WordPress.com Business Plan Review – What You Get And Is It Worth It?
By joe fylan.
- Last updated: May 30, 2023
If you’re an experienced WordPress user, you’ve probably disregarded hosting your website with WordPress.com .
However, thanks to the launch of the WordPress.com ‘Business’ plan , many of the reasons why WordPress.com has been overlooked as a serious web host have been overcome (such as the ability to use your own plugins and themes, for example).
Not only that, but, in addition to overcoming the drawbacks of hosting your website with WordPress.com, the Business plan also includes some genuinely useful features and functionalities.
Below, we’ll explore all of the pros and cons of this service to help you to decide if this really is the best host for your website. Plus, we’ll also take a look at some results from our own independent website load speed tests and performance monitoring so you can see how it compares to other options.
Those who are brand new to WordPress may be wondering why hosting a website with WordPress.com — a company deeply connected with the founding and development of the WordPress software — isn’t the obvious choice. Below, we’ll help to explain why this is the case, but also why — with the arrival of the Business plan — many of the usual objections don’t really apply anymore!
WordPress.com hosting , and their Business plan in particular, still isn’t for everyone, though. So, to ensure this review is entirely balanced (as all good reviews should be, of course), we’ll also go into the cons/negatives of the service.
Let’s begin…
Table of Contents
Freedom to use your choice of themes and plugins, website creation help, website backups and site restoration, hosting from wordpress experts, no bandwidth limits, access to premium themes and plugins, support for custom code, best-of-both-worlds approach to content publishing and website management, access to server space and databases, what about the other wordpress.com hosting plans, why not just use regular web hosting, plugin restrictions and conditions, transferable client sites, multiple website environments, ecommerce support, lightweight theme speed test results, multipurpose theme speed test results, wordpress.com page speed summary, wordpress.com business plan vs the competition, wordpress.com load impact performance testing, wordpress.com uptime test results, wordpress.com business hosting technical details, final thoughts, main features of wordpress.com business hosting.
Before we get to the reasons why you may not want to sign up with WordPress.com Business hosting, here are some of the best reasons to consider this option for your website.
Being able to use any theme you like or install all of the plugins you want may not sound like much to anyone who’s hosted a WordPress website with companies such as Bluehost , GoDaddy or SiteGround ( read our comparison post here ).
However, up until relatively recently, if you wanted to use the WordPress.com hosting services, you were severely limited when it came to which themes and plugins you could use on your website.
Now, though, customers of the WordPress.com Business hosting plan can not only search for and install themes and plugins directly from within their WordPress dashboard, but they can also upload themes and plugins from their computer — including those they’ve purchased directly from other sources, or even ones they’ve created themselves.
There are some plugins that aren’t allowed , such as WP Super Cache, BackWPup and Advanced Database Cleaner. However, having a list of prohibited plugins is a pretty common practice with many managed WordPress hosts, including WP Engine and Kinsta (read our comparison here ), who also ban plugins that might negatively affect the service they provide.
Fortunately, the features of the banned plugins, such as caching, website backups and other optimization tools are available to you as part of the WordPress.com Business hosting plan. Because of this, you’re not really missing out on any essential functionality. Instead, you’re just getting access to these features directly from your web host, rather than from third-party plugin developers. This could even be a benefit, because if anything goes wrong, or if you need help, you’ve only got one company to deal with, rather than multiple providers.
Whether you’re new to creating websites or you need some inspiration for your next project, you should find the WordPress.com website creation wizard useful. Although you can use the default WordPress user experience that’s available with self-hosted websites, with WordPress.com hosting, you also get the option of walking through the setup process to launch your site.
( click to enlarge )
As well as the helpful checklist, the wizard also lays the foundation for your site by asking what type of project you’re working on. Throughout the wizard, the live chat icon is displayed, giving you a quick way to get help from the support staff should you need it.
After you’ve chosen the type of website you want to create, such as a blog or business site, you can then apply one of the prebuilt styles or demos. There are lots of them to choose from, so, no matter what you’re working on, you should find a relevant option.
Once you’ve defined what type of website you want to create, the wizard will add some content and show you the relevant options related to themes and other design decisions.
You can also quickly choose from the available formatting styles through the wizard, enabling you to change the fonts, colors and other display properties of your site.
Once the site is starting to take shape, you can begin editing the placeholder content and adding your own text through the intuitive interface. Simply click on the text you want to edit, and you can type directly into the page.
Finally, you can choose a domain name or address for your website. The WordPress.com wizard will help you to find a suitable address and domain name extension, and you get the domain name free for the first year as part of the WordPress.com Business plan (although you will have to pay to renew it each following year).
As part of the service, Business plan customers can also schedule a one-on-one session with a member of the WordPress.com support staff to help set up their site and learn more about the WordPress software.
Although you don’t have to use the wizard, as you can see, it’s a comprehensive tool that will help new website owners and WordPress users quickly build the outline of their site. While there are lots of third-party website builder tools for WordPress, it’s nice to have access to one that’s been built by the WordPress team, and that integrates seamlessly into the WordPress software.
Everything’s Managed for You
Not only do they help you to launch your website, but they’ll also manage it for you — or at least many of the most important aspects of running a WordPress website.
What this means in practice is that the WordPress.com team will do their best to ensure your website is running smoothly and securely. So, for example, if your website suddenly becomes popular, maybe after an article has gone viral or your audience has gradually grown, extra server resources will be seamlessly allocated to your site. This is all done without the need to upgrade your plan or move your website, as can be the case with some other hosts.
You can also set the plugins you’ve installed to be automatically updated (although, even if you don’t enable this feature, some plugins will be updated anyway if a security-related fix is made available).
As part of this managed service, your website is automatically backed up each day. Restoring a backup and rewinding your site to one of the backup points is very straightforward, and you can also download the backup files for safekeeping.
As this functionality is provided via the premium VaultPress service, also from Automattic (the company behind WordPress.com, whose founder also helped to create WordPress), you get access to one of the best WordPress backup solutions around as part of the WordPress.com Business plan. If you do download a backup, the extracted archive gives you access to all of the files that make up your website, including the WordPress database.
Another really nice feature of the WordPress.com Business hosting service is that you can view a list of the last thousand activities that have been carried out on your site from your dashboard. This includes who has logged in, when and from which IP address.
Although not everything is logged, a lot of activities are, including plugin-related activity, content creation and deletion, and other changes to your site. From the activity log, it’s possible to rewind to before a previous action was performed.
So, if you’ve accidentally deleted a page, for example, you should be able to effectively undo this action via the activity log. However, you will lose any of the other changes you made to your site since that point.
Although the backups and restore points can be accessed through your website dashboard, if your site is down or unavailable, perhaps due to a fatal error, it’s still possible to use the backup functionality to restore your site to a previous point.
While most web hosts provide some type of backup solution, this VaultPress-powered system from WordPress.com is the most functional and easy to use so far.
