As I already told you last week, today’s business post will be all about the two different types of WordPress: the self-hosted and the free version. Many people get confused when they first search the web for WordPress because there are WordPress.org and WordPress.com. WordPress.org is the self-hosted version, and WordPress.com is the free version, the wordpress-hosted one. You already know, that I would always recommend a self-hosted CMS, nevertheless I want to tell you more about the differences between these two WordPress types in the following.

WordPress.com

Wordpress.com is free for up to 3GB of space; you only have to pay when you need more space for your blog. Since it is free WordPress places ads on your website as long as it is the free version, and if you want your site ad-free you have to pay for it. If you want to place your own ads, you need to have at least 25.000 page views a month. Another disadvantage is the fact that you cannot use plugins. I know, WordPress is kind of famous for all the plugins, but you can only use them with the self-hosted version. WordPress.com offers you different templates, but you can’t add custom templates. The big benefit is the fact that they’re making regular backups of your site, so all your data will be safe and you can use one of the backups when something gets broken.

WordPress.org

Wordpress.org is the self-hosted CMS. It’s free as well, but you need to register a domain and buy a hosting service. Another disadvantage of WordPress.org is the fact that you are responsible for updates and backups; nobody will take care of it for you. But no worries, there are a lot of plugins and services helping you with the backups, and an update is only one click. So let’s talk about all the benefits: you own your data, and you have full control. You can customize your website the way you want; you can install every template and plugin you like and need and you can even modify theme files if needed. And, of course, you can make money by using ads.

Self-hosted vs. Free WordPress – which one to choose?

I think, it’s obvious, that it makes almost no sense to use the free WordPress.com when you want to run a business and need a professional website. People might say, that a self-hosted CMS costs money and a free one doesn’t, but WordPress.com shows exactly the opposite. You have to pay for every extra, and it’ll cost you much more than the self-hosted WordPress.org. Yes, it’s actually cheaper to have a self-hosted website! But it’s not only cheaper, but you’ll also have full control of your data and everything. Both are easy to use; there’s no difference. So there’s not much indicative that WordPress.com would be the right choice. Once again I would recommend using the self-hosted WordPress, but the final choice is always yours.

I hope this post helps you to understand the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. Let me know if you have any further questions. xx

Business