WordPress.com and WordPress.org

WordPress is a rather generic name. It can stand for the blog authoring tool (blogging software) or it can stand for the website that offers free hosting with a “wordpress.com” suffix attached to the domain name you choose. Here’s a detailed breakdown of the difference between them:

WordPress.com…

…is the website where you can start up a free blog and get it hosted for free on the WordPress servers. It’s something like Blogger, another free blogging company. And, just as with Blogger where your blog’s domain has a “.blogspot.com” after it, all the free WordPress.com blogs have the “.wordpress.com” after it. For example, I have a WordPress blog called www.newyorktraveler.wordpress.com. It’s free for me– it was free to create, free to set up, and it’s free for me to maintain.

WordPress.com blogs have stricter regulations than Blogger blogs, and definitely more stricter regulations than WordPress.org self-hosted blogs. WordPress.com does not allow the monetization of WordPress blogs; you will be banned if you try to monetize your WordPress.com blog. Also, you are unable to view and access the database files to your blog (Blogger blogs are the same way). You can change the template to an approved WordPress.com theme, but you cannot customize it in any other way. Moreover, you cannot place widgets or ads in your sidebar (such as Entrecard, Adgitize, affiliate buttons and badges, etc). And the WordPress company reserves the right to insert ads onto your blog.

WordPress.com and WordPress.org homepages:

WordPress.org…

…is the website that showcases the free and unrestricted blogging software (the “blogging platform” they call it) that you may use on your own server space (a “self-hosted” blog). The WordPress.org software is installed onto your web host’s server– you install it. Most web hosts have special software for installing WordPress onto your server (Fantastico and SimpleScripts, to name two of the most popular). It is extremely easy to install the WordPress blogging platform on a self-hosted server. It is required that you create a complex administrator name and password for your WordPress installation.

Know that WordPress.org software hosted on your own web hosted server will NOT assign a domain name for you. You must register one yourself; see my article about getting a domain name for your blog.