You have probably heard this many times over that the best way to build a free website is with WordPress. But do you know that there are two of them out there? What are the differences and how do they affect your online business? Let’s find out.
What Is WordPress.com?
WordPress.com is a web hosting company founded by Matt Mullenweg in 2005. As the name suggests, it also publishes websites using the open-source (free to use) blogging and content management system tool called WordPress.org. The two may sound the same, but they have two different entities altogether.
To date, there are more than 60 million websites operating on WordPress.com with big names like CNN and Sony being some of their clients.
How Does a Free WordPress.com Works?
To get started, you need to create a user account with WordPress.com first. Then, select a domain name that you like, pick a theme and launch your website. It is that simple.
The admin area has a lot of similarities to WordPress.org (the software). It contains ‘pages’ for primary navigation, ‘posts’ for publishing blog articles, ‘media’ to store images, videos and audios, and ‘appearance’ for designing a website layout.
However, this basic setup comes with limitations.
- Your domain will have the word ‘WordPress.com’ at the end.
- You don’t have access to premium themes and eCommerce feature.
- The storage space is limited to 3 GB.
- You get only community support.
What Do the Paid Plans Offer?
When you upgrade to either a Premium or a Business plan, you’ll get your own custom domain, advanced customization, more storage space and definitely more support from the team. Here is a quick glance at the differences between a free, a Premium and a Business account.
Keep in mind that add-on fees will be applicable if you want to remove ads, use custom design or install a premium theme.
“But I Thought WordPress Is Free?!”
Yes, the WordPress software is free to download and to publish websites. But the server that host these sites are NOT free. WordPress.com, just like other hosting companies, charges a certain fee for the services that they provide.
So What Is the Difference?
Lot’s of them, if you asked me. Let’s go through them one by one.
#1 – Hosting
At WordPress.com, hosting and web publishing come under one roof. This will save you a lot of time and technicalities as a beginner.
If you want to use the free WordPress software, you have to search for your own host. Naturally, most new web owners would buy the idea of a ‘powerful hosting and web service’ at the ‘lowest X amount of fee’ because those kind of offers obviously sounds more attractive.
On the flip side, this can potentially cause some confusion because hosting technology isn’t something that can be readily touched or see. Therefore, it’s really hard to gauge a hosting quality until you experience it for yourself.
#2 – Maintenance
WordPress.com is pre-built with anti-spam features, automatic software updates, consistent backup and optimization without having you to ever lift a finger or worry about spammers. This offers a peace to the mind while you work on building your website.
With self-hosted WordPress, you will have to do this manually (often on your own) in order to protect your website and its valuable content. Fortunately, as WordPress is an open-source, there are also plenty of free resources called plugins that can help to protect your website from malware.
#3 – Customization
Website customization generally revolves around designs and functions because everyone has got a different taste in style when it comes to creating an online presence. With the self-hosted WordPress, you can install plugins, experiment with different WordPress themes or even tweak them to your liking using FTP access. In other words, you are totally in control of adding or expanding the capacity of your website.
However, this flexibility is completely absent when it comes to WordPress.com for one good reason; keeping the web host security intact. This is because customization often changes the codes behind the scenes which can potentially lead to major technical errors.
#4 – Monetization
As much as you can do with customization, you can also create a website for monetization purposes with self-hosted WordPress. In fact, this is a popular method for those who want to become an affiliate blogger or start their own online business.
If you are using WordPress.com, you will not enjoy this luxury as affiliate links or any form of third party advertisements are quite restricted on their websites. To ensure that your website does not get suspended, remember to read through their advertising policies thoroughly.
Still confused between the two? This video offers a great explanation.
So, Is It Worth to Build a Free Website with WordPress.com?
It all boils down to the purpose of your website. Why are you building one and who are you creating it for?
In a nutshell, WordPress.com is a good choice if;
- You are new to blogging.
- You don’t want to manage website technicalities.
- You don’t mind having limited features on your site.
However, a self-hosted WordPress is a BETTER choice if;
- You are a DIY kind of person and don’t mind the adventure of selecting a host to designing your own website.
- You have certain preferences and expectations for your site in terms of performance.
- You want to use your website as a tool to make money online.
As WordPress.com offers a free account, I know you are probably wondering, wouldn’t it be great to try out a self-hosted WordPress to see if it would be a better fit for you. Well, there is a way. By using SiteRubix, you can build a non-restrictive and customizable WordPress site easily. The other advantage of using this platform is that it gives you access to the online entrepreneurship training at Wealthy Affiliate where you get to learn about creating your own website and starting a web business.
