WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com
What’s the difference? You’re not alone if you’ve ever been confused about this one. So let’s get straight to it:
The biggest difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com comes down to who is hosting your site.
With WordPress.org, you host the site yourself — meaning you download the WordPress software and install it on your own web server, wherever that may be. With WordPress.com, the hosting is provided for you right on WordPress’s own servers.
There are more differences than simply who is hosting your site of course, so we broke them down for you in this quick guide:
| .WITH | .ORG |
|---|---|
| Free Account | WordPress software is still free, but you need to pay for a web host. |
| Hosted with WordPress | Hosted with your web host of choice. |
| Free & Premium Themes Available | Free Themes + Premium Themes + Custom Themes + Build Your Own |
| Limited Functionality | Unlimited Functionality through use of Plugins |
| Limited Customization | Fully Customizable |
| WordPress-Maintained | Self-Maintained |
Our Recommendations
If you’re interested in creating a simple, no-frills blog, WordPress.com is a great solution — but you’ll be limited in your ability to tweak its appearance and functionality.
If you want to take full advantage of all WordPress has to offer — such as a personalized domain name, plugins, custom themes — WordPress.org is clearly the way to go. You simply need to install WordPress on your own hosting server, like the kind you get at Bluehost.com. This gives you free rein to personalize and grow your site exactly how you’d like.
