I'm a newbie, so What is the easiest and fastest way to start my online world? I am a businessman and want to sell my product to customers over the world, so where is the best place for me to get started? I am a blogger; I am a producer, a singer, a podcaster, etc. No matter who you are and what your work is, whenever you want to start anything in the online world, let's think of WordPress as the first choice in your mind. So, What is WordPress? Is WordPress free? Is it easy to use? This WordPress.Com review article will help you address any questions about WordPress that you're looking for.
What is WordPress
WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) or Web publishing software that you can use to create a beautiful website or blog without any knowledge of coding. WordPress enables you easy to customize just about every aspect of your site in any way you want. Today WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world and powers more than 43% of all the websites which are there on the web. Part of that success is because it has two versions, WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Because of the similarities in names, the following are the main differences between these:
WordPress.Com is a product owned by Automattic, Inc.; it's the version that's hosted on WordPress servers. With WordPress.Com, you can start a website for free; the programming and the basic setup are a little easier to handle than with a self-hosted WordPress site. However, if you need more features like extended storage space, custom domain, and design customization, you should upgrade to a premium WordPress.com plan.
WordPress.Org is owned by a non-profit group called The WordPress Foundation; it's open-source software and the downloadable version of WordPress CMS. When using this version to build a website, you will need to own a web hosting domain name. However, with wordpress.org, you can access all WordPress features immediately and have complete control and ownership of your site.
WordPress.Com Plans & Pricing
Currently, the WordPress.com hosting service has 5 plans for any budget:
As mentioned above, you can get started with WordPress.com at no cost. It has a free-for-life tier, which includes 3GB of space, basic themes, and design options, but there are significant limitations like third-party adverts, using WordPress's subdomain instead of your brand domain, and less storage space. In fact, the free plan is a way to try out the service of WordPress.Com, so if you're serious about your work, want to remove ads, and get more benefits, you should choose one paid plan from starting.
- The Personal plan starts at $4 per month ($48/year) with 6GB of storage, a free custom domain, support is improved, ads removed, and Jetpack essential features.
- The Premium is the most popular plan of WordPress.com; it gives you 13GB storage space, a free domain, premium themes, better design and marketing tools, remove ads, and you can monetize your website with an ads program. This is $8 a month – $96 a year.
- The Business plan is $25/mo ($300/year), it includes up to 200GB of data space and all features of the Premium plan, plus more features like Seo tools, automated backup/restore, personalized help, and support SFTP/SSH. You can also install a custom plugin or theme with this plan.
- The eCommerce plan costs you $45/mo ($540/year) with 200GB of storage. Still, it has so many features that you need to start your online store, including accepting payments in 60+ countries, showing live rates from shipping carriers, unlimited products or services, marketing tools, premium customizable themes, and more.
WordPress.Com Key Functionality
WordPress.Com can also be called an easy-to-use website builder tool; it's really like that. With WordPress.Com, you do not need to be a coder to build a professional website; access thousands of free WordPress themes and select one, and your website will look professional instantly. If you choose the Business or eCommerce plan, you can install your theme and a drag-and-drop builders plugin like Divi or Elementor, and then you are free to create your content in any way you want. Keep in mind that different plans will offer different functionality.
- Jetpack Essential Features
- Pre-Installed SSL Certificate
- Free Domain for One Year
- Up to 200GB of Storage Space
- Dozens of Free Themes
- Unlimited Premium Themes
- Advanced Design Customization
- Remove WordPress.com Ads
- WordAds
- Advanced Social Media
- VideoPress Support
- Google Analytics Integration
- SEO Tools
- Install Plugins
- Upload Themes
- Remove WordPress.com Branding
- Automated Backup & One‑Click Rewind
- SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) and Database Access
- Accept Payments in 60+ Countries
- Integrations with Top Shipping Carriers
- Unlimited Products or Services
- eCommerce Marketing Tools
- Premium Customizable Starter Themes
WordPress.Com Data Locations
Are you wondering where the data location of your wordpress.com blog is? According to WordPress.com documentation that “WordPress.com runs on thousands of servers located in several separate data centers in different parts of the US and around the world.“. Although they do not publish this information anywhere, as far as I know, WordPress.Com currently has servers in 7 different locations around the world, including:
- New Jersey – U.S
- Los Angeles – U.S
- London – United Kingdom
- Frankfurt – German
- Nagano – Japan
- Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
- Athens – Greece
I thought that after deploying, your blog on WordPress.com would automatically be hosted on a server closest to your location.
WordPress.Com Payment Method
WordPress.Com offers a yearly and two-year subscription with each paid plan. You can use Paypal or Credit Cards (Visa/Mastercard/American Express/Discover) for payment.
WordPress.Com Cancellations & Refund Policy
You can get a full refund within the first 30 days of service. However, if you buy a domain along with your blog, you must cancel your subscription and request a refund within 48 hours.
As far as I know, you don't have to wait for a human to approve your refund because the cancellation process is automated. As long as you cancel your subscription within the correct time period, you should get your refund in minutes and smoothly.
WordPress.Com Pros & Cons
Advantages
- Ease of use
- Highly simplified content creation
- Professional Themes
- Lots of Plugins
- SEO Integration
- Flexible E-commerce Options
- Low Cost
- Customization is available even in the free plan
- Data portability
- Updates Regularly
- Mobile-friendly
- Hosting is taken care of & High Performance
- Large Developer Community
- Accessible on desktop, iOS, and Android
- Comprehensive support
Disadvantages
- Features are poor on the free account.
- Costs for good themes & plugins can be expensive.
- You can't design a website from scratch or modify the code.
- No monthly subscription plan
WordPress.Com Related FAQs
Final Thoughts
Several years ago, WordPress was preferred for creating blogs. Nowadays, WordPress has an amazing collection of high-quality free themes and plugins made by its fantastic community members. Thanks to that, you can use WordPress to build a business website, e-commerce store, magazine site, viral site, social network, or any type of website you wish with little to no technical knowledge.
With WordPress.com, you can create a website in 30 minutes or less. So, do you really want to get started with WP.COM today? Don't forget to use the WordPress Promo Code when purchasing a paid plan to save some money.
Also, please share your WordPress website in the comment section below; we would love to review it.
Wish you all succeed 🙂
