If you are a blog or website owner, you must be already familiar with Wordpress. For the novice in the web industry, Wordpress is a free content management platform written in PHP, where you can host your website or blog.

Since it is an open-source CMS (content management system), anyone with a slight knowledge can rewrite the coding to make the website more responsive and user-friendly. Moreover, WordPress has many in-built themes and custom plugins that can help you in creating the content in just a few clicks.

Millions of websites and blogs use WordPress as the hosting platform, and you will be surprised to know that in the web hosting industry, WordPress leads the way with more than 35% websites using the platform which transforms to about one in three sites all over the world. You can check some of the popular websites which utilise this platform here.

What kind of websites does Wordpress support?

If you are planning to use WordPress, you will need to know what are the options WordPress provides. In essence, you will have three options:

• Website fully hosted by WordPress.com.
• An upgraded plan on WordPress.com, which will give you more control over your content and publishing.
• Self-hosted website via the WordPress.org. For that, first, you will have to download the software from WordPress.org, purchase hosting from servers such as Bluehost or GoDaddy and then install the Wordpress to be used as a content management system on the website.

The third option is useful if you have a detailed knowledge of coding, while the former two options require no coding knowledge.

Also read: WordPress 101: How to change the theme of your blog?

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

Both can be used to build a website or blog. While the former is a content management platform, the latter is a software that you can install on the hosting platform and then configure.

Here are some more differences between the two services.

Wordpress.com

Here, you can avail free as well as paid services for your websites. If you are using a free service, then you will have to part with several of the cool features that are available for a price. But it is excellent for beginners.

When you are through with the learning, you can opt for a premium plan (which we will explain later) according to the need and requirement of the website, and you are good to go. WordPress provides backups and backend maintenance.

For the free plan, you cannot have a custom domain. For example, your domain will look something like domainname.wordpress.com. You will have to buy a premium plan for a custom domain name.

Wordpress.org

It can be called a self-hosted WordPress. This means that you will have to find the right hosting platform and then upload the software on the hosting. In addition to that, you will need to regularly backup the website and also perform backend maintenance.

However, no registration is required on your part for this service, which means that there are no terms of services that you need to understand. You can install custom themes and plugins for a price or for free, that you feel right for your website. Also, if you are using WordPress.org, you can use several free WordPress themes and plugins.

So, in conclusion, it all depends on your expertise in the field and the budget that you have. If you know how to code, willing to spend the money on hosting and cherish responsibility, you can go for Wordpress.org. On the other hand, if you have no technical idea, WordPress.com would be better.

Also read: WordPress 101: How to delete a WordPress site?

WordPress plans and pricing

Since WordPress.org is free, let us talk about the pricing and plans of WordPress.com. Currently, WordPress offers five plans which are as follows:

Free

You will get 3GB storage space along with the customer support and Jetpack Essential feature.

Personal 

This plan starts with $4/month and provides 6GB storage space. Apart from the features that are in the free plan, you will get a free domain for one year and an option to remove WordPress ads.

Premium

The premium plan is the most popular in WordPress. Here, you will have to pay $8/month to avail features such as Google Analytics integration and unlimited custom themes to use. You will get 13GB storage space which is apt for a medium business website.

You can also schedule your social media posts for the right time and can upload videos on your platform.

Business

If you have a flourishing business, you can opt for this plan. With this plan, you get 200GB storage. Some of the other features include the removal of WordPress.com branding with an automated update and one-click rewind.

You can also upload custom themes and schedule one-on-one help with the experts.

eCommerce

As the name suggests, this plan is ultimate and can be used for the websites that are in the eCommerce business. As the eCommerce venture requires lots of monetary transactions, this plan includes several eCommerce marketing tools and other services.

For this plan, you will have to shell out $45 per month.

So, which plan is best suited for you? Well, it depends on the website traffic as well as the purpose of the website. If you have a personal blog, you don’t have to go for the costlier plans; a personal plan will do. However, if you have a big business, then you can go for the business plan.

Also read: WordPress 101: How to embed Youtube videos in WordPress?