WordPress vs WordPress.com

WordPress is a free, open-source publishing platform and content management system for websites, blogs, portals, and applications. You can build pages with blocks and themes, then customize them without code. Plugins add capabilities including stores, analytics, newsletters, social integrations, forms, and spam protection. Publishing controls cover drafts, scheduled posts, revisions, public or private material, and password-protected posts and pages. WordPress also provides media uploading and editing, with roles for administrators, editors, authors, contributors, and subscribers. Developers can create plugins, themes, custom content types, and integrations through the REST API. The software is available in more than 70 languages and licensed under GPLv2-or-later, permitting use, modification, and redistribution, including commercial projects, without licensing fees. You can install it on your own hosting and domain or use a hosting provider. Recommended requirements include PHP 8.3 or later, MariaDB 10.11 or later or MySQL 8.0 or later, and HTTPS.

WordPress.com is a hosted website and publishing platform with managed WordPress hosting and site management through Jetpack apps for iOS and Android. It supports custom domains, custom-code theme changes, scheduled posts, memberships, blog analytics, and prompt-to-site creation. All plans include unmetered bandwidth. Paid annual plans include a custom domain free for the first year, while free sites display WordPress.com ads that the Personal plan removes. Storage ranges from 1 GB on Free to 50 GB on Business and Commerce. Paid plans list unlimited pages, posts, users, and visitors. Security includes firewalls, encryption, brute force protection, and DDoS protection. Business and Commerce include developer tools and real-time backups; Commerce also includes ecommerce tools and a WooCommerce experience. Listed annual prices are $2.75 a month for Personal, $5.50 a month for Premium, $17.50 a month for Business, and $31.50 a month for Commerce (billed every 12 months, excluding taxes).