Monday Q&A: What’s The Difference Between WordPress.com and WordPress.org Sites?

Every Monday we host a Q&A session where you can get your most pressing real estate tech/marketing questions answered. Questions for our next Monday Q&A can be sent to us via Twitter or by submitting a question in the comment box at the bottom of this post.

Question:

What’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org sites?

Answer:

Most first time bloggers and new users to WordPress find the two pretty confusing. WordPress.com and WordPress.org are actually nearly identical with the primary difference being that you can get your blog hosted for free at WordPress.com.

WordPress.org offers the same easy-to-use blogging software that you get on WordPress.com but as a download so you can install it on your self-hosted website. So, to answer simply, WordPress.com is like WordPress.org Lite.

I’ve charted out the key differences between the two below:

What’s Good About WordPress.com

• Free blog hosting, next to nothing start up costs. (Register and create your blog, it’s that easy!)
• A huge collection of pre-approved website designs to choose from.
• Low maintenance — Your blog software is automatically updated to the latest version for you.
• Community features – Visit WordPress.com and you can see the hottest new post from other blogs hosted on the service.

What’s Not So Good About WordPress.com

• Very limited in flexibility; not for power users.
• Lots of little upgrade expenses to customize your blog (i.e. custom domain name, video hosting, customize website design.)
• You can’t upload your own website design (important if you want to buy a premium WordPress theme to customize your site’s look.)
• Zero plug-in options so if you want to add site features like the Next-Gen Photo Gallery you wouldn’t be able to.

What’s Good About WordPress.org (Self-Hosted WordPress Install)

• Fully customizable and flexible. Once you install WordPress on your website you can use any design you want (custom, premium or free) and add extra plug-ins to expand site functionality (like Next-Gen Gallery).
• No extra costs other than website hosting and domain registration.
• Still low maintenance. – WordPress 2.8+ offers two-click automatic software upgrades and plug-in upgrades from within the WordPress dashboard.
• Never pay for extra storage space. – Most web hosting companies these days offer terabytes (1,000 gigabytes) of storage (often seen in “Unlimited” hosting plans) which means you’ll never have to worry about having too much stuff stored on your website.

What’s Not So Good About WordPress.org (Self-Hosted WordPress Install)

• If you break it, you fix it. – You are fully responsible for maintaining your site. If your site gets hacked, you install a rogue plug-in that kills the site or botch an upgrade it’s on you to fix it. Thankfully the WordPress.org support forums are an excellent resource for newbies.
• Takes a little bit longer to get your website set up. – With WordPress.com sites there are pre-installed plug-ins that cover features like polls, video hosting and post/page ratings. When you do a self-install (WordPress.org) you have to set that up yourself. Not hard but it does take more time.

In the end, it’s up to you and your skill level to decide whether you want to host your blog on a private server or jump in and play right away within the walled garden of WordPress.com.

If you plan to build an entire business website using WordPress software as a CMS (Content Management System) then doing a self-hosted install is the best way to go. For casual bloggers or people who aren’t looking to run a full time business with their blogs, WordPress.com will suit you just fine.

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