WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: What's Actually Different
WordPress.com is a hosted subscription where Automattic runs the server and gates features — plugins, themes, custom domains — by which plan you pay for. Self-hosted WordPress.org is free, open-source software with no plan and no feature gate at all, but you choose and pay for your own host. Both ultimately produce a WordPress site, but the cost structure and what's included are genuinely different products, not two tiers of the same one. This guide checks WordPress.com's and WordPress.org's own pages, checked September 2026.
What's the actual difference between them?
WordPress.com is Automattic's hosted service. You sign up, pick a plan, and Automattic runs the servers, backups, and updates. What you can install — plugins, premium themes, custom code access — depends on which paid plan you're on.
WordPress.org is where the open-source WordPress software itself lives, free to download. WordPress's own download page frames the self-hosted route as being "for anyone comfortable getting their own hosting and domain," distinct from a managed hosting provider that sets it up for you (WordPress.org, Download, checked September 2026). Once installed on a host of your choice, there's no plan tier gating any feature — every plugin and theme in the WordPress.org directory installs the same way regardless of budget.
What does each WordPress.com plan actually cost and unlock?
WordPress.com's pricing page shows, on its default yearly-billing view: Free at $0/mo, Personal at $9/mo, Premium at $18/mo, Business at $40/mo, and Commerce at $70/mo, with an Enterprise tier at custom pricing (WordPress.com Pricing, checked September 2026). The same page also displays a discounted first-term rate and a separate renewal rate for each plan at the time of this check — those numbers move with WordPress.com's current promotions, so treat the plan prices above as the standing reference point and check the live page for whatever offer is running when you sign up.
What each tier unlocks, per the same page:
- Free: WordPress.com displays ads to visitors on free sites.
- Personal ($9/mo): No ads for visitors, a free domain for the first year, and — this is the plan floor for extensibility — the ability to "Install any of over 60,000 plugins from the WordPress.com marketplace, or upload a plugin directly to your site," plus "Dozens of premium themes."
- Premium ($18/mo): Everything in Personal, plus "All premium themes" and payment buttons for PayPal and Stripe.
- Business ($40/mo): Everything in Premium, plus "SFTP/SSH, WP-CLI, Git commands, and GitHub Deployments" for direct file and code access, and a built-in AI site assistant.
- Commerce ($70/mo): WordPress.com's own store tier, built around WooCommerce, with premium store themes on top of everything in Business.
So plugins reach every paid plan starting at Personal, but direct server access (SFTP/SSH) doesn't arrive until Business — a meaningful gap if what you actually want is custom code, not just an installed plugin.
What does self-hosted WordPress.org actually cost?
The software itself is free either way. What you pay for is hosting, which WordPress.org doesn't sell or price itself — that's between you and whichever host you pick (Bluehost, SiteGround, and dozens of others, at their own rates). There's no WordPress.org fee layered on top, and no plan gate on plugins, themes, or file access: anything in the WordPress.org plugin directory installs the same way on a $5/mo host as it does on an enterprise one. That's the trade self-hosting makes — no subscription to WordPress itself, but you (or your host) are responsible for updates, backups, and security that WordPress.com bundles into its plan price.
What can I monetize, and how?
WordPress.com runs its own ad program, WordAds, but it isn't available on every plan: WordPress.com's own support page states you need "a WordPress.com Premium plan or higher," along with "a site set to public," a registered custom domain set as primary (not a wordpress.com subdomain), and a PayPal account to receive payments (WordPress.com Support, WordAds, checked September 2026). Below Premium, the Free plan instead shows WordPress.com's own ads to your visitors, with no revenue share back to you. Selling products directly is centered on the Commerce plan and WooCommerce, as noted above.
Self-hosted WordPress.org has no built-in monetization or ad program at all — you add your own ad network, an affiliate plugin, or WooCommerce (also free) for a store, with no WordPress.org plan gate on any of it. What you can monetize and how is entirely a function of which plugins and payment providers you choose to install.