Many of the best managed and shared WordPress hosts pride themselves on hiring expert support staff to look after the websites of their customers and provide them with assistance when they need help.
These companies also optimize their servers and the other technology they use to get the best performance out of WordPress.
While that’s great, if you choose to become a WordPress.com Business customer, you’ll effectively be cutting out the middleman and hosting your website directly with the company whose founder helped to create WordPress, and who continues to support the development of this software.
You also get 24/7 access to the WordPress.com support staff, or Happiness Engineers as they like to call them, via the live chat and email ticketing channels. During testing for this WordPress.com Business review, the support staff was both responsive and helpful.
So, in theory, if there’s anyone who knows how to host, manage and support WordPress websites and their owners, it should be WordPress.com.
The WordPress.com and WordPress.org connection doesn’t guarantee a high-end service, though. So, to help establish what type of service customers do get access to, the speed tests, uptime monitoring and load handling results later on in this review will reveal what the actual situation is.
There are no bandwidth or visitor limits in place on the Business plan, something that is pretty rare when it comes to managed WordPress hosting.
The 200 GB storage space is generous too, making the WordPress.com Business plan an attractive option if you want to host large files or receive lots of traffic to your website — especially in this price range.
The WordPress.com plans now also have improved support for hosting podcasts , so, if you’re thinking about starting your own show, this is another reason to consider this host for your website. Video hosting is also well accommodated, thanks to the VideoPress player and support on the Business plan.
Customers on the Business plan (and lower-priced Premium plan) get access to a selection of themes they’d otherwise have to pay to use. At the time of writing, there were more than 200 premium themes to choose from , as well as even more free themes.
The themes cover a wide range of styles and purposes, so, whatever type of website you’re going to build, there’s a good chance you won’t have to pay for a premium theme from elsewhere if you sign up with the Business plan from WordPress.com.
Also, as these themes are available from inside your WordPress.com dashboard, they can be easily accessed and quickly applied to your website. The interface makes it easy to filter the themes by their features and what type of website they’re suited to creating. Furthermore, they’ve all been approved by the WordPress theme review team , so they should have all been produced to a high standard.
However, if access to premium WordPress themes at no extra cost is important to you, then you may be interested to know that WP Engine customers get access to all of the StudioPress themes as part of their hosting plans.
When it comes to premium plugins, Jetpack from Automattic — the company behind WordPress.com — is activated on your site by default. Although Jetpack and its core features are free for anyone to use, customers on the WordPress.com Business plan get access to some of the Jetpack modules from the paid plans , which would cost from $11.97 a month if purchased separately.
Among the features of the Professional Jetpack plan are tools to increase the performance of your site, extra security features, and social media automation functionality. You can find out more about the tools you get access to in our recent guide to the Jetpack plugin .
Of course, as covered earlier, one of the key features of the Business plan, over the cheaper options from WordPress.com, is that you can install your choice of free and paid plugins from other providers.
As well as having the freedom to install your choice of themes and plugins (apart from those in the list of incompatible extensions), as a WordPress.com Business user you can also customize your website through the use of custom code. So, if you want to modify a theme beyond what’s possible through its options and settings, edit an existing plugin or customize the WordPress functionality in some other way, you can do so.
That said, if you really want to make major custom code-related changes to your WordPress website, you should contact the WordPress.com support staff before signing up to discuss your needs and find out if they can be accommodated, just in case they go against the terms of service .
When it comes to managing your WordPress website, including configuring the settings, creating content, and installing plugins and themes, this functionality can be accessed through the WordPress.com custom dashboard.
This WordPress.com dashboard is different from the default dashboard of self-hosted WordPress websites, and it does a good job of simplifying the default WordPress user experience. However, you can also use the default WordPress dashboard if you want the ‘true’ WordPress experience.
With access to both user interfaces, those who are new to WordPress, as well as those who’ve found the default WordPress user interface overwhelming or confusing, should appreciate the simplified dashboard of the WordPress.com service.
However, those who prefer the pure WordPress user experience, with direct access to all of the features and functionality of the default WordPress dashboard, should be happy to know they can manage their site and create content in this way.
Some of the features of the WordPress.com Business plan, such as the backup system and the premium theme library, are only accessible through the WordPress.com dashboard. Therefore, it’s good to see that you can quickly switch between the two interfaces as needed.
This choice of user interfaces and experiences should help the WordPress.com Business plan appeal to anyone who has a self-hosted WordPress website and is worried about a potential loss in functionality when migrating to the WordPress.com service. At the other end of the spectrum, those who prefer a more streamlined approach to website management should find the choice of dashboards appealing, too.
As the default WordPress dashboard and admin area has grown in functionality over the years, it has become a little overwhelming, especially for those new to WordPress.
To overcome this, more and more web hosts are now attempting to implement their own user interfaces for simplifying the WordPress user experience. However, the WordPress.com team have probably come up with the best solution so far for creating a user-friendly interface that simplifies managing a website without sacrificing any functionality.
Most but not all managed WordPress hosting services let you use an online file manager or FTP software to access the server space where your website is stored. With this access, you can create, delete and edit the files on your server. You can also upload files, such as plugins, themes, and any other types permitted by your host.
One of the benefits of this server access is that you can quickly edit the files that make up your WordPress website, such as the wp-config.php file, allowing you to change how WordPress works or fix certain issues, such as the database connection error .
In the past, it wasn’t possible to access your server space in this way or access the database for your WordPress website. Now though, this access is available on the WordPress.com Business plan.
Relatively Affordable
After looking at the features of the WordPress.com Business plan, it’s clear this service can legitimately be called managed WordPress hosting; the results from our performance testing of the two sites hosted on the WordPress.com Business plan (which we’re about to get to) also demonstrate this.
So, with that in mind, and the fact that the entry-level plans from popular managed WordPress hosting companies such as WP Engine and Kinsta also come in at $25 (if you pay for a year upfront), the $25-a-month price of the WordPress.com Business plan makes this a relatively affordable option, provided you choose to pay annually.
If you decide to pay monthly, then the fee is $33 a month. You also lose access to a few features by paying monthly instead of annually, such as the free one-year domain registration and live chat support.
Although you can pay much less by choosing budget shared hosting from a company such as HostGator or Bluehost , you won’t get access to the same level of features or performance as you do from the WordPress.com Business plan.
It’s worth pointing out that the prices listed above are for customers in the US. You might pay a different rate based on your location.
If you’re on a tight budget, but would still like your website to be hosted by WordPress.com, the other lower-priced plans may be of interest:
- Personal: $4 a month, billed yearly with 6 GB storage space.
- Premium: $8 a month, billed yearly with 13 GB storage space.
- Business: $25 a month, billed yearly with 200 GB storage space.
- eCommerce: $45 a month, billed yearly with 200 GB storage space.
The main drawback of the cheaper plans (Personal and Premium), compared with the Business plan, is that you can’t upload themes and install plugins. You can’t remove the WordPress.com branding either, and there are limits on storage space.
