Honestly, it’s probably the fact that both have the same name, and offer a lot of similar features. However, in this article, you’ll learn a little history about WordPress, what’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, and which one may work best for your needs.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is known as a CMS (Content Management System), which allows the end-user an easier way to design and manage a website. WordPress has been around since 2003, and was co-founded by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little.
The idea behind WordPress, is to “democratize publishing”, in order to make it more accessible to people, so they can share their ideas however they want, whenever they want, and using a software that is fast to set up, and easy to use. The idea was to make it as easy as writing an email, which a lot of users, in the early Internet days, already had decent experience.
Since those days, WordPress has evolved, and has become so popular that it powers 39.5% of all websites online.
But how did they get there, you might wonder? Well, in order to do this, WordPress had to tackle a couple issues. Most of their users were Do-it-Yourself people, or DIYers, on a small budget or no budget. Additionally, there were users with little to no experience or confidence in handling code, so giving them the software would mean that they have problems installing WordPress. So, the developers and community members of WordPress had to turn to developing options for people using self-hosted and hosted web hosting, which tackled the problem of the user-experience and even the user’s budget.
To explain:
Self-hosted WordPress web hosting is where the end-user can completely manage their own website, that they purchased web space and a domain, at a web host. A website needs web space to exist, so there are companies, much like here at Verpex, that offer affordable web space. As for a domain, it is a personalized link, to help make your website more memorable and easier to find.
Hosted WordPress web hosting is where the end-user can sign up and manage their website, but often the web host manages the software and only offers specific features. In a lot of cases, there is little to no cost. Some features can be unlocked if they are purchased.
Now that you know these terms, here’s how they relate to WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
What is WordPress.com?