Wordpress.com vs Wordpress.org

[jellramvort]

The choice of your blogging platform is in most cases the fourth decision you make when starting up a new blog ( after the decision to start the blog, pick a concept for your blog, and think about your domain name). Many websites run on Wordpress.
Wordpress has two different flavors and understanding the pros and cons of both is important as it will influence your daily blog operations as you move forward.

Wordpress.org

Wordpress.org is an open source (and thus a free) platform that provides you with tools required to set up a blog. In order to get started you’ll need to find an hosting service that will be compatible with Wordpress hosting. Wordpress.org has a list of preferred hosting services (but also companies not listed there can host your blog). This blog is hosted with Ayola.Net, and to date their service was completely satisfactory. (update, lots of dependability problems have cropped up since this article was written, possible with any host, and instructive)

Wordpress.com is a free-fully hosted blogging platform built on the Worpress.org software . Domain names of blogs hosted by Wordpress.com will always have the suffix “*.wordpress.com”. Here you don’t need to find an hosting service, nor to setup the Wordpress software on your own.

Hope this clairifies the differences between the two, I know I was a bit confused when starting out. Wordpress is an excellent blogging in either incaration..

For more on this topic, please take a look at:

Wordpress.org vs. Wordpress.com pros and cons | Blogger Help

[jshaffstall]

Another major difference is that Wordpress.com blogs cannot be used for making money.

Jay

[_xhan]

and you cant make your own themes on there without paying - which is annoying!

[jshaffstall]

and you can't install your own plugins, which is also annoying!

Jay

[Zhuli]

Thanks for highlighting the different between .org and .com cause I was very confused !

Apparently, you gotta pay for a lot of stuffs on .com (preview template for a start) !

[jellramvort]

really? i know that editing templates requires a paid membership, didnt know that previewing did as well :O

[Zhuli]

No, I take it back. You can preview but not publish.

Seriously, if you want to set up a quick blog but yet have fun with it, I'd recommand Blogger rather than Wordpress.com. At least, everything is free with Blogger.

[peteranswers]

Originally Posted by jshaffstall

Another major difference is that Wordpress.com blogs cannot be used for making money.

Jay

I hadn't heard that before! Based on that I would say Blogger would still be the best to start with then, although it is so easy to find cheap web host that offers one-click wordpress install that I think that is the better option.

[whatpeoplehate]

Now that I understand the difference, which would you say is better?

[benbrand]

Originally Posted by jshaffstall

Another major difference is that Wordpress.com blogs cannot be used for making money.

Jay

Strictly speaking any space on which you can publish content can be used to make money (except article directories which don't allow affiliate links). It's easy to publish some reviews or other content on a free wordpress.com blog and include some affiliate links here and there.

As to the question of which one is better, in my opinion it's always better to have a top level domain blog on paid hosting. There are almost too many added benefits to list.