Comments on: Differences Between WordPress.com and WordPress.org

By: More Web Site Traffic Guide

More Web Site Traffic Guide — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:28:38 +0000

These are great illustration and comparison about the two sites. WordPress.com is limited but needs no paid hosting. WordPress.org needs a paid hosting (e.g. hostgator) which allows you to customize a page in a way you want it. However, for starters it would be best to start with the free one and after knowing the basics with wordpress.com, move on to a paid hosting.

By: WP Gal

WP Gal — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 20:29:04 +0000

Hi Stephanie! Thanks for leaving a comment! A lot of people don’t necessarily need to go full out with their own self-hosted blog/site, however, the minimum I would recommend, even for “small potatoes” is to have your own custom domain instead of piggy-backing on the the WordPress.com domain. For example, in your case, hugskissesandsnot.com is available, and WordPress.com does give you the option to purchase your own domain and use it on your blog, without the hassle of worrying about hosting, etc. It’s extemely affordable – it will cost a total of $17 per year to set this up. When you’re logged into your dashboard, check out the Upgrades area – that’s where it’s located! Then, no one will even know that your blog isn’t self-hosted, because you’ll have your own domain, but will still be using your WordPress.com blog!

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:05:47 +0000

Thank you for this very good explanation. wp.com works for me b/c I just want to “rent” and focus on my content. I’m small potatos so it works for me.

By: WP Gal

WP Gal — Thu, 05 May 2011 03:29:26 +0000

No problem! I used to be confused about the two myself, and I love to help others, hence why I wrote this post!

By: Chandana

Chandana — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:23:30 +0000

Awesome explanation ,thank you for sharing .

By: Web Filter

Web Filter — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:44:57 +0000

Thanks for the excellent explanation!

By: Ursula

Ursula — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:15:45 +0000

Hi Graham!

You’re absolutely right, we can take it a step further from that perspective, especially when talking about shared hosting vs. dedicated virtual private servers.

I guess I was trying to gear the post towards beginners, as that tends to be my audience – people who are new to blogging and WordPress, and need a little guidance. Thanks for the input!

By: Graham Tappenden

Graham Tappenden — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:02:32 +0000

Hi Ursula,

that’s a great way of explaining the difference between the two ways of using WordPress.

Might I even go as far as to suggest extending it by differing between owning a flat and owning a house (very German thing to suggest probably).

Owning a flat is like using a hosting package. You can do what you want on your own webspace, but you are still limited in some ways by the provider (eg. PHP settings, CGI scripts).

Owning a house is like using a server package. You really do have responsibility for the entire system.

By: Ursula

Ursula — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:04:03 +0000

No problem, Laura! I also wondered about this for a while, so I figured since I now understand it much better, I’d share my knowledge to help others understand as well! I thank Matt Mullenweg (founder of WordPress) for coming up with the perfect analogy to use to explain and understand this common question!

By: Laura Lee Bloor

Laura Lee Bloor — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:50:04 +0000

Thank you so much for this Ursula! I've wondered about this for a while and even after reading the info on the support forums at Wordpress, I still wasn't clear on it. You finally made it make sense to me, though! .-= Laura Lee Bloor´s last blog ..What Is Your Why? =-.