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For any newbie, WordPress.com vs WordPress.org are more of similar terms. But if you look into it, both are totally different apart from the name being the same. Both have different working mechanisms. The only similarity between these is the use of themes and plugin for building a website. You can get free/premium themes and plugins with many exciting functionalities in WordPress.org, ThemeForest, CodeThemes, YudleeThemes, Colorlib and many more. With WordPress.org, customization is easy, even with the free themes and plugins. Whereas, in WordPress.com, the customization feature will be available only if you upgrade it to a business plan. Here, you will hear more about the differences that will be useful for any individuals who are willing to use either WordPress.com or WordPress.org for creating a website.
Firstly you need to know “What is WordPress?”. WordPress is a free and open-source content management system. It is written in PHP programming language and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database It is the most popular website management system, hence the world’s mostly used site-building software. It covers almost 60 million websites throughout the world. Whenever we look for “WordPress” the two other terms always associate with it i.e “WordPress.com” and “WordPress.org”.
WordPress.com a hosted site where the user will be using the webspace provided by the hosting company. It is owned and hosted by a commercial company named Automattic, created for hosting WordPress driven sites. It is an open-source software blogging platform specially used by bloggers. Also, It provides free blog hosting for registered users. As it takes care of hosting, you don’t need to download/install WordPress or any software. All you need to do is sign up a free account pick a theme and start publishing it.
On the other hand, we have WordPress.org, a self-hosted site. Here the users will have access to site files, codes and deploy them however they like. They can have their own domain name and also has the freedom to choose any web hosting. Some of the web hostings that are popular among users are Bluehost, SiteGround, HostGator, etc. You can apply any of them to your site. We can say WordPress.org is the home of WordPress software files and a collection of templates in PHP programming language. Either for beginners or experienced developers, WordPress.org is easy to use. You get customizable free/premium templates, plugins for added functionality. And, the visual text editor just smoothens the work in WordPress.org.
Hosting service
From WordPress.org you get to download the WordPress software (which is a free and open-source content management system). You need to install the software, choose a domain name and get hosting to set a website with WordPress.org. You can choose any web hosting for your site. For this reason, WordPress.org is called as self-hosted. In the case of WordPress.com, you don’t need to install WordPress and can create a site just signing up for WordPress.com account.
Customization
If you just want to create a site quickly without worrying about designs/ongoing site maintenance or other technical issues then you can choose WordPress.com. It has been a popular choice of students, bloggers, and other creative peoples as the users don’t have to go through the customization options for free versions. But in WordPress.org you get full control of your website. From modifying designs to add functionalities you get the freedom to do whatever you want with your website.
Themes
Themes are considered as one of the unique features of WordPress. In WordPress.com free plan users can install themes from the limited free themes collection. The users will get minimum customization options for the free version. Whereas premium and business plan users can use premium themes, and also get to use custom CSS. But with WordPress.org, you can add any free or paid themes available with customizable options. Here you can create custom designs or modify the way you like. So we can say WordPress.org is a bit more flexible than WordPress.com.
Plugins
WordPress.com is available with preactivated JetPack plugin features. Again if you are a free user then you can not upload other plugins. Only business plan users get to install a selection of compatible plugins costing $299 per year. The VIP plan of WordPress.com lets you install the plugins and it’s range starts from $5000 per month. With WordPress.org you can add free/paid custom WordPress plugins/apps to your site.
Analytics
Also, you aren’t allowed to install/add Google Analytics or any other powerful tracking platform in WordPress.com. If you want to then again you have to upgrade to the business plan. But WordPress.org lets you use Google Analytics or any other for custom analytics and trackings your website.
So now, I hope you have a general idea about the things that separate WordPress.com vs WordPress.org. Both the terms have got major differences if you really start looking for it. It will let you be more clear about them. And if you are really thinking of creating a website with WordPress then knowing the similarities and differences among them surely help you in choosing the right one.
Similarly, you can get more information from the link below:
https://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_vs_WordPress.co
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