Here are some of the tools and resources that you can benefit from the program.
Can’t wait to get started? Simply follow the link above and I’ll help you out in the training area. Talk to you soon.
Do you have any thoughts or questions about building website with WordPress? Just leave them in the comment area and I’ll be happy to respond.
Hi there Cathy,
Great site and Post. Thanks for explaining the differences between the two different WordPress’s available. Now let’s see if I got it right.
If I have a WordPress based (or powered if you like) blog and my own site domain it can be considered as a WP .org site and n NOT .com
And If my site is “mysite.Wordpress .com” then it is a Word press .com site, right?
Now, moving on….
I see SiteRubix provides word press as their content management system. My site on SiteRubix is “Mysite.Siterubix .com” so that would mean SiteRubix = word press .com and the benefit of using SiteRubix is that they provide a free site, like WP does but provides free video training on how to set it up with the option of some premium training related to blogging, of which is not provided by the team at WordPress.
SiteRubix is essentially a self-hosted WordPress platform (NOT a WordPress.com hosting) that allows you to build free websites without having to purchase a custom domain. That’s why the address is mysite.siterubix.com because technically, it still belongs to SiteRubix, not you.
Beyond the scope of website creation, SiteRubix also offers domain purchase, blog comment/feedback and most importantly, online entrepreneurship training programs that help bloggers/internet marketers learn the foundation to start and grow their online businesses.
This was a really interesting article, I really thought you were an advocate for WordPress.com until you showed how much better the Siterubix platform is. I was going to make a website with WordPress.com just because they are the creators, but after this article and that quote by the creator Matt I think Siterubix is one of the first of it’s kind.
Thanks for sharing this information.
Hi Mike, SiteRubix isn’t just an ordinary hosting platform. It doesn’t restrict you with storage space or limits your customization, thus giving you the flexibility to expand your website according to your online business needs.
Creating a WordPress website with SiteRubix only requires four simple steps which makes it very easy even for beginners.
Another great post. You answer a lot of questions I had, but have not taken the time to research. Being a newbie, I have found Wealthy Affiliates delivers on their promises. I would not have made it this far without the tutorials, Certification courses and the community support.
I actually didn’t know the difference between the two.
Thanks for answering my questions. I use to host my portfolio website with the .com extension and to be honest I couldn’t do much since I didn’t pay $299 for it. I only had the domain name.
Now with Wealthy Affiliate, I can do so much more with the website. I am glad that I found this article because I was seriously wondering what the difference was.
Indeed, Wealthy Affiliate has so much more to offer besides hosting. The entrepreneurship training program will guide you through the steps from niche to keyword research and I think that’s very important for anyone who’s new to starting an online business.
The website creation part is not that difficult. Generating long-term traffic to a site that you want to monetize is what matters most.
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now, and I really like it. It seems that you’re writing with passion and really want to help people.
I’m a blogger myself and I use WordPress as well. I can really tell that it’s the best thing for beginners. To be honest, I never knew that there are two of them. Thanks for the info.
Hello Cathy!
Great work really! Great idea to actually describe something that most people overlook. I have been using the word press for years and I never knew about some details you revealed. I use it for my business but I never wondered how it works. I am surprised that only 60 million websites are operating on it. If you would have asked me I would guess at least 600 million.
Hi there Igor,
Different resources give variable statistics. The 60 million refers to individual blogs with WordPress.com only. If you like to know more, I think this article sums it up pretty well.
Hello there Cathy,
I think a WordPress website is something everyone should have today at the very least. Even if you are not looking to make money it is beneficial to have some personal online real estate. I think the standard WordPress experience could be well enough, but SiteRubix with Wealthy Affiliate looks to be much better.
Good point you have there Anthony.
When people talk about property, they think about cars and houses. What many people don’t know is that websites are becoming tangible assets that you can own, build and sell for higher values in the future. And the beauty of it is that you don’t need a big investment to start with. You pay for domain and hosting and WordPress.org builds the rest for free (for the most part anyway).
That’s what the training at Wealthy Affiliate is all about, building valuable asset through content creation and helping people run legitimate business online.
Finally someone who clearly stated the differences between the two WordPress. I like how you clearly stated the differences between them and that ultimately, it comes down to the purpose of the website.
My preference will be WordPress for the fact that:
I am new to blogging.
I don’t want to deal with website technicalities.
I don’t mind having limited features on my site (My site is going to be content based) Thank you for explaining this!