If you’d like to know more about the different plans, you can view all of their details on the WordPress.com website .
Now that the WordPress.com Business hosting plan gives you pretty much the same freedom with plugins and themes as regular shared and managed WordPress hosting, why not just use a company such as SiteGround or WP Engine to host your website?
That’s a good question, and, hopefully, one the results from our performance tests will help you to answer. But it’s not just about site speed. As this review has hopefully shown, features like the powerful and intuitive backup system, the user-friendly WordPress.com dashboard and the website setup wizard make this service an appealing hosting option.
Drawbacks of WordPress.com Business Hosting
Before we get to the test data, there are some reasons why WordPress.com Business hosting may not be right for you.
As mentioned earlier in this review, there are a few plugins you can’t install on your website.
While the list of incompatible plugins shouldn’t contain any surprises to those who’ve looked at managed hosting before and seen the lists of plugins those companies disallow, you should definitely check the list yourself before signing up with WordPress.com Business hosting.
At the other end of the spectrum, websites hosted on the WordPress.com Business plan must use the Akismet anti-spam plugin and the Jetpack plugin. Although the Jetpack plugin has some excellent features , some people may resent having to use it. However, it’s not uncommon for other WordPress hosts to have mandatory plugins that their customers must install, such as caching and site management tools.
Lacking Some Features Found Elsewhere
If you choose premium managed WordPress hosting from a company such as WP Engine or Flywheel , or even some lower-priced shared hosting plans, including those from SiteGround, you get access to some features that aren’t available on the WordPress.com Business hosting plan.
One such feature is the ability to create private sites for your clients that aren’t publicly available or billed for until they’re ready to go live. So, if you’re a web designer looking for a host that can help you collaborate with clients, and conveniently transfer ownership of the sites you create, there are probably better options out there than WordPress.com Business hosting.
Also, if you’d like the ability to work on a development or staging version of your website, before pushing those changes to your live site at the touch of a button, this functionality isn’t available from WordPress.com Business hosting.
Another set of functionality not available on the WordPress.com Business plan is the ability to create an eCommerce store. Although you can add a simple PayPal button to your website that does allow you to sell items online, if you want to create a fully-featured online store, you’ll need to upgrade to the more expensive $45-a-month eCommerce plan .
Lastly, while the WordPress.com user interface is well designed, it isn’t as nice to look at as the stylish Flywheel customer portal .
WordPress.com Business Performance Test Results
So, now we’ve covered the pros and cons of the WordPress.com Business hosting plan, let’s take a look at perhaps the most important factors to take into consideration when choosing a web host — the site speed, uptime levels and ability to handle multiple visitors at once.
WordPress.com Loading Time Test Results
First up, to test the speed of this host, two WordPress websites were created on two different WordPress.com Business accounts. On one site, the default and lightweight Twenty Nineteen theme was used, and, on the other, the popular and heavyweight Avada theme was installed and activated.
Testing the performance of the websites using these two contrasting themes should give you an idea of how quickly your website could load, depending on the style of theme you plan to use, and type of website you’ll be managing.
For the speed tests, the loading times of a URL from each site was monitored by Pingdom. On the site using the heavyweight Avada theme, the URL of the homepage was monitored, and for the lightweight Twenty Nineteen theme, a blog post.
The loading times of those URLs were recorded by Pingdom every 30 minutes over a period of seven days, giving an average load time for each site.
The Twenty Nineteen theme is activated on new WordPress websites by default, and is a good example of a lightweight theme someone may use for a simple blog or basic business site. Once the site was set up, a basic page was created that included some text and an image. The rest of the site, including the settings and plugins installed by WordPress.com, were left in their default state.
After seven days of monitoring, where the speed of the site was recorded every 30 minutes, the average loading time of the test page of the website hosted on the WordPress.com Business plan was 603 milliseconds.
This average loading time is very respectable, and indicates that the WordPress.com Business plan is more than capable of hosting blogs and simple websites. Now, on to the results of the website using the heavyweight theme.
As Avada is one of the most popular WordPress themes around — if not the most popular — it’s a suitable choice for creating feature-rich websites for testing.
Once the second site hosted on the other WordPress.com Business plan was set up, the premium Avada theme was installed, and one of the demos from its library of options was imported. The Avada Agency website demo was chosen for this test as it included lots of popular features, such as sliders and video backgrounds.
As well as the plugins that are automatically applied to any website hosted on the WordPress.com Business plan, the Avada theme also activates a few plugins when it’s installed. All of these plugins, as well as the WordPress settings, were left in their default states.
The file size of the page being tested from this site was much larger than the test page on the other site, and, because of this, the average loading time after seven days of monitoring by Pingdom was 1.06 seconds or 1,060 milliseconds.
As the image above shows, the test page on the site using the heavyweight Avada time loaded in an impressive amount of time. This was despite the file size of the page being much larger than the test page from the site using the lightweight theme.
To summarize, both of the test websites hosted on the WordPress.com Business plan performed well in the Pingdom page speed tests:
- Lightweight Twenty Nineteen theme average loading time: 603 milliseconds (382.39 KB page size).
- Heavyweight Avada theme average loading time: 1.06 seconds (5.29 MB page size).
However, as the test site using the heavyweight Avada theme performed especially well, it appears the WordPress.com Business plan is a particularly good choice for anyone using this type of theme or creating pages with large file sizes.
It’s also worth pointing out that no efforts were made to optimize the test sites. Therefore, if you focused on making your WordPress website load faster , by, for example, reducing image file sizes, minifying files, or enabling gzip compression, you could be able to get even better results from your WordPress.com hosted site.
In a recent comparison of WP Engine and Kinsta , we also tested the loading times of a website using the Avada theme.
Although this article isn’t a comparison of these hosts, it’s interesting to note that the site using the same heavyweight theme had better loading times on the WordPress.com Business plan, compared with the times of the sites hosted on the entry-level WP Engine and Kinsta plans.
However, the site hosted by WordPress.com that was using the lightweight Twenty Nineteen theme wasn’t as fast when compared with the Kinsta and WP Engine-hosted sites using the same theme.
Interestingly, in tests we carried out for our SiteGround GoGeek vs StartUp comparison , when it came to the lightweight theme, the sites hosted on these cheaper plans loaded in similar times to those on the WordPress.com Business plan.
However, when it came to the heavyweight theme, the loading times of the site hosted on the shared SiteGround plans weren’t as impressive as those hosted on the WordPress.com Business plan.
These results support the point made earlier that, if you’re planning to create a simple site using a lightweight theme, the loading times from a good shared host such as SiteGround may be similar to those you’d get from the WordPress.com Business plan.
However, if you’re going to use a popular multipurpose theme such as Divi or Avada , or your website will contain lots of images and other assets with large file sizes, you’ll likely get better performance from the WordPress.com Business plan.
