WordPress.com and WordPress.org may seem to be the same for someone who has never done any research or is not used to create a website with this tool. This is not the case at all. In this article, we will compare these two tools for you to be able to take the most informed decision possible about which tool is best for you and which one best meets your needs.
All dollar amounts are in Canadian dollars. You can use a currency converter to have the information in your currency.
Cost
Here are the different registration models on the WordPress.com website, and in the last column, a WordPress.org! In the last column, I used my subscription OVH France to have a reference.
| Free | Premium $129 CAD / year | Business $389 CAD / year | WordPress.org $53 CAD / year |
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| Free blog |  |
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| A Custom Site Address | |
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| Space | 3 Go | 13 Go | Unlimited | 100 Go |
| No Ads | |
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| Custom Design | |
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| VideoPress | |
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| Premium theme | Unlimited | You can buy themes. A lot cheaper than the ones on the store of .com | ||
| Google Analytics | |
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| Support | Community | Direct Emails | Live chat | Community |
| Plugins | |
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| Emails @your_domain_name.com | |
Do you want to have an income?
Not only you do not have any publicity on your blog with wordpress.org, but also, you may decide to put some to generate income!
Themes
I have the tendency to change the theme of my blogs every month. As soon as I finished adapting a theme to my blog 100%, it would please me more, and I already look at possible new themes to install. On WordPress.com, I would have quickly made the rounds of what there is to offer in themes!
WordPress.com :
- 190 free themes
WordPress.org :
- Thousands of free and customizable themes, on ThemeForest and CreativeMarket for example
- In addition to a huge bank of themes where everyone can contribute by submitting their theme.
- You can also edit your theme directly in the source code! Something impossible to do on WordPress.com
Widgets
WordPress.com :
- 45 available widgets
WordPress.org :
- Hundreds or even more. I do not even know how many there are.
- Better Recent Posts
- Star Rating System
- Popular Posts Bar Widget
- YouTube Channel Gallery
- Opening Hours
- Tabbed Login Widget
- Social Media Widget (supports 21 websites, Wordpress.com only 9)
- Surveys
- … and much, much more
Plugins
I do not know what WordPress would be without plugins. You can’t have any plugins on Wordpress.com! I simply couldn’t live without Google Analytics, Yoast SEO, and other great plugins.
WordPress.com :
- Impossible ! Doesn’t exist !
WordPress.org :
Thousands of plugins are available! Use this directory if you’re curious. Some examples:
- Translation of your blog to become multilingual
- Improving your SEO by Yoast SEO for example (SEO in Google, out on the first results page)
- Google Analytics (do not forget it was 389$ per year with wordpress.com !!!)
- Cache plugins to make your website load faster
Thus, plugins are modules that you can add to your blog in order to make a real comprehensive website. This adds tremendous value to your website and allows you to do many things!
Conclusion
| Advantages WordPress.com |
Advantages WordPress.org |
= Easier, but more expensive and restricted |
= More complicated, but cheaper and unlimited! |
In conclusion, the choice is yours! If you have any questions or comments, you can leave me a comment on this article.
If you decide to move on with WordPress.org, I have written two guides that will help you install WordPress on OVH or Hostpapa! It’s very easy, and if you have any questions you can contact me, I will be happy to help you in your installation.
8 comments
Really good comparison between WordPress.com hosting and Wordpress.org self hosting!
Thank you so much! 🙂 I’m glad you liked it!
When I first started Wordpress, I didn’t know that there was a difference! I came to know about the difference after a month because I realized I couldn’t add plugins hahaha. I’m happy with a self-hosted Wordpress now.
Yay, haha! That’s unfortunate you had to learn the difference the hard way! At least it was “just” after a month!
Thanks for your comment Alvin!
Good comparison. This will help so many people in choosing between the two.
I really want to switch over to Wordpress.org instead and can’t figure out how! Help!
Hey Marie! This is a great article, I really liked. I’ve been working in my blog, and I have written some articles, but I am still wondering what could be better for me? I want to start to work in my blog as a future plan and with time have an income, I know that’s no easy, but I am not sure if i should go directly to wordpress.org or maybe start with wordpress.com (where I am right now) . Which is your recommendation?
Hi Paula! I’m glad you liked the post.
I would recommend you to start on WordPress.org directly. Why ?
Here you go! I hope I could help you. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Thank you for your comment!
Marie