We have heard two similar terms — WordPress.com and WordPress.org many times. We have been confused and thus have chosen the wrong one for our use. Keeping that issue in mind, we discussed WordPress.com in my previous article, and in this one, we are going to talk about the other one — WordPress.org.

WordPress.org is open-source software that is free for anyone who has the will to use it. More than 43% of the websites that are in use now are made from WordPress.org. This is mostly because of the flexibility it offers to customize your website as much as you feel required. Whenever someone thinks of building a website, the first thought to strike the mind is — WordPress.org. It is also known as self-hosted WordPress.

What are the requirements to use WordPress.org?

We just need two things to get started with WordPress.org — a domain name and web hosting. A domain name is the address of your website that lies on the internet. Example: — medium.com. Likewise, web hosting is where all your website files are stored. Example: — Bluehost. To note, Bluehost is one of the largest web hosting companies that provide you a free domain, and a free SSL, and even offers 60% off on the hosting services.

Why choose WordPress.org?

• It is free, open-source software and super easy to use.

• You have full control of your website. Unlike what we saw on WordPress.com, no one can turn off your website if it’s against their terms of service. If you are legal, you own your website and all its data.

• You can add any plugins (free, paid, & custom) to your website according to your needs.

• The website is as customizable as possible. You can use the free WordPress themes or have a premium one. And if you don’t want both, you can customize your site with your designs.

• Sharing free or paid ads can make money and you won’t have to share the revenue with anyone.

• Google Analytics is free to use alongside your site and they can help you a big deal with custom analytics and tracking.

• You can use the self-hosted WordPress and create an online store. All kinds of digital and physical products can be sold via the site which will also accept credit card payments. Third-party is not needed and you can deliver/ship the products directly from your site.

• To monetize your site, even more, you can create membership sites and sell those memberships for premium content. You can create multiple communities around your website.

Why not choose WordPress.org?

• The initial web hosting cost starts from $3 to $10 per month and as the traffic on your website increases, it will cost even more.

• Installing WordPress for the first time can be a hell of a ride.

• The updates are done with one click on the update button which is not much work but still could have been auto updateable.

• You are responsible for your backups. However, you can add some plugins which will auto-backup your site when required.

Conclusion

This is all we need to know as the basics of wordpress.org. We already saw the basics of wordpress.com as well. So, if you need full control over your site and monetization, then you should choose wordpress.org over wordpress.com because with wordpress.org, you can have a website for $46 yearly which is the lowest budget for beginners.

I hope this article was helpful to you.

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