Pure page speed isn’t the only metric we looked at for our WordPress.com Business plan review. We also wanted to know how well the sites hosted on this plan could handle multiple visitors accessing them at the same time.
As our test sites don’t actually receive any traffic, we used the Load Impact service to simulate multiple visitors accessing the site simultaneously.
For this performance test, the homepage of the website using the heavyweight Avada theme was monitored by Load Impact. The service simulated 250 users accessing the page, increasing from one virtual user to 250 simultaneous users at a steady rate during a ten-minute test.
In the graph below, the blue line represents the number of virtual users (VU) accessing the site at the same time, while the green line displays the load time of the page.
As you can see from the graph above, the load time of the site didn’t suffer as the number of virtual users simultaneously accessing it increased to 250. You can see the results and other details from this test for yourself on the Load Impact website .
As this level of performance compares well with the results from the same Load Impact tests from our Kinsta and WP Engine reviews, it puts the WordPress.com Business plan in the same category as the similarly priced entry-level plans from those two managed WordPress hosts when it comes to the ability to handle the load of multiple users simultaneously accessing the site.
Measuring the downtime of a website is another good way to test the performance of a host. So, for ten days, we monitored the availability of our test sites with the Pingdom uptime checker service.
As the results show, one of our test sites didn’t experience any downtime, while the other was unavailable for one minute during ten days of monitoring.
Considering uptime is even more important than page speed, it’s great to see that our test sites were available for at least 99.99 percent of the time.
Before we conclude this WordPress.com Business hosting review, here are some technical details about the service that you may be interested in:
- Website caching: Custom caching solution that’s able to scale when needed, without intervention from site owners.
- Content Delivery Network (CDN): Website content is automatically distributed to servers around the world .
- PHP: Currently PHP version 7.2.19 is in use, and it isn’t possible to change versions. Latest version information can be found here .
- HTTP/2.0: HTTP/2.0 is supported.
- SSL: Free SSL certificates from Let’s Encrypt are applied to your site, but there isn’t an option to use your own certificates from elsewhere.
- SFTP: FTP access to the servers or storage space is now available.
- Server file manager: No online browser-based file manager for access to the server or support for file manager plugins.
- Database access: PHPMyAdmin and MySQL access are now available on the WordPress.com Business plan.
- Email service: There’s no email service, but you can use email forwarding or use a third-party email provider with your domain.
- WordPress website management: The WordPress software is updated automatically.
- Plugin restrictions: There’s a list of incompatible plugins that aren’t allowed.
- Security measures: Traffic is monitored to detect suspicious activity, and site security is regularly tested as part of the WordPress.com security measures .
- Post-hack clean-up services: WordPress.com will provide assistance if your site is hacked.
- Data center locations: You cannot choose a data center location or decide where your website will be hosted. However, the CDN distributes your website content to multiple global locations .
- Staging sites: There’s no facility for creating staging sites under your WordPress.com account, and staging plugins aren’t supported.
- WordPress website migration: You can use the All in One WP Migration plugin or follow the instructions to move your WordPress website to WordPress.com Business hosting.
- Uptime checks and guarantee: There are no uptime guarantees in place or monitoring for downtime.
- Support channels: WordPress.com Business plan customers have access to the email live chat support service 24/7.
Hopefully, that answers any remaining questions you may have about the service. If not, feel free to leave a comment, or contact the very helpful and responsive WordPress.com pre-sales team via their live chat channel.
The WordPress.com Business plan is very impressive.
The ability to install your own choice of themes and plugins means that the WordPress.com Business plan should be included in any discussion of the best managed WordPress hosts . As well as functionality, the results from the testing show that this service can compete on performance with the best hosts in this price range.
Add in the extra benefits of the WordPress.com Business plan, such as access to premium themes, the powerful backup system, and website setup wizard, not to mention the competitive pricing, and this service emerges as one of the best options for WordPress website owners looking for premium hosting.
In the past, the hosted WordPress.com service has been considered an inferior alternative to the self-hosted WordPress experience. Now, though, the Business plan from WordPress.com overcomes nearly all of the objections anyone may have to choosing this service over traditional web hosting.
So, if you’re looking for the best hosting experience for your website, the WordPress.com Business plan should definitely be on your shortlist.
Used/using WordPress.com Business hosting? Thoughts?
Related Reading:
- WordPress Hosting Explained: Shared, VPS, Dedicated or Managed WordPress Hosting – Which to Choose and Why?!
- SiteGround vs WordPress.com – Which is the Best Host for a WordPress Website?
- Bluehost vs WordPress.com – Which Offers The Best WordPress Hosting?
- DreamHost vs WordPress.com – Which Is The Best Choice For Hosting A WordPress Website?
- WordPress.com WooCommerce Hosting Reviewed – How Good Is It? Worth The Money?
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Great review – this is a solid analysis and I appreciated the specific points you were testing vs just raw pagespeed. Thanks for your work!
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WordPress Pricing And Plans (2024 Guide)
Updated: Jul 9, 2024, 9:28am
Table of Contents
What is wordpress, wordpress.org pricing and plans, wordpress.com pricing and plans, top wordpress alternatives, frequently asked questions.
WordPress has come a long way since 2003. What started out as a simple blogging tool has evolved into a major content management system that powers almost half of the world’s websites. WordPress.org and its related site WordPress.com help small business owners create an online store, artists build a portfolio to showcase talent and service providers build an appointment-based website. Read our WordPress pricing guide to discover the best option for your needs and budget.
Featured Partners
$17 per month
On Wix's Website
Squarespace
$16 per month
On Squarespace's Website
$15 per month
AI Content Assistant, drag-and-drop editor, premium hosting, live chat
On Hubspot's Website
$1.95 per month
Customizable templates, Easy drag-and-drop technology, SSL certificate
On Web.com's Website
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.
