If you are new to blogging, most of you would have been confused or wondering whether WordPress.com and WordPress.org are the same, or which one is better, what’s different between them, which one should I choose, etc.,
Well, in this post I will be putting forth my (valid) points on why WordPress.com is better than WordPress.org for newbie bloggers.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a publishing platform that makes it easy for anyone to publish online, and proudly powers millions of websites. It comes in two flavors: the fully hosted WordPress.com, and the self-hosted version, whose software is available for free at WordPress.org.
Why choose WordPress.com?
With WordPress.com, you can focus on writing content from the very beginning instead of getting started from the basics of setting up a WordPress site, that is, you needn’t look for a good web hosting service, buy a custom domain name, set it up and then install WordPress via FTP or the 1-Click installer and configure everything to make it perfect. WordPress.com handles it for you and makes your work simple.
Features :
Hosting
You wont need a hosting plan with WordPress.com because your site will be hosted on their state of the art servers powering millions of other WordPress sites. Also, your site wont get hammered when there’s a sudden spike in traffic to your site (just in case one of your post goes viral on reddit).
Security
Also, you need not break your head over securing your site with plugins and premium services because they already have the latest security settings in place. So there’s no way you can get your WordPress site hacked.
Custom Domain Name
Moreover, you can even register a custom domain for a mere $5 and map it to your WordPress.com blog for $13 (Both prices are applicable for 1 year after which you need to renew it at the same cost). If you already have a custom domain and want to map it to your site, it will cost just around $13 per year.
Registering or mapping custom domains are now offered as part of WordPress.com plans. You will need to have an active plan on your site in order to register or map a domain. All plans come with one free domain registration or credit to map a domain you bought elsewhere (whatever you prefer). However, you can register as many additional domains as you want on the same site, but you have to pay for additional registrations separately.
Appearance (Themes)
Also you can choose from a wide variety of themes and change them effortlessly for your blogs. Have a look at the collection of WordPress.com Themes. If case you want a custom design for your site, you can easily avail the service by upgrading to their Personal, Premium, or Business plans.
NOTE: You cannot upload custom themes on WordPress.com unless you’re on their Business plan.
Social Integration
You can also easily integrate your site with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and other social networking sites using their Publicize feature. All your posts will be automatically shared to these sites whenever you publish a new post.
Extra Features
Moreover, it has got features like built-in social sharing, comments, polls, contact forms, anti-spam, related posts, infinite scroll, email subscriptions, etc., by default.
Stats
WordPress.com provides you with in-depth stats so that you can know where your website visitors are from, when they visit, what they view, which links interest them ,etc.,
Search Engine Optimization
Also WordPress.com is already search-engine optimized, thereby reducing your need to inform search engines of your new blog or website. Every time you publish a new post, WordPress automatically pings all the major search engines.
Plugins
Here’s a list of plugins WordPress.com comes with by default. View the list?
NOTE: You cannot install additional plugins on WordPress.com Personal & Premium Plans. But you are free to install custom plugins on the Business plan.
Support
In case you run into any problems with your blog or website, you can contact their support or get help from the WordPress.com Support Forum.
Updates
All your themes and plugins along with WordPress will be updated to the latest version automatically. So, you needn’t worry about that.
Final Words
The only catch is that, you need to abide by their Terms of Service which can be found here. Nothing fishy, almost all the services/websites online have got their own ToS! 😉
At WordPress.com, you don’t have to download software, pay for hosting, or manage a web server. You can instead focus on creating wonderful content, and let them handle the rest. Publishing your blog or website with WordPress.com is always free but in case you need to customize your site extensively or need extra premium features, you can easily avail them by upgrading your plan.
And hey, if you didn’t know it yet, WordPress.com is a commercial enterprise owned by Automattic, the parent company started by the founding developer of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg.
Also Read: Add WordPress.com Custom Domain Mapping site to CloudFlare
I didn’t even know there was a difference between the two. Thanks for this info and for the likes and the follow 😊
Yeah, you’re not alone. Many people guess it’s one and the same WordPress but in reality both are separate entities. By the way, you’re welcome. 🙂
Thanks again 😊
I really appreciate the post. Thanks for the heads up. Love and learning from your post cheers and will be in touch.
Hey Felix, Glad that you liked my post! 🙂
Yup, learning alot from you.