WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: Which Should a Business Use?

Use WordPress.org if you want to own your site, install anything and choose your own host. Use WordPress.com if you would rather pay a monthly plan and have WordPress hosting and updates handled for you. Both run the same WordPress software, so the real choice is who controls the server, the code and the bill.

This guide is for owners and marketing managers who are about to build or rebuild a site and keep seeing both names in search results. You will get the differences in one table, the current WordPress.com prices, a three-year cost comparison, the cases where each side wins, and what it takes to switch later.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org at a glance

WordPress.org is where the open-source software is published. According to its about page, WordPress is open source and licensed under the GPL (version 2 or later). WordPress.com is a separate hosting service that runs WordPress for you and sells plans.

Question	WordPress.com	WordPress.org
Who runs the server?	WordPress.com hosts and manages it	You choose a host, or have an agency choose one
What do you pay?	A monthly plan, from free to $45 a month on yearly billing	The software is free; hosting, domain, premium plugins and support are paid separately
Plugins	Free plan: no plugin installs. Paid plans: install from the WordPress.org plugin directory	Install any plugin, including custom ones
Server access and custom code	SFTP/SSH, WP-CLI and Git on Business and Commerce	Full access on any host that offers it
Ads	Free sites show WordPress.com ads; paid plans do not	None unless you add them
Updates and backups	Handled by the platform	Handled by you, your host or a care plan
Best fit	Simple sites that need little technical work	Business sites that need flexibility, integrations or full ownership

Notice that the first column is about control, not features. Most differences come down to how much of the stack you are allowed to touch.

What WordPress.com costs in 2026

WordPress.com sells four paid plans. The prices below come from its pricing page on November 2, 2026, in US dollars per month.

Plan	Billed yearly	Billed monthly	Storage	Key limits and extras
Free	$0	$0	1 GB	Shows WordPress.com ads; no plugin installs
Personal	$4	$9	6 GB	No ads; plugins can be installed
Premium	$8	$18	13 GB	No ads; plugins can be installed
Business	$25	$40	50 GB	SFTP/SSH, WP-CLI and Git access
Commerce	$45	$70	50 GB	Store features on top of Business

Two details change the bill. The cheapest prices need yearly billing or longer: the page also lists lower rates for two and three years, and its plans auto-renew, so check the renewal price at checkout. And the plan you pick decides what you can do. Per WordPress.com’s plugin support page (last reviewed August 11, 2026), installing plugins is available on all paid plans, and not on free sites.

Many older articles say you need the Business plan for any plugin. That has changed, so be careful with guides written before 2026, including ones that still rank.

What WordPress.org really costs

The software is free, but a working site is not. You pay for four things, and each is billed by a different company.

• Hosting. The server the site runs on. Prices vary widely by host and plan, so get a current quote from the host you are considering.
• A domain name. Billed yearly by a registrar.
• Premium themes and plugins. Many are optional, and some business functions (forms, bookings, memberships) need them.
• Upkeep. Updates, backups, security scans and fixes. You do them, your host does some of them, or you buy a care plan.

If you also want it designed and built, our WordPress website development starts at $890 for a Starter site of up to five pages in two weeks. Business is $1,690 for up to 12 pages, and Advanced is from $2,990. Hosting, domains and premium plugins are paid by you directly, so you keep control of every account. For the full breakdown, see our guide to what a WordPress website costs.

After launch, our WordPress care plans cost $49 a month (Essential), $99 (Business) or $199 (Priority) per site. Essential covers core, theme and plugin updates, daily backups, uptime monitoring and security scans.

Three-year cost: WordPress.com plans vs a built and maintained WordPress.org site

The fairest way to compare is over a few years, because one side is a subscription and the other is mostly a one-time build plus upkeep. This table uses yearly-billed WordPress.com prices multiplied by 36 months, and our published prices for the WordPress.org example. It assumes the listed prices hold for three years, which renewals may not do.

Option	How it is calculated	Three-year total
WordPress.com Personal	$4 x 36 months	$144
WordPress.com Premium	$8 x 36 months	$288
WordPress.com Business	$25 x 36 months	$900
WordPress.com Commerce	$45 x 36 months	$1,620
WordPress.org site built by us, with Essential care	$890 Starter build + $49 x 36 months	$2,654, plus hosting and domain paid to your providers

WordPress.com wins on price for a simple site, and it is not close. The WordPress.org figure buys something different: a custom build, someone responsible for updates and backups, and a site you can move to any host. If you plan to build the site yourself and maintain it yourself, WordPress.org with budget hosting can also come out cheap, but your time becomes the cost.

When WordPress.com is the better choice

• You want a simple site or blog and have no one to maintain a server.
• Your needs fit inside what a plan offers, and you are happy to pick from the supported plugins and themes.
• You would rather pay a predictable monthly fee than manage hosting, security and backups.
• The site is a side project or a first test of an idea, and a short cost is more useful than flexibility.

This is a legitimate choice. We would not push a business with a five-page brochure site and no growth plans toward a custom build it does not need.

When WordPress.org is the better choice

• You need custom plugins, a custom theme, or integrations with your CRM, booking system or other software.
• You run a store, memberships or courses and want full control over how they work. Our WooCommerce development builds on WordPress.org for this reason.
• You want to choose, and change, your hosting for speed, location or price.
• You want a developer to have full server access for fixes, staging sites and performance work.
• You are an agency or consultant building sites for clients and need to hand over complete ownership.

The same logic is behind how we compare other builders. If Squarespace or Wix is on your list too, read Squarespace vs WordPress and Wix vs WordPress.

How to move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org without losing search traffic

The move is routine if the URLs stay the same, and risky if they change without redirects. This is the order we work in.

1. Export the site’s content and download the media library.
2. List every current URL and decide what it becomes on the new site. Keep addresses identical wherever possible.
3. Set up the new host and the new site, then check pages and forms on a private copy.
4. Add a 301 redirect for every URL that changes, then switch the domain.
5. Check Google Search Console and key pages in the first two weeks, and fix anything that breaks.

If your site lives on a free yourname.wordpress.com address, ask how old URLs will redirect before you move, because you do not control that server. Moving to a custom domain first makes a later migration much safer. Our guide to moving a WordPress site to a new host covers the technical steps.

From our projects: Every migration we quote starts with a page-by-page URL map, 301 redirects, and SEO checks before and after launch. Our migration plans start at $149 for a hosting or domain move and from $890 for a platform migration of up to 30 pages. The written quote says which applies before any work begins.

Get a WordPress site you own and control

Attors Technologies is a web development agency that builds, moves and maintains WordPress sites for businesses in the US, UK and Europe. Tell us what your site needs to do and whether it is on WordPress.com today, and we will recommend a plan with a fixed written quote. When the final invoice is paid, you own the design, code and content we create for you.

Get a quote for a WordPress website