| WordPress.org | WordPress.com | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free + hosting fee | Free to $45 per month (if billed annually) | ||
| Domain Name | Usually free for one year with hosting plan | Free for one year (if billed annually) | ||
| Open Source | Yes | No | ||
| Allow Plugins | Yes | Only for Business and eCommerce plans | ||
| Storage | Varies by hosting company | 1GB to 200GB | ||
| Support | Community forums and guides | Email support, chat support, 24/7 priority chat support, community forums and guides, depending on plan | ||
| Install Custom Themes | Yes | Only for Business and eCommerce plans |
| Key Features | What’s Missing? | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dozens of free themes | Free domain | |||
| Pre-Installed SSL Certificate | Email support | |||
| 1GB storage space | Custom domain as default web address |
| Key Features | What’s Missing? | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free domain for one year (if billed annually) | Live chat support | |||
| Collect payments | Premium themes | |||
| Unlimited email support | Ability to upload videos |
| Key Features | What’s Missing? | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics integration | Advanced SEO tools | |||
| Earn ad revenue | Accept payments in 60-plus countries | |||
| Premium themes | One-click restore |
| Key Features | What’s Missing? | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access to more than 50,000 WordPress plugins | Integrations with top shipping carriers | |||
| Automated site backups and one-click restore | Premium design options for online stores | |||
| SFTP, SSH, WP-CLI and Database access | Accept payments in 60-plus countries |
| Key Features | What’s Missing? | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| e-commerce marketing tools | Abandoned cart recovery | |||
| Premium design options for online stores | URL redirect manager | |||
| Integrations with top shipping carriers |
| WordPress | Wix | Squarespace | Weebly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Monthly Price Range | $4 to $59 | $17 to $159 | $16 to $72 | $6 to $29 |
| Blogging Tools | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Built-In E-Commerce | Only for eCommerce plan | For Business Basic, Business Unlimited and Business VIP plans | For Business, Basic Commerce and Advanced Commerce plans | All plans |
| Storage Range | 1GB to 200GB | 500MB to Unlimited | Unlimited on all plans | 500MB to Unlimited |
| SSL Certification | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Price Comparison parameters | WordPress.com Business plan | Self-hosted WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| – One free domain you get in this plan | Around $20 for buying a new domain | |
| no additional cost | from $250-350 per year | |
| It provides lots of options in Premium themes at no additional cost, however, you may buy any other theme of your choice and install it. The best part is if one premium theme doesn’t suit you, you may try any number of other premium themes at no extra cost. However, if you still want to upload the theme of your choice, the business plan allows it. | from $50 to $90 | |
| – With a business plan, you get thousands of plugins at no extra cost. | from $200 to 500 per year. | |
| No additional cost, you may take guidance from technical support | DIY free or pay up to $200 to hire a professional to install WordPress, themes, plugins, and further help | |
| $300 to $315 per year | $500 to $1100 per year. |
5. WordPress Business plan Review: pros & cons
- No worries about any technicality of running a website.
- Powerful Gutenberg editor for impressive blogs or articles.
- 24×7 live chat support, which usually responds within 10 seconds
- Highly skilled technical support professionals, who can resolve any technical issue. Even once you tell them a problem over chat, they may correct it on their end on your behalf.
- Highly secures the environment.
- Access to premium themes, that are paid otherwise.
- SEO tools like Yoast SEO plugin.
- Easy migration from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress.
- Beyond a certain level, you may not customize the site.
- The mobile version of the website is not customizable.
- You have to go through a small period of a learning curve.
6. My review: Is a WordPress business plan worth it?
Yes of course!
Let me explain it to you in detail with some related stories of my own hands-on experience with the business plan for around 3 years.
My conclusion is that if you are a beginner or at an intermediate level now, I recommend you to go for it. Surely Business plan is worth it, even if it delivers more than its pricing!
But, if you are an experienced blogger and managing 3-4 website/s successfully with good traffic for quite a long, better if you opt for Managed WordPress Hosting , but not for the WP-hosted Business plan.
At the beginner level, you need a constant helping hand , which is just a live chat away. You just ask for anything related to your website, super-expert professionals will immediately answer your question and if required, they will do the required things on their own.
I have experienced one website, with a WordPress Business plan for almost 3 years. Later, as I felt that now I can manage the website on my own and needed a lot of customization. Then I migrated to WordPress.org on the self-hosted environment, as I had to handle 10+ websites.
Now I know how to handle more than 10 live websites and I am successfully managing them. This confidence, I gained from my experience
For whatever reason, if you are not opting for the business plan, I suggest you go for Managed WordPress hosting.
We recommend the following Managed WP Hosting providers:
Let me explain, why you should choose either the WordPress Business plan or Managed WordPress Hosting ?
WordPress.com Business plan or Managed WordPress Hosting
- If you are a beginner, go for the WP Business plan, as with their excellent and unmatchable support, you need not bother about your website. They are almost always more than eager to help you by providing you the crucial information and sailing you through your new journey. Moreover, you will get many premium plugins & themes at no additional cost. Not only for beginners but is highly useful for anyone running a single website. There are people I know, who took their website to heights solely running for years on WordPress Business plan. The business plan website is powerful enough to handle any amount of traffic and provides hundreds of premium plugins and themes at no additional cost.
- If you are managing your own multiple websites with decent traffic, better you go for Managed WP hosting . In this case, you will have more time to focus on your core business activity & content creation. Although, if your multiple websites are not generating good traffic, better if you opt for a normal self-hosted plan.
Check reasons, why the business plan is worth it & you should definitely go for it.
Say, if you started your blogging journey, just a few months back!
Just imagine…
Take two scenarios,
- Trial & Error method by opting for WordPress.com free plan or cheap hosting plan.
- As you have neither knowledge nor budget, so you try many online sources. Further, you will be in dilemma, where to start, what to choose & how to do it?
Trial & Error method
In this case, you must accept a few things:
- You are in the beginner learning phase, which may last in the next few months to 2-3 years period, depending on your focus & regular work on this platform.
- There are high chances that you will try so many new things & most of the time, it will be – ‘Back to square one’.
- For most bloggers, this phase is the try & error phase. Better you take help from experts and understand the platform and related issues, rather than wasting time through the ‘try & error’ method.
The dilemma of where to start, what to choose & how to do it?
In this case, see what normally happens & how most aspiring webpreneurs act!
As you don’t have any prior knowledge, therefore you search for a good web-development agency or a web designer. You talked over the phone and scheduled a meeting at his place.
He explained things, and how he will do them. Now it comes to fees. After listening to the fee, you are just shocked and for you, the dream seems to be shattered. Not to be surprised a decent web designer or developer may charge over $500 for delivering a normal website.
But, you are brave, you can’t accept defeat. You read tons of articles, but you become more confused. Then you joined a couple of web forums, Google & Facebook groups to get guidance…
Say, now you have decided to go for 1st option. As a beginner, you thought that better publish the content on the free plan on any website builder or on WordPress. But again you checked the internet and chose the WordPress dot com Free plan.
As of today you are publishing the content on WordPress.com free website and hoping to develop the understanding in the next 2-3 years.
That’s it.
It’s not a joke. This is the story of many hundred thousand aspiring webpreneurs!
Wrapping up
So better you choose a great platform, which will help you in a professional manner and in a way also keep you on track through a kind of induction program.
Whenever you will be in a doubt about any issue or difficulty, just do live chat, which will start almost immediately throughout the year 24×7. They are highly qualified professionals with hands-on experience with the WordPress platform & plugins. They are experts, who know very well, how to run a website.
I bet, by using WordPress Business Plan, within a few months you will come to know about key aspects of running a portal and probably earn at least a few USD from WordPress’s own WordsAd monetization program.
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WordPress Plans Explained: WordPress.com or Self-Hosted?
Decided to finally start your own blog and considering WordPress as your platform? That’s great! However, there are many WordPress plans available, so it can be challenging to pick the right one.
This article will give you an overview of WordPress plans and explain the differences between WordPress.com and the self-hosted version. Let’s go!
