WordPress.com or WordPress.org – which do you prefer?
Wait. You thought the post title was about something entirely different from a blogging platform? Many apologies.
Back on point, which do you really prefer – the self-hosted orgy version or the WordPress-hosted commie version?
Where the Magic Happens – courtesy of Death to the Stock
Ever since I fired up my first WordPress blog, I’ve been running self-hosted – in fact, I think when I started blogging way back it was really the only choice. It also made so much sense back then as the blogs I admired were self-hosted WordPress sites and Blogger just didn’t appeal to me. But since my venture into the Zero to Hero challenge, it got me thinking that I might be better off giving the commie version a try.
Sure I have a significant amount of freedom with the self-hosted version, but what do I really use that I couldn’t do on WordPress.com? Monetization? Meh… no one clicks those links (go spite me and click them!). How about customization? As I’m still scared of breaking things, I very rarely fiddle with any of the code so that’s out of the question. In fact, I could probably save money by spending a few bucks on having a custom domain there instead of here. Then you add in the additional traffic that WordPress.com users seemingly get and the narcissist in me gets all excited.
In fact, if I wasn’t so hesitant to make the switch today, I’d probably be doing so minutes after posting this.
So what are your thoughts? Have you ever considered this conundrum? What made you choose WordPress.com over WordPress.org and vice versa? Inquiring minds want to know!
May 22, 2014 — 8:03 pm
I’m a control freak (and a geek) so self-hosted on a VPS is the way for me.
May 23, 2014 — 5:59 pm
I’d “like” to think I’m a control freak, but I don’t really control much…
May 22, 2014 — 8:48 pm
I’ve had both and although from a design standpoint self-hosted gives you a near infinite number of ways to design a blog site, I think I like the .com way of doing things better simply for the community one can build.
Of course it can be done with a self hosted site but I have found it to be much, much harder.
And there are some things that seem to work better as well, like the stats and reviewing comments that I’ve given on other sites.
One compromise of sorts is to migrate your domain to the WP nameservers and then buy one of the premium themes.
May 23, 2014 — 6:01 pm
That’s the thing. I’ve tried self-hosted and just haven’t really found what I’d miss out on if I were to go the WP-hosted side of the spectrum. I don’t think my traffic is anywhere near an issue and if it were to get that way, there’s always a solution to be had.
May 22, 2014 — 10:11 pm
Hi Chris, I nearly went the .org option – out of ignorance – I didn’t really know what I was getting in to. Now that I have my own domain name I’m happy to be a commie. Maybe, one day in the far distant future, I might consider switching – it’d probably be for some sort of commercial reason but definitely not there yet and may never be.
May 23, 2014 — 6:01 pm
See… that’s the path – had it been available – that I probably should’ve chosen.