What’s the difference between wordpress.org and wordpress.com?
Have you wondered what the difference is between these two? Both of these solutions are run by Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.
There is a comparison of the two at the WordPress.com site because people ask this question quite often.
Similar
Both WordPress.org and WordPress.com can be used to start blogs or websites
Both allow you to create content
Both allow you to add images and video
Both allow you to use a custom domain name
Both are free
Different
The big difference comes from the ability to customize, how the site is maintained and the process to get it setup.
If you plan to use WordPress to build up a blog that people will link to or to promote your business, you are going to want to use WordPress.org
WordPress.org is like a car you own
- WordPress.org is the one that everybody talks about
- WordPress.org is self-hosted meaning you need to get a hosting account
- WordPress.org is the one that supports plugins
- WordPress.org allows you to buy themes from Thesis, Studiopress and Themeforest
- WordPress.org is the one people talk about at Wordcamp
WordPress.com is like the public bus
- WordPress.com is limited in the designs you can choose (about 60)
- WordPress.com has a limited amount of space
- WordPress.com does not support advertising
- WordPress.com comes with a generic http://yourname.wordpress.com
Selecting The Right One For Your Needs
In most every case, WordPress.org is the way to go right off the bat. If you don’t start there first, no worries as it’s not hard to export your blog posts from WordPress.com and into WordPress.org. If you want to learn how to do export your posts from WordPress.com, sign up for the Freshworkshops email newsletter.
Photo Credit: Naoko
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