Self Hosted WordPress vs WordPress.com Novice

WordPress is a publishing platform that makes it easy for anyone to publish online. You can use this platform in two ways:

  • WordPress.com
  • Self Hosted WordPress

Let's compare the WordPress.com and the self hosted WordPress by preseneting the differences and explaining the advantages of one and the other.

Self hosted WordPress advantages

  • You can install and use our themes
  • You have full control on your website data. You don’t have any strict terms of service imposed by someone
  • You can use plugins any type of plugins: free, paid, custom
  • You can customize and modify themes
  • You can use any ad service on your website and you are free to sell as many ads as you want
  • Custom Analytics are possible
Important

This theme works only with self hosted WordPress. In fact the theme upload feature is disabled in the admin if you are using WordPress.com.

Self hosted WordPress disadvantages

  • You should find a host, install the custom theme by yourself

WordPress.com advantages

  • They provide hosting and backups
  • It gives the possibility to integrate your social networks
  • There’s no need to install plugins. It provides such features as: comments, sharing, stats, etc.
  • Support and WordPress.com forums access.

WordPress.com disadvantages

  • You are not allowed to sell ads on your site unless you have a specific number pageviews per month
  • You are restricted to use plugins
  • You are not allowed to use custom analytics software
  • You cannot use our themes. You follow their choice of themes which are used on lots of websites. Thus, it somehow affects your uniqueness
  • You should always abide their Terms of Service