For people in WordPress community, the difference betweenWordPress.com and WordPress.org it is an obvious thing, a piece of cake. But for someone new to WordPress or with a different background, such things can be tricky and needs to be explained.
What is WordPress
Let’s skip .com and .org for a minute and look into WordPress in general. WordPress is named as the easiest and most powerful website content management system (CMS) on the market. It is a free, open source solution that everyone can use, no strings attached.
The idea of open source code allows WordPress to run one of the biggest web development communities. And this, of course, reflects in overall usage of WordPress – around 80% of all websites with content management system run on WordPress. These are huge numbers!
Now, if you are looking into having a website, WordPress should be among top choices as it will be simply easy to get help and find additional extensions.
What is WordPress.com
WordPress.com is an online service that allows you to run your website on WordPress. It is using WordPress content management system as a basis for their service and back it up with different extensions and WordPress themes. The price for hosting your blog may vary from zero to tens of dollars per month depending on your preferences.
WordPress.com is managed by Automattic, the company behind WordPress content management system. This also explains why they are having a more popular .com domain name for their commercial service instead of .org.
Is WordPress.com the right choice for you? It depends! Let me put it this way, if you are a very beginner, like my friend Rob, it is maybe a lot easier for you to go towards WordPress.com. There you will get a hassle-free service to get your blog up and running. On the other hand, you can always look into popular hosting companies for managed WordPress hosting, a similar service to WordPress.com.
What is WordPress.org
Now forget about services, WordPress.org is the place where WordPress really lives – a very heart of WordPress community. And this is the place where you can download your copy of WordPress content management system. Why do you need a copy? To build your own website on WordPress and keep it wherever you want, no obligations.
Apart from WordPress itself, WordPress.org is the place where you will discover lots of extensions (in WordPress we call them plugins) and themes – all for free.
Choosing a WordPress.org will allow you to take full control over your WordPress installation by selecting any theme, installing free or premium plugins and changing configuration without limitation. The downside of WordPress.org is that it will only give you the tool, but not the mechanism, so you will still need to look for a hosting and maybe have some technical skills (or use Google).
Conclusions
It is so easy to get misled with WordPress.com and WordPress.org so make sure to spread the world and explain things. Where you the one who was misled? Or maybe know someone who was struggling? Jump into the conversation and let us know.