📚 Table of contents:
- The difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
- 👉 WordPress plans IN DETAIL
Which WordPress plan is best for blogging?
A quick explanation of the difference between wordpress.com vs wordpress.org.
First, let’s talk about the main difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org (or self-hosted WordPress).
WordPress.com is a fully hosted solution, which means you can sign up for an account, make a few tweaks to your theme, and launch your blog immediately. However, its features are limited, and you’ll have to invest in more pricey plans to access many of the customization options.
On the other hand, self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org) requires an additional web hosting service , so you can’t use it on its own. However, even the cheapest hosting plan will grant you access to the platform’s full set of features.
You can choose from several types of WordPress hosting plans . Most starting bloggers opt for shared hosting as it’s the most affordable and sufficient for small sites. However, as your website grows, you might need to consider more powerful plans.
Many providers offer beginner-friendly WordPress services, including Bluehost , SiteGround , or Hostinger . They all feature one-click WordPress installation and intuitive dashboards, so even inexperienced users should be able to navigate them.
On the other hand, WordPress.com makes things simple by offering you an all-in-one solution. Apart from the free version, you can choose from four plans that are suitable for different kinds of websites:
- Personal: Entry-level plan for users who want to use a custom domain.
- Premium: More advanced features for professional bloggers.
- Business: Access to custom plugins and themes.
- eCommerce: Designed for online stores.
Let’s look at some blogger-friendly options in more detail.
WordPress plans explained (four top options)
First, we’ll give you an overview of WordPress.com. Note that the Business and eCommerce packages are not designed for bloggers. Therefore we’ll focus on the free, Personal , and Premium plans. Then we’ll explain the difference between WordPress personal and premium plans and discuss the benefits of self-hosted WordPress for bloggers.
1. WordPress.com Free
If you don’t mind a generic subdomain name (such as example.wordpress.com ), you can opt for a free WordPress.com blog. This option includes:
- Free SSL certificate
- 3 GB storage
- Essential Jetpack plugin features
- Access to free themes
The features are severely limited, so you won’t be able to remove the WordPress.com ads or monetize the site yourself. You also won’t be able to use plugins, and you’ll be stuck with free themes. Plus, there’s no customer support available with the free plan, so it may not be an appealing option for serious bloggers.
2. WordPress.com Personal Plan
The Personal plan gives you 6 GB of storage and basic personalization options, such as a custom domain and the ability to remove WordPress.com ads. You can also create paid newsletters and subscriber-only content, which requires an additional plugin to set up with the self-hosted version of the platform.
However, you won’t be able to do much else, and you can only reach customer support via email. This plan costs $4 per month.
3. WordPress.com Premium Plan
To unlock extra features, you’ll need to invest $8 per month for the WordPress.com Premium plan. This option gives you access to 13 GB storage and premium themes, which you can customize with CSS.
It also comes with handy monetization and marketing features such as Google Analytics integration , WordAds, the ability to accept payments via PayPal, and a social media scheduling tool. However, you still won’t be able to install plugins or choose custom themes for your blog.
4. What is the difference between WordPress personal and premium
You probably already got somewhat of an idea of the difference between the two WordPress pricing plans from reading above. Aside from the fact that the WordPress premium plan is double the cost of the WordPress personal plan, the two plans also differ on some key features. The main ones that you can get with the WordPress premium plan that you can’t get with the WordPress personal plan include the following:
- Live chat support
- Earn ad revenue
- Google analytics integration
- Accept payments via PayPal
- Advanced social media functions
- Ability to upload videos via VideoPress
- Access to premium WordPress themes
- Control over your WordPress site’s CSS code
Despite these differences, regardless of which WordPress pricing plan you go with, you’ll still be able to collect payments (only the premium plan supports PayPal though); receive email support from WordPress customer service; and the ads for WordPress.com will be removed from your site. Oh, and you’ll also be set up with a pre-installed SSL certificate to help you strengthen your site security and also boost your SEO. Below is a visual recap of some of the differences between WordPress personal and premium:
5. Self-hosted WordPress
As an alternative to using WordPress.com’s plans, you can also take the open-source WordPress.org software and “self-host” it on your own web hosting.
With this approach, you will be able to use any widgets, themes, or plugins you like.
The only limitation you’ll encounter will be your server’s capabilities, but this shouldn’t be an issue unless you expect abnormally high traffic. Plus, the WordPress software is free, so you’re only paying for the web host of your choice.
Let’s take Bluehost as an example. This provider gives you a choice of four shared hosting plans:
- Basic: from $1.99 per month
- Plus : from $3.99 per month
- Choice Plus: from $7.45 per month
- Pro: from $13.95 per month
The cheapest option already proves superior to any WordPress.com blogging plan. You get a free custom domain, SSL certificate, 50 GB storage, and access to 24/7 customer support from Bluehost.
Plus, you get to enjoy any theme you like, including premium ones from third-party developers. You can even use visual, drag-and-drop page building tools such as Elementor to build a stunning website without coding experience.
The downsides are that self-hosted WordPress has a slightly steeper learning curve than WordPress.com due to the vast amount of features, and you’ll have to take care of your website maintenance yourself. However, there are managed WordPress hosting options you can look into that will help mitigate these challenges.
Choosing a WordPress plan for blogging will depend on your goals and whether you need advanced customization options. For instance, if you just want a simple platform to write about your hobby, you can probably save your money and use the free WordPress.com plan.
On the other hand, if you want to appear more professional or monetize your content in the future, you’ll have to consider other options. WordPress premium might be the right choice for less tech-savvy users who don’t mind a higher price point.
It comes with handy features out of the box geared towards professional bloggers . You can easily create members-only content, integrate Google Analytics, and earn money from ads. However, you should only go for this option if you’re confident that you’ll be happy with limited theme choices. You also won’t be able to use any plugins to extend your website’s functionality.
Otherwise, self-hosted WordPress is by far the most versatile solution. With providers such as Bluehost, you can easily start a simple blog and scale it up in the future as your website grows.
You’ll have full control over the functionality and the branding of your site. You can also easily branch out and add a shop or portfolio if you like, which wouldn’t be possible with either of the WordPress plans offered by WordPress.com. With hosting costs as low as $1.99 per month, it’s an excellent value for money.
WordPress is a popular blogging platform that evolved into a powerful CMS. Most beginners are familiar with WordPress.com, which is a fully hosted solution. However, its features are limited, which is why you should consider self-hosted WordPress when deciding how to build your site.
To recap, we’ve discussed a few WordPress pricing plans that are geared towards bloggers. If you want full control over your website and unlimited customization features, you should consider using self-hosted WordPress with a hosting provider such as Bluehost . Otherwise, go for the free WordPress plan offered by WordPress.com if you want a simple hobby blog.
Do you have any questions about WordPress plans? Let us know in the comments section below!
By John Hughes
Themeisle contributor.