How do I export if I switch between them, or leave WordPress entirely?
Both sides export to the same interchange format. WordPress's own documentation for the Tools → Export screen says the download is "an XML file," known as a WordPress eXtended RSS (WXR) file, that "will contain your posts, pages, custom post types, comments, custom fields, categories, tags, custom taxonomies, and users" (WordPress.org, "Tools Export screen", checked September 2026). WordPress.com's own export guide confirms the same format on its side and is explicit about the limits: "Your export file will include your posts, pages, and comments but will not include your theme design, customizations, or plugins," and the file "doesn't actually contain your media library (like photos, videos, audio, etc.)" — media has to be fetched separately (WordPress.com Support, Export, checked September 2026).
In practice, that means moving content between WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress.org (in either direction) is well-supported, but moving your actual design, custom code, or installed plugins is not — you rebuild those on the destination side regardless of which direction you're moving.
Capability matrix
| WordPress.com | Self-hosted WordPress.org | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Included in every plan | Not included — you choose and pay a host |
| Plugins | 60,000+ from Personal ($9/mo) up | Any plugin, no plan, no gate |
| Premium/custom themes | Dozens from Personal; all premium themes from Premium ($18/mo) | Any theme, no gate |
| Direct file/server access | SFTP/SSH, WP-CLI, Git deploys from Business ($40/mo) | Full server access always, since you own the host |
| Built-in ad program | WordAds, Premium plan and up | None — add your own ad network or plugin |
| Store / WooCommerce | Centered on the Commerce plan ($70/mo) | WooCommerce is free to install, no plan gate |
| Export format | WXR/XML, posts/pages/comments only | Same WXR/XML, plus full database access as a second path |
| Base cost | $0–$70+/mo by plan, billed yearly (WordPress.com Pricing) | Free software; your host's rate is the real cost |
Who is each one not for?
WordPress.com is not a fit if you want zero plan gates on day one — plugins, themes, and file access all sit behind specific tiers, and the gap between plugins (Personal) and server access such as SFTP/SSH (Business) is a real jump in price for anyone who wants to write custom code.
Self-hosted WordPress.org is not a fit if you don't want to pick a host, apply your own updates, or take responsibility for backups and security — none of that disappears because the software itself is free; it just moves from Automattic to you.
Where does Figment fit in?
Neither directly. Figment publishes a Figma design as a live website through its Figma plugin, for a marketing site or portfolio designed visually rather than built from WordPress themes or plugins — it isn't a blogging platform, a store, or a plugin ecosystem on either side of this comparison. If WordPress itself (in either form) is the right tool for the job — a blog, a membership site, a store — this comparison is the one that matters, not Figment. For what each version's own AI tools and outside agents (ChatGPT, Claude) can and can't do, see Can ChatGPT or Claude edit your WordPress site?, which covers WordPress.com's AI Assistant and MCP support alongside self-hosted WordPress's REST API and WP-CLI routes. If Ghost's built-in newsletter-and-membership model is the other option you're weighing against WordPress, see Ghost vs WordPress; if Squarespace is the alternative, see Squarespace vs WordPress.
Which should I actually pick?
- Pick WordPress.com Personal or Premium if you want a plugin ecosystem and premium themes without managing a server, and you don't need custom code.
- Pick WordPress.com Business or Commerce if you specifically need file-level access, a built-in AI assistant, or a store, and you're fine paying for that as a bundled plan.
- Pick self-hosted WordPress.org if you want every plugin, every theme, and full file access with no plan gate at any price point, and you're willing to choose a host and manage updates yourself.
Bottom line: WordPress.com trades a monthly plan for hosting, support, and gated-but-growing feature access; self-hosted WordPress.org trades free software for the job of running it yourself. The "WordPress" name is the same on both sides — the business model underneath it is not.
