Most of the time, people believe that .org and .com are the same. However, it is not, even in the case of WordPress, they are totally different things. The reason why most people switch to .org when their site gets a hit from Google. That exact reason proves that .com and .org are totally different. In many scenarios, the org extension works way better than the universal extension. If you are starting your own blog and looking to see which one you should choose, my friend you are in the right spot.
Because in this article, we are about to explain the difference between .org and .com. So if you are to choose between one of them, which one suits your area the most. And also which one among them is more optimized towards your work. Our goal here is to identify the key differences between both of them. That way you’ll get a good idea of which platform is better, either WordPress.com or WordPress.org.
Choosing the right platform is the first step towards success. It is better to check which one suits your work the best before you get your hands on it. Both these platforms work in different ways. However, the content you’ll provide on them should be clear and clean. Otherwise, getting penalties from the authorities will be daily work for you.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org:
The best way to understand the difference between both of them is to look at them individually. What they have to offer and what are the cons of using such a platform. So let’s start with WordPress.org and see what benefits it is offering and what are the disadvantages. WordPress is open-source software, 100% free of cost. Though you’ll need to pay for the hosting if you want full control and also a domain name is required. Below are the pros and cons of self-hosting the wordpress.org website.
Benefits of WordPress.org:
With WordPress.org, you have full control over your website. You can do all sorts of customizations as you like. As long as you know how to mess with the
PHP coding. Here are the benefits you’ll get if you choose WordPress.org. Read the list below and see whether it suits you or not:
- The WordPress programming is free, open-source, and very simple to use. (See for what reason is WordPress free?)
- You own your site and all its information. Your site won’t be killed because somebody concludes that it is against their terms of administration (as long as you are not accomplishing something unlawful). You are in full control.
- You can add free, paid, and custom WordPress modules/apps to your site.
- Redo your web architecture on a case-by-case basis. You can add any free or premium WordPress topic that you need. Likewise, make totally special crafts or modify whatever you need.
- You can really bring in cash from your WordPress site by running your own advertisements without offering income to anybody.
- You can use amazing assets like Google Analytics for custom examination and following.
- Use self-facilitated WordPress to make an online store to sell advanced or actual items, acknowledge Mastercard installments, and convey/transport the merchandise straightforwardly from your site.
- You can likewise make participation destinations and sell enrollments for premium substance, courses, and so on, and construct an online local area around your site.
Cons of WordPress.org:
Wherever there are some advantages of something, there must be some disadvantages. However, not all the times those disadvantages are something of a concern. You can ignore them and keep on working until things get serious. There aren’t many disadvantages of WordPress.org, but here is the list.
- Like all sites, you will require web hosting. This is the place where your site files are put away on the web. At first, the expense is around $3-$10 each month. Anyway as your site develops and gets more traffic, the web facilitating plan costs will increment true to form, however then you would bring insufficient cash to take care of the expenses.
- You should install WordPress. Fortunately, most well-known WordPress hosting organizations offer 1-click WordPress installation options. You can likewise follow our thorough instructional exercise on the most proficient method to appropriately install WordPress.
- Updates are done manually. You can undoubtedly update your WordPress site by basically clicking on the update button (a single click), so it’s not all that much work.
- You are liable for backup. Fortunately, there are huge loads of WordPress reinforcement modules that let you arrange programmed backup.
The real cost of WordPress.org is based on what you want to build. Then there are other things called Templates and plugins. Which are available in both free and premium versions. On a low budget, you’ll need just $50 per year to build and maintain a site. But when it comes to “sparing no expenses”, you can go up to a whopping $1000 per year on a site. But for either of them to work, you’ll need to put good and quality content on them.
WordPress.com:
WordPress is a hosting service created by the company Automattic. Who has the same founder as WordPress.org, Matt Mullenweg. The reason why everyone mistakes them both as the same platforms, which they totally are not.
There are 6 pricing plans that WordPress.com has:
- Free – Very limited.
- Personal – $48 per year
- Premium – $96 per year
- Business – $300 per year
- eCommerce – $540 per year
- VIP – starting at $5000 per month
Here you have to choose how much work you want to get done. And based on that, you get to choose what plan suits you the best. Below are the Pros and Cons of WordPress.com, take a look and decide.
Benefits of WordPress.com:
The free WordPress.com stage is a decent decision for side interest bloggers and those starting a blog for their family. Here is a portion of the advantages of using WordPress.com:
- It’s free for up to 3GB of space. After that, you should change to a paid arrangement for more extra room. (Individual arrangement $48/year gives you 6GB, Premium arrangement $96/year gives you 13GB capacity or Business plan for $300/year for 200 GB stockpiling).
- You won’t need to stress over updates or backups. WordPress.com will deal with that.
Cons of WordPress.com:
Unlike WordPress.org, WordPress.com has lots of disadvantages that you should go through before deciding to use it? There are a few restrictions of free WordPress.com which differentiate it from WordPress.org. Here is a portion of the drawbacks of using WordPress.com:
- They place advertisements on every single free site. Your users see those advertisements, and you don’t bring in cash from them. If you don’t need your users to see their advertisements, then you can move up to a paid WordPress.com plan (starting from $48 each year).
- You are NOT permitted to sell promotions on your site, which seriously restricts approaches to adapt to your site. If you run a high-traffic site, then you can apply for their promoting program called WordAds where you share income with them. Premium and Business plan users can use WordAds immediately.
- You can’t transfer modules. Free arrangement users get inherent Jetpack highlights pre-enacted. Marketable strategy users can install from a determination of viable modules ($300/year). WordPress.com VIP program allows you to install modules, and it starts from $5000 each month.
- You can’t transfer custom subjects. Free arrangement users can just install from the restricted free topics assortment. Premium and strategy users can likewise choose premium subjects. There are restricted customization options for the free form. Premium and Business plan users can use custom CSS.
- You are limited to their details. You can’t add Google Analytics or install some other amazing following stage. Strategy users can install Google Analytics.
- Free WordPress.com destinations accompany a WordPress.com marked subdomain (for example https://yourwebsite.wordpress.com). You’ll require a paid arrangement to get a custom space name (e.g https://www.yourwebsite.com).
- They can erase your site whenever if they feel that it abuses their terms of administration.
- Your site will show a controlled WordPress.com link. It tends to be eliminated by moving up to the Business plan.
- WordPress.com doesn’t offer any eCommerce includes or incorporated installment passages except if you change to the eCommerce plan.
- You can’t assemble enrollment sites with WordPress.com.
So, WordPress.com vs WordPress.org – Which is Better?
If you have gone through the pros and cons of both of them! I am sure you have learned the difference between them. However, we can still summarize it for you to see which one is better for you.
If you are just into something for yourself and don’t care about making money from your site. Then the free version of WordPress.com is the best choice for you. If you are into business or want to earn money from your site? Then you must go for self-hosted WordPress.org. Since it provides you the security and the flexibility to grow your business.
In our opinion, WordPress.org is hands down the better option. That is the platform that every professional blogger, a small businessman and even a big user like Disney uses.
Cost of WordPress.com:
Here is an illustration to let you know how much it all costs. It is the same as renting a house, the more you want, the more you have to pay. And if you have full control, no one can kick you out and you can do anything you want.
Final Thoughts:
The basic confusion starts with similar names, however, they both work entirely differently. A new user might get confused while starting his work and that is why we have such an article here. That’ll help you understand the difference, to let you get the best solution for your work.