John is a self-taught WordPress designer and developer. He has been working with the CMS for over a decade, and has experience operating as a freelancer and as part of an agency. He’s dabbled in everything from accessible design to website security. Plus, he has extensive knowledge of online business topics like affiliate marketing.
Updated on:
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WordPress vs. Weebly (Square Online): Differences, pros and cons
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Historically, WordPress and Weebly have both been good options when it comes to building your website. But since Weebly was acquired by Square in 2018, its future has been in question. Currently, Square has only promised to continue supporting Weebly through July 2025, making it a somewhat risky option when you’re building a new website.
That said, let’s take a look at how the two services stack up against each other in their current states. Once you know the pros and cons, you may decide that the Weebly dilemma isn’t worth worrying about, as WordPress can be much more powerful.
WordPress.org is separate from WordPress.com. WordPress.org provides the completely free, open-source WordPress software, but you must pay for your own hosting. You’ll also need to find and download plugins to access the features you want. Small businesses don’t normally use WordPress.org because of this lack of functionality. However, this article will focus on both WordPress.org and WordPress.com.
Featured website builder offers
Via Wix’s website
Monthly fee
Free domain
For one year
Drag-and-drop builder
Via Web.com’s website
Only when paying annually
Squarespace
Via Squarespace’s website
WordPress vs. Weebly: Quick overview
WordPress.org is open source, which makes it a more powerful option and allows for more customization if you know what you’re doing in terms of web development. Both it and Weebly are friendly to business owners new to web design, but Weebly does host websites on its paid plans. That enables it to offer perks like free SSL certificates.
WordPress.com offers paid plans to small business owners and has more functionality and features than the free WordPress.org platform. It can also be easier for business owners to grasp since it doesn’t require as many web development skills as WordPress.org.
Weebly also comes with e-commerce tools built in. You can get these with WordPress.org, but only through third-party plugins. You can get these included with WordPress.com plans, but you might have to pay for a higher tier to get all the e-commerce tools you need.
| WORDPRESS.ORG | WORDPRESS.COM | WEEBLY | |
|---|---|---|---|
Pricing and value
Verdict: WordPress
| PLAN NAME | PRICE PER MONTH WHEN PAYING MONTHLY | ABILITY TO CONNECT CUSTOM DOMAIN | FREE CUSTOM DOMAIN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Even though WordPress.org wins when it comes to the price of its services, WordPress.com might offer more functionality — and overall better value — to small business owners. Even when comparing it to Weebly. However, with some of Weebly’s higher-priced packages, you can get a free domain (if you pay annually, like with WordPress.com).
Weebly’s higher-tier plans also offer unlimited storage and free password protection. All Weebly plans and WordPress.com plans come with a free SSL certificate, though you can also get this with a WordPress.org site, depending on who you choose as your website host .
WordPress pricing and value
WordPress.org itself is free, open-source software. However, you will have to purchase a domain and hosting from another provider in order to get your website to work. Then you’ll run your website using WordPress.org as your content management system. That means WordPress.org itself is free, but pricing for your domain and hosting services will vary.
WordPress.com is different from WordPress.org, as it offers a free plan plus five paid plans. It is definitely easy for small businesses to use since it doesn’t require you to have a lot of knowledge about web development or coding. It also has a lot of perks and functions that WordPress.org doesn’t offer, like plenty of growth and monetization tools, SEO tools and e-commerce functionality.
Weebly pricing and value
While Weebly does have a free version, you’ll only be able to use an unprofessional subdomain unless you cough up some cash. Unlike WordPress, you’ll have to pay at least $13 per month if you want to connect a custom domain. However, if you pay for the Professional ($16 per month) plan or Performance ($29 per month) plan, you’ll get a free custom domain with your Weebly subscription.
Both WordPress and Weebly can be easy to use, with drag-and-drop editing (known as “blocks” in WordPress) that requires very little technical knowledge. If you do have tech skills, though – or someone on your team who does – WordPress offers a much higher level of customization if you’re willing to dive into the code.
WordPress web editor
WordPress.org’s block editor is extremely easy to use if you have no coding background. However, if you do have the skills to customize your site, the platform is powerful enough that you can design almost anything you’d like.
WordPress.org also comes with tens of thousands of plugins, which allow you to integrate other services. The skills required to use each plug-in vary, so depending on which one you download, you may be able to use them with zero coding skills, or you may need to know what you’re doing. Most plug-ins have a free version, but there’s also often a paid version which gives you access to more features.
WordPress.com uses the same web editor as WordPress.org. However, with WordPress.com, you can’t use the plug-ins offered with WordPress.org. You can also only access all the themes it offers when paying for the highest tier plan, Entrepreneur, which costs $70 per month.
Weebly web editor
Weebly comes with a super easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor. It’s a great option if you’re building your website on your own. However, you won’t get the same level of customization that’s available with WordPress. You can play around with the elements in your format, but anything beyond that is much more difficult to adjust.
E-commerce functionality
Verdict: Weebly
One of Weebly’s primary selling points is its e-commerce functionality. WordPress on its own doesn’t have these tools, but you can download plug-ins to give your WordPress site e-commerce features.
WordPress e-commerce functionality
WordPress.org itself isn’t an e-commerce platform . There’s no inherent tool built in that will help you sell your products. However, its myriad plug-ins allow you to integrate any number of e-commerce tools. So while Weebly wins this battle because it has those tools built-in, they’re accessible for WordPress users, too. You could even build your own code to create e-commerce capabilities, but you’ll likely need a tech team to make that happen.
Typically, you will need to sign up for the Entrepreneur plan (for $70 per month) to create an online store. It does include a range of premium store themes and design tools, as well as inventory management features, the ability to sell your goods and services in many countries and the ability to integrate with shipping providers.
If you choose that plan, you won’t have any limits on the number of products you can sell. You will also receive marketing automation features and can get help with upselling products to your customers.
Weebly e-commerce functionality
Weebly shines when it comes to e-commerce. All of its packages include:
- Shopping cart feature.
- Unlimited number of item listings.
- Item badges and options.
- Quick shop capabilities.
- Inventory management.
- Automatic tax calculator.
- Square gift cards.
- In-store pickup option.
Now, if you go with the Free package, in-store pickup is the only option you’ll be able to offer your customers. Upgrading to a Personal or Professional package opens up the opportunity to ship orders and the option to sell digital goods in your online store .
Those who pay for the highest-tier Performance package will be able to accept PayPal payments, feature customer reviews and increase sales with abandoned cart follow-up emails.
This one is close. If your only goal is to reach the customers you already have, you could achieve your goals with either WordPress or Weebly. However, because WordPress.org is so highly customizable, if you’re using your blog for marketing purposes or are concerned about search engine optimization (SEO), it ends up being a better choice.
WordPress blogging
WordPress is a great blogging tool. You can use the block editor to easily build a post with no experience, or you can use the classic editor for a more text-based experience. Of course, you can always delve into the code behind the scenes, but it’s not a requirement.