Hi there Juan,
Based on your reasons, I believe that you are referring to WordPress.com as your preference. You mentioned that yours is a content based site. By adding new content everyday, do you not have any intention to make some profit from it? I am curious to know.
This is a great review Cathy on both WordPress sites. I was getting confused for a while when googling things where people were being told they were on the wrong WordPress site!
I like your comparisons to Wealthy Affiliate and WordPress, it really highlights all the extra’s you get with Wealthy Affiliate.
I’m looking forward to your next article.
Hi there Sammi,
A lot of beginners view Wealthy Affiliate as just another online program to make money. There’s actually a lot more going behind the scene in the training such as mastering WordPress skills, getting reliable hosting and teaching people how to build a long term online business through content creation. As a new internet marketer, I actually get more help from the community here than from places like WordPress forum.
The extras are really worth it because they speed up your understanding a lot.
I love the comparison between Wealthy Affiliate and WordPress. Until I read your blog post I did not know that there are many features available in Wealthy Affiliate that is not available to WordPress users. Instantly, your post informed me that Wealthy Affiliate has more to offer and I don’t regret joining them
Hi there Cephas,
That’s what makes the training at Wealthy Affiliate unique. You don’t just acquire a WordPress website, you also learn to use it to your best advantage to create an online business through all the features that the training offers. My biggest knowledge gain is keyword research because without it, I don’t think I would know how to create a content based website.
Hello, Cathy
Everywhere I look on the internet I see WordPress websites, and they seem to be the latest craze today where blogging is concerned, so I’m definitely jumping on this bandwagon.
Thanks for sharing such detailed information here on WordPress, and I have learned a lot from reading your article on how a website works. I will use your free WordPress website builder and come back to you if I have any further questions on setting up my new WordPress blog.
I really enjoyed watching the video as well 😀
Very interesting article Cathy.
I really didn’t know anything about the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. I think those who are looking for an in-depth info about those two will benefit a lot from your post.
But it’s clear from your post that when one has two options between wordpress.com/org and Siterubix, the choice is obvious and it’s definitely in favor of Siterubix.
Hi there Rufat,
The main advantage with using SiteRubix is that once you create your domain, you get instant access to a WordPress platform connected to a powerful hosting. No downloads whatsoever. So it’s really simple for those who are interested in building their first website.
Hi Cathy,
I’m a WordPress.org user and in my opinion, this is the best option. Although, having said that it depends on what you want to do with your site.
If you just have a casual or a personal blog, WordPress.com would probably be fine. You don’t have to worry about hosting, WP updates or anything technical. It’s done for you.
On the other hand, if you have a business or e-commerce site you will need WordPress.org. The SiteRubix option you mention is a really great self hosted solution. The hosting is monitored to keep your site secure and you also get 24/7 support. If I wanted to set up a blog for the first time, I would try this method.
Thanks for a great post.
Good to hear from you again, Peter.
From my experience, the hosting at SiteRubix is really stable. I haven’t had to deal with any technical problems for the past one year and I get my FTP access just fine. Definitely looking to host with them for the long term as I go along building my online business.
I have my website hosted on WordPress through Wealthy Affiliate and love it that way because whenever I have a problem with my website, WA solves it in a timely manner when I contact them about it.
Hi there Martina,
Speaking of the devil, I actually encountered a problem logging into my website this morning. It’s one of those days that I couldn’t remember my password. Got me panic for a while, but then I realized that I can also log in from WA using SiteRubix password reset feature. That really saved my day.
Hi Cathy!
Been awhile since I’ve been on your website, but it was refreshing to read through this post. Excellent job making that distinguish between WordPress as a CMS Platform and WordPress.com. I used to always get so confused by it.
I remember I would used to try going to WordPress.com after registering my first domain ever, and just couldn’t understand why I couldn’t login. Finally, thanks to Wealthy Affiliate all of that was cleared up very fast! 🙂
Hi Peter,
I get what you mean. Both of them share similar login interface and designs, with the exception of color; WordPress.com is more blue/gray while WordPress.org is black/gray. No wonder you got yourself confused. Thanks for pointing that out.
Cheers for laying it out so simply for us Cathy – great bit of info here. I can vouch for using WordPress to build websites. They have a minor learning curve, but once you’ve nailed it, you can create a fantastic looking website.
Hi Chris.
My site is built on a self-hosted WordPress with SiteRubix. As for the aesthetic part, I actually did some research on the anatomy of a website and gained a better understanding about good web layout. After much consideration, I decided to upgrade my theme to Genesis and I am quite pleased with the outcome of the whole thing.