by WordPress which costs only $3.95 per month includes one free domain or can use Godaddy. Here is the step by step guide to Buy Web Hosting with Domain Name from Godaddy for Your Blog.

Here is a step by step guide on how to start blogging.

Here is the chart from WordPress showing differences between WordPress.Com and WordPress.Org.

I hope this article helped you in finding the differences WordPress.Com and WordPress.Org and select the platform which suits your requirements.

If you have any questions regarding WordPress, let me know via comment section.

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