...
Logo biivn
viet nam flag

VI

The differences between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

/

05/14/2023

WordPress

Share the post:

What is WordPress.com vs WordPress.org?, this is probably a new concept to those new to WordPress. In this article, Bii will analyze in detail and help you distinguish the similarities and differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com, and choose the most suitable type to build a personal website system.

WordPress.org and WordPress.com are still new terms for many people.

WordPress.org and WordPress.com are still new terms for many people.

What are WordPress.org and WordPress.com?

WordPress.com and WordPress.org both use the open-source code of WordPress, and both are used to create websites for blogging, e-commerce, and other purposes. You can use both types to design your website as desired.

While WordPress.org is a completely free open-source code available to everyone, WordPress.com is an online WordPress website creation service provider. As a service provider, there are different service prices ranging from free to premium depending on each individual’s needs.

The main difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com lies in how the hosting storage service and extension utilities are managed. Interestingly, whenever WordPress is mentioned or talked about anywhere (Youtube, Google, social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, etc.), it always refers to WordPress.org

See more: 5 reasons to choose WordPress for building a website

There is a significant difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org in terms of the mechanism for managing hosting services.

There is a significant difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org in terms of the mechanism for managing hosting services.

Compare WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

Below is a detailed table comparing the most specific differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com

Comparison point

WordPress.com

WordPress.org

Price

Providing services including multiple pricing tiers, there is a free package but you will be limited in many essential features (unable to install plugins, no support for custom domains, storage capacity limited to 1GB…)

Rating (3/5):

Completely free. You can use any feature, theme, or plugin provided by WordPress.org

Rating: (5/5)

Customization feature

The customization ability is limited, restricted to the Themes provided by WordPress.com, which limits the ability to develop websites according to each person’s individual style.

Rating: (3/5)

Unlimited customization capability. You are entitled to change any layout structure on the website to suit the user’s needs.

Rating: (5/5)

Display advertisement

Yes. WordPress.com displays advertising information about their recommended products such as applications, themes, plugins, and their upgrades in the user interface, which is annoying for the user experience.

Rating: (4/5)

No advertisements will be displayed on the website.

Rating: (5/5)

Management mechanism

Managed by WordPress.com, this entity will be responsible for managing hosting services and ensuring website security to help your website operate smoothly. It is very suitable for people who do not have much time and do not have technical expertise.

Rating: (5/5)

Self-management, basically when using WordPress.org, you are like a boss doing everything by yourself. From the freedom to install plugins and themes as you like to issues related to security, and DDoS protection. This is also a disadvantage if you don’t have management skills, as it will be straightforward to be hacked and attacked.

Rating: (4/5)

Optimizing SEO

Good SEO support, but in the low packages (Free, Personal, Premium), you are limited in your ability to install additional plugins to support SEO such as RankMath, Yoast SEO… This is a weakness of WordPress.com when compared to WordPress.org.

Rating: (4.5/5)

WordPress.org is currently the best open-source platform for optimizing SEO, surpassing the support offered by WordPress.com. In addition to integrating SEO-optimized themes, WordPress.org increases website SEO capabilities through dedicated SEO plugins such as RankMath, SEOPress… These are all plugins that help you optimize SEO comprehensively on your website.

Rating: (5/5)

Support service

The technical team of WordPress.com provides support for website-related issues such as bugs, data backup, and theme compatibility issues…Support via email ticket is only available for the Personal plan and live chat support is only applicable for the Premium plan and above. You will not receive any help with the free version, which is quite inconvenient.

Rating: (4.5/5)

Support services are minimal, and you will wait long to get an answer. There is no dedicated customer support like WordPress.com

This is free open-source with a large community around the world. It would help if you found ways to resolve issues by searching for answers on Facebook, forums, Google, Bing…

Rating: (3/5)

The loading speed of WordPress.org depends on the hosting service provider

The loading speed of WordPress.org depends on the hosting service provider

Choose the appropriate service

With the above comparison criteria, it is possible to see a relatively straightforward difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, based on the sharing provided by Bii for you to choose the appropriate service as follows:

You should choose WordPress.com

  1. You don’t have much time for management and don’t want to spend time learning and customizing everything on the website.
  2. You want to focus on sales, conversion, and revenue generation.
  3. You want to experience the service of WordPress.com.
  4. Your custom website design needs are fairly simple, with no need for much future upgrading and customization.

See more: Gutenberg vs page builder which is better for WordPress websites

WordPress.com service price list

WordPress.com service price list

You should choose WordPress.org

This is the choice of Bii as well as most people using the WordPress platform to design websites. In Bii’s personal opinion, WordPress.org is much better than WordPress.com, which is why over 90% of existing WordPress websites on the internet are on WordPress.org. You should consider using this platform if you fall into the following recommendations.

  1. You want to save money: simply because WordPress.org is free. By using one free Theme and combining it with many useful and free plugins, you can create a beautiful and SEO-standard website. Meanwhile, with WordPress.com, you need to spend $25 each month to install plugins and themes on your website.
  2. Freedom to customize your website as you like: WordPress is basically open source and the reason why it has become the most popular in the world with over 40% of current websites using WordPress is because of its easy accessibility and suitability for everyone, even those without coding knowledge. Compared to WordPress.org, WordPress.com is limited in many features and restricts your ability to upgrade and expand your website in the future.
  3. With WordPress.org, you are the true owner, you have the freedom to make decisions about everything that happens with your website, whereas with WordPress.com’s service, you are using their service, so there will be constraints on policies and general terms.

See more: How did Bii build the website Biiviet.com?

In general, in Bii’s personal opinion, whether you are a beginner or have been using WordPress for some time, you should consider using WordPress.org for website projects because it is easy to access, inexpensive, and has large community support worldwide.

In addition, with a rich repository of plugin utilities and an extensive collection of themes, you can design any website in your own style. Meanwhile, with WordPress.com’s service, you will be limited in functionality, and the theme repository is also quite deficient. The highest premium version of WordPress.com is too expensive ($540/year) for many people’s budgets.

WordPress is the most popular open-source in the world, accounting for over 40% of websites.

WordPress is the most popular open-source in the world, accounting for over 40% of websites.

FAQ

What is the fundamental difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?

The main difference lies in the hosting service. WordPress.com has integrated hosting into their product, while WordPress.org, is an open-source code that allows you to design a website using WordPress, and you will use a third-party hosting service.

Can WordPress.org and WordPress.com be used on the same website?

Basically, these are two different concepts. WordPress.com is a website design and management service based on its own hosting. On the other hand, WordPress.org is open-source software used for website design. This means that if you use the WordPress.com service, you are using the open-source code of WordPress.org but with limited features.

Which one is better for SEO, WordPress.com or WordPress.org?

Both are good for SEO. However, WordPress.org has better SEO optimization and customization capabilities. Bii and most WordPress guides in the world recommend that people use WordPress.org.

Bii Nguyen

Hello everyone, I’m Bii Nguyen – the founder of this website. The website was created with the desire to spread useful knowledge to everyone.

Table of content

Share

Logo biivn

With over 7 years of experience in the field of Digital Marketing, Biiviet.com is a blog that shares knowledge on building a personal brand and making money through websites and social media. All the knowledge provided is free and based on real-life experiences.

© 2023 Biiviet.com | All rights reserved