Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, Objectives of this article:
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, Understand what WordPress.com is
Understanding what WordPress.org is
Know the difference between the two sites / software to make the right choice
In this article we will see that there are two WordPress domain name websites with different functionality . Then we will see which platform is better to choose.
You have finally decided to get started to create your WordPress website . Quite naturally, you look for WordPress on your Google friend and you come across two different sites:
WordPress.com the turnkey platform
WordPress.org the open source software
Note that in general, when you hear about WordPress, we are talking about open source software and not the commercial platform. But let’s not get carried away too quickly and see what the two versions offer to fully understand them and make the right choice.
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, What is WordPress.com?
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, First, let’s see what WordPress.com is.
WordPress.com is a free and very easy to use online hosting platform . It was designed by the company Automattic in order to make website creation accessible to everyone. You don’t have to worry about much other than creating your articles. The rest is more or less automated and therefore unfortunately quite limited.
So you will never hear about FTP, database, backup, hosting. All this is WordPress.com which takes care of it… And the worst? It’s free (for the first offer)! But there is bound to be a price to pay.
Now let’s see what the WordPress.com platform looks like.I personally created a WordPress blog on WordPress.com to show you what the platform looks like.
We can see that it is very minimalist and refined. So that makes things very easy (even limiting).
Now let’s see what are the pros and cons of WordPress.com.
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, What are the benefits of WordPress.com?
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, Despite what we can hear on the subject, WordPress.com still offers a lot of advantages:
Free hosting (and insurance of a site always available)
Very easy to use
No technical skills to have
First offer completely free
Mobile app
Very quick to set up
Allows you to focus on content creation
But also optional:
Backup
security
Priority technical support
SEO tracking
Over 200 premium themes (constantly changing number)
Accurate statistics analysis
Automate article publishing and sharing
Ability to create payment buttons and affiliate programs
Thus, WordPress.com is a very easy to use content management system platform that is completely free for its first offer unless you want some additional and very useful options. Likewise, thanks to WordPress.com you will have your website and the application that goes with it (on a smartphone) to be able to manage it and analyze your statistics.
Here are now the different prices and options offered by WordPress.com in paid version:
By the way, if you want to know more about the options offered by the platform according to its prices, here is the complete list: https://jetpack.com/features/comparison/
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, What are the disadvantages of WordPress.com?
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, Now that we have seen what WordPress.com offers, let’s see its drawbacks:
Non-professional domain name: domainname.wordpress.com (free version)
Few themes (and paid for some)
Limited to plugin level
Cannot modify the PHP code of the site
Paid version quite expensive compared to the WordPress.org version
WordPress.com Advertising
Only 3 GB of storage space (for the free version)
Your site can be deleted overnight by WordPress
By wanting to automate everything, WordPress.com (even in the paid version) is quite limited. Unfortunately, it is not possible to modify everything ad infinitum.
It is therefore essentially made for beginners who do not want to worry about all this or people who do not really need a professional site but rather a small blog and who seek free above all.
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, What is WordPress.org?
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, Now let’s see what WordPress.org is.
WordPress.org is the open source content management system software that everyone knows and most websites use today.
To put it simply, WordPress.org is much more complete and customizable software than that of WordPress.com. You can see it thanks to the following photo:
We can clearly see that the software is much more complete (even complex for some).
Now let’s see what are the advantages of using WordPress.org.
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, What are the benefits of WordPress.org?
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, Before starting, note that WordPress.org is no longer a platform that we use but a software that we install on its hosting.
First, let’s take a look at the many benefits that WordPress.org offers:
Choose your host and professional domain name
Huge choice of theme and plugins (free or paid)
Endlessly personalize your site
Reduced price (you pay the supplements: hosting, theme, plugins, etc …)
Access to the source code of your site (CSS, HTML, etc …) to customize it to infinity
WordPress.org allows you to endlessly customize anything you want. You have access to everything that is done on the web in relation to WordPress. You are the chef! But you will have to spend a little time in front of your computer suddenly!
And that’s where we talk about the disadvantages because if the list of advantages is long but the list of disadvantages is also quite long.
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, What are the disadvantages of WordPress.org?
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, Finally, WordPress.org unfortunately offers quite a few drawbacks:
A minimum of technical knowledge is required
Set up and configure your domain name and hosting
Install WordPress
Manage the security of your site
Make regular updates
No real free tool for SEO monitoring
No backup made by WordPress.org (see article on backing up your site)
So you got it, if you use WordPress.org, you’re going to get your hands dirty. You will have to train yourself to use WordPress as well as all the themes and plugins that you have chosen.
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, Conclusion
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, To conclude on this article, here is a summary of what we have just seen.
WordPress.com will be ideal for people who are not interested in technique and who focus mainly on content creation . It will also be a good initiative if you don’t really want a professional site but more a nice little blog.
Likewise, you can start at WordPress.com and then migrate to WordPress.org.
Finally, WordPress.org is more for people who want to build a real professional site (which has the mouth) and who are not afraid to launch into a vacuum to discover the world of WordPress.
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, How to start your WordPress site?
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, Now that we have seen what the differences are between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, I hope you have made your choice so that you can get started as quickly as possible on your website project … because it may take a bit of time!
Don’t forget rule number 1: content is king!
Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, To help you start the creation of your website, I suggest you accompany you from A to Z. I will kind of hold your hand from now until your WordPress site is completely finished. If you are interested and motivated by personalized support, here are some guides that I offer to start.
