Among the usual questions of users who approach the WordPress environment is that of what are the differences between WordPress.com Vs WordPress.org. Today we want to delve into the characteristics of each of the WordPress extensions.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: two ways for your online content
If you move in the environment of the blogosphere or the web environment, you will know WordPress: a free content manager, a platform to create blogs or web pages. When using WordPress to create your content for the Internet, you have two ways to do it:
- Via WordPress.com: The WordPress hosted option. It allows you to open a free account through which you can create a content space that will be your blog. The address of that blog usually responds to the style: «name.wordpress.com», although you also have the option to later customize your domain, upon payment.
- With WordPress.org: With WordPress.org it is no longer worth opening a WordPress account to be hosted on their server, but you must download the WordPress application and install it on your own web server. For this and a domain. You are your own manager, but with the advantage that you have greater possibilities when creating your web space.
To sum it up somehow, WordPress.com is a Cloud service (a piece belonging to the WordPress universe), and WordPress.org is the result of downloading the WordPress application that you must download and manage on your own hosting.
Brief history of WordPress
WordPress, without surnames, is a CMS, content management system, an open source content manager. Founded by Matt Mullenweg in 2003 but run by a foundation, WordPress Foundation, who directs, but does NOT own, Matt Mullenweg. As an open source project, hundreds of developers work on WordPress and therein lies its strength, that it does not belong to anyone, that there is a large community around it.
To use the WordPress CMS the natural way is to download it in wordpress.org. that is their “official website”. But if, like any son of a neighbor, you search for “wordpress” in Google, you will see that the first result (and in payment, by the way) says “wordpress.com”.
here it starts the sauce
Matt Mullenweg created the WordPress open CMS in 2003, with other collaborators. They marked the path of the foundation and all that. But in 2005, good old Matt also wanted to eat and those mundane things, so he created a development company: AutoMattic. And as the founder and chairman of the WordPress Foundation, Matt reserved for Automattic the right to use the WordPress brand for what was at the time its core product: a free blogging platform, hosted on wordpress.com
And from there all the mess.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: advantages of using WordPress.com
WordPress.com is the choice faster and easier for users with little knowledge of WordPress, a competitor of Blogger to understand us, or a Wix. What are its main advantages?
- Simplicity of execution: You just have to register in WordPress, fill in your data, choose one of the templates offered by the platform and start with your publications.
- All your content is hosted on WordPress.com servers, with optimal performance and loading speed.
- You have added some widgets that does not bring basic WordPress.
- Is free: At least initially (if you don’t customize your domain or choose a paid template).
- WordPress itself performs automatic backups and automatic updates of all the content of your blog.
But if you want to build a more professional blog, WordPress.com may fall short. Two of its main disadvantages is that it does not allow you to install plugins (the level of customization of your web space is minimal) nor does it allow you to add advertising.
Main advantages of WordPress.org
WordPress.org allows you to carry out more professional projects, customizing them as you wish: from web pages to online stores. Its main advantages are:
- It is free and gratuitous.
- Freedom when using templates or adapt these to your tastes (within limits, since each template has its own conditions).
- You can install free or paid plugins, with different functionalities. For example: a language plugin (that changes the version of your website from Spanish to English with the click of a button), or a plugin to introduce a contact form in your web space. The options are many and varied.
- You can edit code.
- You can insert advertisingwhich can bring you interesting economic benefits.
- wordpress.org allows you to use Google Analytics to measure the statistics of your website.
Perhaps the main drawbacks of WordPress.org lie in its complexity when it comes to managing the documentation, more focused on people specialized in the field. However, in the long term it is usually the best option.
Image: Depositphotos
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