Should a project use WordPress.com or self-hosted WordPress?

Use WordPress.com when you want the host to run WordPress for you and you can live with their limits. Use self-hosted WordPress, the software from WordPress.org, when you need your own plugins, your own theme code, or your data on a server you control. Those are different products that share a name.

This note was first published on November 5, 2017. Prices quoted then are not repeated. They were never a Steelbridge offer, and they are not current.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com can start as a hosted blog and grow into a paid plan with more design control. It is a reasonable place for a journal, a student project, or a young business that wants publishing without server work. The trade is control. You cannot install arbitrary plugins, and you often cannot edit the theme the way a custom build requires. Connecting an outside service through its API is constrained by what the platform allows.

The security model is theirs. That is a real advantage if you do not want to patch PHP and WordPress yourself. It is a poor fit when the project needs a custom plugin, a specific PHP version, or a front end that is not their theme.

Search is not decided by which logo is on the hosting bill. A free subdomain with thin content will struggle. A self-hosted site with thin content will also struggle. Do not pick a host because of a rumor about which one Google prefers.

Self-hosted WordPress

Self-hosted means you, or someone you hire, installs the WordPress software on a server. You choose plugins, you can write your own, and you can change the theme. WooCommerce, custom blocks, and scheduled tasks that the server runs for you all sit on this side. So does the WordPress REST API, which matters when another application needs to read the content.

You also own the updates, the backups, and the PHP version. That is the cost of the control. Steelbridge does the development side of that, including taking over a site someone else started. The server itself is WordPress hosting at ParsonsHosting when you want that company to run it, or it is whatever host you already have.

Which one to choose

Choose WordPress.com if the site is a straightforward publication and you want them to hold the stack. Choose self-hosted if the site is a product, a shop with unusual rules, or a design that has to be built rather than selected. If you are unsure, describe the job. A brochure is often a fit for the ParsonsHosting website builder. A custom build is custom web development.

If the choice is WordPress versus a static site rather than which kind of WordPress to use, that comparison is in WordPress or a static site.