What is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
Are you ready to build your website or blog? You are probably looking for simple solutions that can get the job done with ease. During your research you discovered WordPress as a powerful tool and platform recommended by most websites as its backs a great percentage of websites on the internet. Let us answer the question about the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
WordPress vs WordPress.com
People are often confused about what the difference is between WordPress and WordPress.com. Let us dive into the difference. WordPress is a free, Open-Source web publishing software project which is owned by no one individual, or company whiles WordPresss.com is a hosted blogging service owned and run by a company called Automattic.
WordPress
WordPress, often referred to as WordPress.org or self-hosted WordPress is a software that you can install or download on any web host or locally on your computer.
Origins: WordPress.org emerged from the need for a sophisticated, PHP-based publishing system. Its origins can be traced back to b2/cafelog, a blogging software developed by Michel Valdrighi in 2001. When b2/cafelog’s development slowed down in 2003, Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little took the initiative to build a new platform based on its codebase. The result was WordPress, officially released on May 27, 2003.
Early Development: The initial versions of WordPress established crucial features that laid the groundwork for its future expansion. Version 1.0, nicknamed “Miles,” was released in January 2004 and introduced a new administration interface, templates, and XHTML 1.1 compliant templates. In the subsequent years, WordPress experienced swift development and the incorporation of major features such as plugins (Version 1.2 in 2004), pages (Version 1.5 in 2005), and themes (Version 1.5 in 2005).
Growth and Popularity: WordPress.org quickly gained popularity due to its user-friendly interface and the vibrant community that contributed to its development. The introduction of themes and plugins allowed users to extend WordPress’s functionality easily, fostering a growing ecosystem of developers and designers.
WordPress.com
WordPress.com also called WP.com is a for-profit hosted blogging service that is run by Automattic. It was launched in 2005 and is the largest WordPress install in the world. Of course, it is powered by WordPress with some additional plugins and modifications.
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Overlap
Matt Mullenweg is both CEO of Automattic and co-founder of WordPress. He is involved with both WordPress and WordPress.com. Some contributors to WordPress are also employees of Automattic. Development decisions about WordPress are made without specific regard to their impact on WordPress.com.
Why can’t I call WordPress.com just “WordPress”?
Because it isn’t clear what you’re talking about — the Open-Source project, or the hosted blogging service. They are distinct, and statements about one aren’t necessarily true about the other. WordPress.com is its name. You wouldn’t call bit.ly, the popular link shortening service, just “bit,” would you?
Why doesn’t Automattic rename WordPress.com to something more distinct?
It’s possible the downsides of a rebranding campaign would outweigh the benefits. The ambiguity certainly hasn’t been all bad. It makes it fairly clear to users that they can migrate their WordPress.com blog to a self-hosted WordPress install.
