WordPress Free vs Personal vs Premium. Which plan is best for you?

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WordPress Free vs Personal vs Premium, choosing the right plan.

WordPress.com actually offers a few plans: Free, Personal, Premium, Business and eCommerce. 

However, which plan is best for you? In this post, we are going to look at these various WordPress.com plans. 

Then you should be able to decide which WordPress.com plan is best for you Free, Personal, Premium, Business and eCommerce. 

Is WordPress hosting good?

WordPress hosting is good if you want many of the details of running a WordPress website handled for you. 

When you become a WordPress.com customer everything is a one-stop shop. You can purchase a custom domain. Then choose an appropriate plan. 

You can also pick from a variety of WordPress themes as well as plugins and other integrations which are all included depending on the WordPress plan you join.

In addition, you have access to WordPress.com’s support. All your security needs are also taken care of within WordPress.com.

However, you should note that even though all the main details of having a WordPress website are basically handled for you, these do have a cost as well as limitations when compared to self-hosted WordPress plans from other web hosting providers.

Does WordPress Premium include hosting?

All of WordPress.com’s plans include hosting, including premium.

WordPress.org vs WordPress, what’s the difference?

WordPress.org is a non-profit foundation that promotes the use of the WordPress OpenSource CMS. 

You can find thousands of free WordPress themes as well as plugins on WordPress.org. 

There are also various forums and other features of WordPress.org that discuss and promote the use of WordPress. 

Many of these places are great to use as a reference to learn more about WordPress the CMS, how it’s used as well as a place to ask any questions you may have and how to best optimize your WordPress website.

Whereas, WordPress.com is owned by the company called Automattic. The founders of our Automattic are also, coincidently, the founders of the WordPress open source CMS. 

Although WordPress, the CMS, as well as WordPress.org are open source, WordPress.com is the commercial arm of those founders of Automattic and WordPress.

WordPress.com offers web hosting plans as well as domain name registration and other WordPress related services on WordPress.com. 

Of course WordPress.com is the commercial version of WordPress and should not be confused with WordPress the open source CMS nor WordPress.org, which is a nonprofit organization. 

Although WordPress.org was also set up by the founders of WordPress and Automattic, they made sure that WordPress.org remained unaffiliated to Automattic, independent, not for profit and open source.

Is paying for WordPress worth it?

Whether it’s a WordPress theme, plugin or hosting on WordPress.com or WordPress is definitely worth paying for

If you are considering signing up to WordPress.com on one of their plans, you should know that when you do, everything is taken care of for you, unlike self-hosted WordPress plans with other hosting providers. 

For example, you will have a variety of premium themes, plugins as well as your hosting and very importantly, the security for your website all taken care of within WordPress.com. 

In addition, you will have 24-hour access to WordPress.com support if you have any questions or concerns about your WordPress website. 

WordPress.com is basically a one-stop shop for those who don’t have the time nor the desire to micromanage every aspect of their WordPress website or blog.

What does WordPress premium get you?

WordPress.com’s Premium Plan includes the following:

  • Jetpack Essential Features.
  • Pre-Installed SSL Certificate.
  • Free Domain for One Year.
  • Unlimited Email Support.
  • Basic Live Chat Support.
  • Storage Space 13GB.
  • Dozens of Free Themes.
  • Custom domain as default web address.
  • Remove WordPress.com Ads. 
  • Unlimited Premium Themes.
  • Advanced Design Customization.
  • Ability to Accept Payments.
  • Subscriber Only Content Capabilities.
  • Paid Newsletters.
  • Pay with PayPal. 
  • Ability to enable WordAds.
  • Advanced Social Media functions.
  • VideoPress Support.
  • Google Analytics Integration.

What is a premium domain in WordPress?

A premium domain is a domain that is already owned by another person, entity or registry. It can be significantly more expensive than a typical domain purchase because of its perceived higher value.

You should know that although WordPress’s premium plan does include the purchase of a custom domain name, i.e. any domain name that does not have “.wordpress.com”, in the end. It does not include the purchase of a “premium domain” name.

Can I upgrade my WordPress plan later?

Whether you host your WordPress website on WordPress.com free plan, personal, premium or business you can upgrade to any of WordPress.com’s plans later should your WordPress website’s needs and objectives change. 

The beauty of staying on WordPress.com and starting out on one of their plans is that you can easily migrate to another WordPress.com plan without migrating your entire website.

Can you start with a free WordPress plan then upgrade?

Of course you can start with WordPress.com’s free plan, then upgrade to a Personal, Premium, Business or eCommerce plan as your WordPress website needs change. 

Personally, I think one of the reasons why WordPress.com does offer a free plan is to hook in new WordPress users and what better way to do that than with a free blog or website and free hosting?

How do I cancel my premium WordPress?

Here is a link to WordPress.com’s cancellation policy.

Can I upgrade my free WordPress blog to premium?

You can not only upgrade your free WordPress blog to a premium plan, but you can upgrade any WordPress blog to a higher plan as well. You can also downgrade your WordPress.com plan too.

How much is WordPress personal plan?

Here is a pricing list of all of WordPress.com plans including a personal plan.

Can I pay WordPress monthly?

WordPress does offer both monthly and yearly subscriptions. So you can pay monthly for your WordPress plan. 

However, you should know that paying monthly will be more expensive than paying for a yearly subscription.

Is WordPress good for small business?

If you’re just starting out and you would like a flexible website presence on the internet, but you also are pretty new to this whole website internet thing for your business.

By going with WordPress.com you will be guided through the process and learn along the way, yet have all the essentials taken care of for you. This is where WordPress.com would be good for small business, especially when compared to other managed website platforms like Wix, SquareSpace and Weebly. Why?

You see, at least with WordPress, once you learn the essentials and you want to expand and have more control and flexibility over your website, you can move your entire website, including themes, plugins etc. to a self-hosting plan on another self-hosted hosting provider.

However, you do not have this type of flexibility, if you start your small business website with Wix, SquareSpace or even Weebly since they also own your theme and any customizations you’ve made to it. 

The only thing you can take with you if you leave those other platforms is your content. And even that process is more cumbersome, especially if you have a lot of it, including images, than it would be with WordPress.

How do I change my WordPress plan?

Here is are links on how you can change your WordPress plan:

Can you get your money back from WordPress?

Here is a link to WordPress.com’s refund policy.

WordPress Free vs Personal vs Premium, which plan should I use?

In my opinion, if you’re just starting out on the web and are looking for a free personal or even small business WordPress blog along with free hosting, then going with WordPress.com’s free plan is the way to go. 

The beauty of WordPress’s free blog plan and hosting is not only that it’s free, but it gives you a chance to learn about the whole WordPress CMS ecosystem. 

You can also upgrade at any time to one of WordPress.com’s other paid plans depending on your needs. 

However, I would recommend that you move at least to WordPress’s personal plan and get a custom domain name as soon as possible. 

Otherwise you will be stuck with a “wordpress.com” suffix at the end of your website’s address’s URL. This doesn’t look too professional if you’re looking to establish your brand online. 

Therefore, if you want to free yourself of all the major tasks of running a website like security certificates as well as website security in general, hosting, making sure all your themes and plugins are up-to-date, etc. and you want support, then WordPress.com’s plans would be good for you to get started with.

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