Given the above constraints, a designer might wonder why they would ever choose WordPress.com over a self-hosted WordPress.org site. Here are a few.
1. Backups – WordPress.com takes care of all backups for you. In their own words:
“ If a very large meteor were to hit all the WordPress.com servers and destroy them beyond repair, all of your data would still be safe and we could have your blog online within a couple of days (after the meteor situation died down, of course)”
2. Availability – WordPress.com is spread across hundreds of servers. The likelihood of all them failing at the same time is highly unlikely. This is not the case with your self-hosted WordPress.org installation. If it fails, all your blogs hosted on that server fail with it. And it’s up to you to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
3. Security – WordPress.com manages security for you and also provide fixes for any security issues that may turn up. Given the spate of recent WordPress hacks this is a critical issue. This more than anything would give someone a reason to move to WordPress.com.
Also following good security practices (like securing your admin panel through SSL) is a simple one-click operation with WordPress.com. When using WordPress.org, you have to install plugins to get this working or update your server to use SSL and install an SSL certificate.
To sum it all up, using WordPress.com may be a wonderful choice for someone that wants a turnkey solution that’s very easy to use. Very little stress and worry. However, just remember that a WordPress.com site is not completely under your control and that there are some design limitations.
If you are a small- to medium-sized business owner looking for a more robust, performative, and custom solution for your web presence, head on over to https://en.zaferhammour.com/ to request a free quote for your next design project.
