Difference Between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
If you’re anything like me when I started out, then it would be fair to assume that you’re not too sure what the difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org is. That’s ok! I’ve dedicated this WHOLE blog to clear it up for you 🙂
Note: If you’re feeling pretty confident and ready to start blogging, then skip this part and follow these steps here to start up your OWN blog!!
So, what’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
Let’s start with wordpress.com
WordPress.com will allow you to essentially run your own blog/website without having to spend any money (initially). You can create a blog, upload your content to it and share it around with your family and friends … and that’s about it. If you want to start personalising it and playing with themes, then you will unfortunately have to start spending money. Also you can’t get plugins (unless you’re paying around $30/month which is A LOT of money!
Note: On the free version, your domain (website’s name) will look like this www.YOURBLOG.wordpress.com – you will always have the .wordpress.com at the end of your domain name if you don’t spend money.
What’s next?
For $2.99/month you could have your own domain. I.e. your domain would look like this – www.YOURBLOG.com (no more www.YOURBLOG.wordpress.com)
With this, you will also have access to certain themes (but not too many).
And that’s about it for wordpress.com – you can definitely spend more money, however you’re always going to be restricted in terms of completely customising your blog/website.
Now for wordpress.org
WordPress.org will give you complete freedom with your blog/website. You’ll be able to customise the pages however you like, use plug-ins and there are also a tonne of themes you can use! Thousands of which are free as well!
Note: With wordpress.org, you will have you own domain name I.e. your blog would be ‘www.YOURBLOG.com’. And that’s it! No more .wordpress.com in the name.
To use wordpress.org you are going to need something called ‘web hosting’. Web hosting is essentially what will be ‘looking after’ your website. Long story short, there are a few companies which are partnered with wordpress.org. For my web hosting, I use a company called BlueHost. And they’re amazing! They have 24/7 technical support which is very, very helpful. ALSO for the first year you get your domain name FREE!! So it’s actually a really good deal.
What does the wordpress.org process look like?
If you want to sign-up to get your blog/website started check out my tutorial here – 10 Easy Steps To Start A Blog. I’ve explained everything you’ll need to know to start your website.
But essentially this is the process:
- Go to www.bluehost.com
- Purchase web hosting (if you use my links you’ll get a 60% discount and so it’ll cost you $2.95/month)
- Follow the instructions to install WordPress
- Start using WordPress
- Create an awesome blog and share you stories with the world 🙂
And that’s it!! Now you can feel a little bit more educated in the difference Between WordPress.com and WordPress.org 🙂 I really hope that this clears some things for you guys. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Happy Blogging!!