WordPress is one of the popular open source CMS (Content Management Systems), accessible to a large number of users, developers, and support communities. WordPress.com hosts your site for free while WordPress.org does not host your site for free and requires technical expertise to do so.
WordPress.com is free. It is easy to use, does not require any maintenance. As in the case of WordPress.org, the use of plugins is allowed, it also supports customization, but it is not free. Self-hosting is required.
Definition of wordpress.com
WordPress.com is a prehosted version of WordPress that provides a platform to create blogs and websites, in which users do not need to host their own site, it can be hosted on a WordPress server. Whatever domain you choose for free, xxx.wordpress.com can be upgraded to a domain name without the “.wordpress.com” part. Free hosting does not provide many options. It is limited to certain types of services. This is a good platform for beginners.
It provides full maintenance, free or premium analytics, plugins, setup, upgrades, backups, security, hundreds of themes where we can improve its CSS but does not allow custom themes.
WordPress.com is the site where you don’t need to do anything. It handles all the developed work on its own. You do not need to buy software, manage a web server, or pay for hosting.
There are some limitations with this site. For example, by default your domain name includes wordpress.com, you cannot improve the coding of your site, upload any themes or plugins. Your site will remain free for life, but you will have to pay to upgrade for more specifications.
Upgrades also allow you to use a custom domain such that you can use anything as a domain. Apart from this, upgrading also uploads the appearance of your site, videos or photos and many more. WordPress keeps your site safe and spam free. All you have to do is choose your blog name and focus on your content. This site is liked by everyone like blogger, photographer, artist etc.
Definition of wordpress.org
WordPress.org is a self-hosted and billable version of WordPress where the user is responsible for hosting a blog or website. It offers a huge customizing option. WordPress.org is used to gain more flexibility and control over the design and functionality of your website or blog, but the user is responsible for maintaining the components of their site such as themes, plugins, core, security, etc. Huh.
WordPress.org is an Open Source and 100% free site for anyone to use. All you need is a domain name and web hosting to work on it. This is why it is also known as self-hosted WordPress. WordPress.org is the site where you can manage your blog or website. You can find free WordPress software and install it on your web server.
This gives complete control and freedom to your site, including WordPress software. Most WordPress showcase sites are built on self hosting. With full control it also takes full responsibility of the site on the user. Everything from technical dealing to security issues has to be managed by the user.
The main difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
- If you pay for premium plans then WordPress.com comes with built-in analytics, cannot be integrated with Google’s tools. In contrast, WordPress.org offers you to install one of several analytics plugins.
- WordPress.com hosts its blog on a WordPress server. When using WordPress.org, the user is responsible for hosting.
- WordPress.org provides full-fledged customization. In contrast, WordPress.com offers limited customization.
- WordPress.com monitors your website or blog for security whereas in the case of WordPress.org, security depends on the users.
- WordPress.org requires technical aspects for site management and maintenance while users are not required to manage and maintain their blog or site while using WordPress.com.
- WordPress has no access to SEO, and the user needs to register a domain to improve SEO. As WordPress.org supports many SEO plugins that can help a user to increase SEO.
The conclusion
WordPress.com is a good option for beginners, users who only want to host their personal writing and do not want to manage CMS and hosting. On the other hand, WordPress.org offers a customized platform, but users cannot host their blog or site on a WordPress server. WordPress.com has limited management options while WordPress.org offers unlimited capabilities for customized.