WordPress Pricing And Plans (2024 Guide)

WordPress started as a simple blogging tool but has evolved into the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world. Every day individuals and businesses of all sizes use it to build websites, run blogs and sell products online.

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org

It is important to make the distinction between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. While there are several differences between the platforms, the main difference is WordPress.com is a hosted blogging service that allows you to create a website with the WordPress software while WordPress.org is a self-hosted version that allows you to build a website on your own.

Generally, WordPress.org is good for those who want to build their website from the ground up and maintain complete control over their site. This requires coding knowledge and is not for novice website designers. WordPress.com, on the other hand, is much more user-friendly but does not allow for advanced website customization unless you purchase an expensive plan.

One of the main benefits of WordPress.org is the fact that it is free, however, as we all know, free doesn’t always mean completely free. To build a website with WordPress.org, you will first need to find a hosting company to host your website. There are several different types of hosting plans that can range in price from under $3 per month to $100 per month or more. Security, uptime, bandwidth, storage and customer support all factor into the cost of a web hosting plan.

Two popular web hosting services, Dreamhost and HostGator, are both official WordPress.org recommended hosting solutions. They are optimized specifically for WordPress.org, have a one-click install for WordPress and provide unique in-house WordPress speed and security solutions. Many top hosting companies include a free domain name. However, for those that do not, you will have to purchase a domain name separately from a domain name registrar for around $12 to 15 per year.

Other costs associated with creating a website using WordPress.org can include custom themes, templates and plugins. While most hosting plans provide free customizable themes, you might want to purchase a more advanced theme to further customize your website to meet your specific needs. Premium WordPress themes can cost anywhere from $20 to thousands of dollars depending on how much specialization and tweaking the theme requires. WordPress.org allows users to be as creative as they want to be with the installation of themes, templates and plugins, but that creativity can come at a hefty monetary price.

WordPress.org includes many free SEO tools, but there may come a time when your site grows beyond what the built-in options can offer. Once you’ve mastered your on-page WordPress SEO, you can use SEO software to bolster your site’s rankings in search results.

WordPress.com offers five plans tailored to meet specific needs.

Free

Price: Free
Best for: Personal use

WordPress has a free plan however it is extremely limited. The plan includes an SSL certificate, one gigabyte of storage and access to dozens of free themes, but that is about it. This plan is best for those who want a bare-bones website.

Personal

Price: $4 per month, billed yearly
Best for: Personal use

WordPress’ starter plan is great for personal use. At $4 a month (if billed annually), the plan includes 6GB of storage, a free domain for a year, about a dozen free themes, best-in-class hosting, SSL encryption for security, the ability to accept payments and unlimited email support. This is the perfect plan for a simple website or portfolio. Users are able to remove the ads that are included in the free version but still contain the WordPress.com branding in the footer.

The downside of the Personal plan is the limited customization options, advanced SEO tools and lack of premium themes and plugins mean the site cannot be fully customized. Besides offering a portfolio, creating a paid newsletter or subscriber-only content, there is not much else users can do with this plan.

Premium

Price: $8 per month, billed yearly
Best for: Freelancers

At $8 a month (if billed annually), the Premium plan begins to unlock customization features lacking in the Personal plan. The extra features include access to advanced theme templates including templates specifically tailored for businesses. Premium plan users can also customize their selected themes with extended color schemes, background designs and complete control over CSS.

The plan also unlocks useful marketing and monetization tools such as the ability to accept PayPal payments, the ability to schedule social media updates, Google Analytics integration for a deeper understanding of website visitors and customers and VideoPress support to easily upload videos.

Business

Price: $25 per month, billed yearly
Best for: Small businesses

The Business plan is a great fit for small businesses that want constant branding on their websites. At $25 per month (if billed annually), the plan allows for further customization with the ability to install custom plugins and themes purchased elsewhere or created specifically for your company. Business plan users also receive SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) and Database access, which gives them complete control of their website.

This plan also comes with a huge jump in storage—200GB up from 13GB with the Premium plan. Other upgraded features include the ability to upload custom themes and the removal of the WordPress.com branding from the website footer, the addition of SEO tools to enhance site content for better search engine results and one-click rewind to restore the site to an exact moment in time.

Commerce

Price: $45 per month, billed yearly
Best for: Online stores

The Commerce plan is for businesses looking to sell products or services online. The plan has all the advanced features of the Business plan with the addition of tools specifically for online stores. The plan includes the ability to accept payments from more than 60 countries, the ability to add and sell an unlimited number of products and a set of ecommerce marketing tools and integrations with top shipping carriers. WordPress’ Store Setup Checklist helps you easily add products, create shipping zones, set up taxes, select payment gateway options, customize your theme and more.

Paying for a full year upfront will cost $540 ($45 per month), which may feel like a large commitment. The savings may be worth it, however, as the month-to-month payment option is $50 per month, or $708 over the course of the year.

WordPress is a powerful content management system that can help individuals and businesses create top-of-the-line websites, but it is not the only one on the market. There is a wide range of platforms that require less coding knowledge and offer more intuitive design solutions. Here is how WordPress stacks up against its top competitors.

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Wix

Starting Price

$17 per month

Drag & Drop Editor

Yes

E-commerce (low-priced plan)

Yes

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Web.com

Starting price

$1.95 per month

Website Building

Yes

Standout Features

Customizable templates, Easy drag-and-drop technology, SSL certificate

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Squarespace

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$16 per month

Drag & Drop Editor

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E-commerce (low-priced plan)

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WordPress Pricing vs. Competitors

See also:

• Drupal Vs. WordPress
• Webflow Vs. WordPress
• Blogger Vs. WordPress

Bottom Line

You have plenty of options to create the website of your dreams between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. If you have coding know-how (or have the means to hire a developer) and want to create a website from the ground up, WordPress.org is a no-brainer. For those who want an easy way to get online instantly, WordPress.com is your best bet. The downside of WordPress.com is that you might not be able to customize the site as much as you would like unless you purchase one of the two top plans.