WordPress has SEO tools built in as a default. Whether you’re using Yoast or AISEO, you’ve got plenty of customization options that can help you build highly visible posts if you use the tools correctly. To open the full suite of tools, you may need to pay a subscription fee, but the ones that are available for free go a long way, especially for newbies.
For those who are looking to create content for their readers, WordPress.com is the best fit. The Free plan offers many blogging features, and if you want to upgrade for a custom domain and an ad-free site, the Personal plan is a cheap option. Either way, you will have access to WordPress.com’s block editor, which you can use to create an unlimited number of pages and smart directs.
Weebly blogging
While it’s not as customizable as WordPress, Weebly does allow you to easily write and post blog entries on your site using the intuitive drag-and-drop editor. You won’t have access to Yoast, but there are built-in settings for things like meta keywords and RSS feed capabilities, and users have the ability to download some “apps,” which are the equivalent of WordPress’ plug-ins – though they’re not as prolific in number.
Marketing and SEO
If you’re new to website building, either Weebly or WordPress will give you beginner tools to make your website SEO-friendly for marketing purposes. But once your skills advance (or you hire a coding team), WordPress.org can help you take things to the next level in a way Weebly can’t.
WordPress marketing and SEO
We’ve already discussed SEO integrations for blog posts, but believe it or not, WordPress allows you to go even deeper than that. That’s because you can edit everything in the source code.
However, just because you can do this doesn’t mean you should. Unless you have a lot of coding experience and know what you’re doing in terms of SEO, this is a task you should probably outsource. But it’s good to know that it can be done.
With all WordPress.com websites, you will receive SEO tools. Some of these tools will include the ability to automatically generate sitemaps to help search engines index your website and the ability to clean URLs to help your page appear in search results. WordPress.com users can also edit page titles and descriptions without needing to know how to code.
Weebly marketing and SEO
While Weebly does offer some SEO tools and allows you to edit some HTML and CSS code, and you can get your site set up with Google Search Console, it’s not open-source like WordPress. That means that it’s good enough to get the job done for beginners, but you won’t be able to turbocharge your efforts to the same level as WordPress if you have more advanced skills.
Performance and security
Weebly wins as it includes security features in all of its packages as well as provides hosting, which means its performance is measurable. That said, your WordPress site may be either more or less impressive depending on who you choose to pay for hosting services .
WordPress performance and security
WordPress.org requires you to take a bit of a more active role in your website’s security. It doesn’t offer a free SSL certificate or any security software as a platform on its own, though you may find these features included in your domain or hosting package (which have to be purchased separately from another provider). It’s not that you don’t have these security capacities – just that you’ll have to get them from a third-party provider.
As far as performance goes, that, again, is going to depend on your hosting provider . You could choose a host that’s either better or worse than Weebly in terms of performance.
All websites created through WordPress.com come with a range of built-in security features depending on your plan tier. These features include SSL encryption, firewalls, backup and recovery tools, the monitoring of suspicious activity and frequent testing of your website’s security. It also has a security team that works to maintain the safety and performance of your website.
Weebly performance and security
Weebly websites come with free SSL certificates and DDoS mitigation included. While Weebly uses SSL language in its marketing, the security certificates now operate on TLS, which means your customer’s purchases are encrypted and protected.
We tested the performance of three Weebly-hosted websites . All three loaded under Google’s recommended threshold of 1.8 seconds for first contentful paint, with an average load time of 1.4 seconds. This is respectable. You may get either a faster or slower load time with WordPress depending on your chosen host and website optimization.
While both Weebly and WordPress have apps, WordPress’ user experience has gotten better over time while the Weebly mobile app experience has gotten worse. In our personal experience, the easiest way to utilize all your CMS features is still on a PC, but you can get a lot done on your phone in 2024 – especially with WordPress.
WordPress mobile app
WordPress is pretty good about updating its mobile app, and its most recent version is probably the easiest to use yet. You’ll be able to write and publish blog posts, upload media and check up on user comment moderation. You will also have access to your site’s stats using the app. Both WordPress.com and WordPress.org use the same mobile app.
However, WordPress.com does use Jetpack, which has several features to help you manage and edit your website, even if you’re not near your computer. You can draft and publish posts and even read and reply to comments made by your readers. You can also use it to keep track of your site visitors and gain insights into which posts your readers liked the most.
Weebly mobile app
At one point in time, we may have ranked Weebly’s app ahead of WordPress. But it’s been on a steady decline since Square bought out the company. The Weebly mobile app can be buggy at times, and since it integrates with eCommerce for Square, sometimes you’ll be asked to switch between the Square app and the Weebly app as you attempt edits. The best way to get a good user experience for Weebly web design in 2024 is on a PC.
Final verdict
Winner: WordPress
It’s not just that WordPress beats out Weebly across a majority of categories – though it does. The fact that the fate of Weebly beyond July 2025 is unknown is a pretty big deal, as you wouldn’t want to invest a ton of time and energy into your website for it to be defunct within a year.
Migrating a website to a new provider can be a Herculean task. If you’re not particularly adept at web development, you’re probably going to need to hire someone to help you get it done. You can avoid that drama by going with another host and using WordPress as your CMS.
Who is WordPress best for?
WordPress.org is best for those who don’t want to risk the need for site migration over the next 12 months. It’s also a good option for those who want powerful customization opportunities, as you can edit almost anything with the open-source software. Despite its power, it’s still user-friendly enough to be used by business owners who are complete novices when it comes to web design .
WordPress.com is typically the better option for small business owners, especially because its interface is a bit more simple, and can be easy to learn. WordPress.com plans also come with hosting and security features, so you won’t need to worry about as much. If you don’t need many e-commerce features, then the lower-tier plans will work perfectly.
Who is Weebly best for?
Weebly was a great product for a long time. In its current state, it’s still a platform that’s easy to use and can help you get the job done even with zero coding background. However, because it may be taken off the market or have support discontinued after July 2025, now is probably not the time to start using it. Instead, go with a provider who fully plans on sticking around past next year.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Sometimes Weebly is cheaper than WordPress, but it depends. WordPress.org is free, but it doesn’t come with a free domain or web hosting services. You’ll have to purchase those separately.
The plug-ins you choose to pay for can also push costs up. WordPress.com has paid plans that start at a lower price point than Weebly, but the further you move up in terms of packages and features, the less competitive WordPress.com pricing gets.
Yes, you can transfer a Weebly site to WordPress, but it’s a massive task with lots of opportunities for error. It’s far easier to build your site with WordPress from the get go, and is probably a wise idea considering the lingering questions about whether or not Square will continue to support Weebly beyond July 2025.
Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy . The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.
Brynne Conroy has over 12 years of experience writing about money, with a particular focus on women's finances and small business lending and credit products. Her debut book was an Amazon #1 New Release across multiple categories, and she has been awarded a PEN America grant for the body of her work in the field. Find her bylines on LendingTree, Her Agenda, GoBankingRates, and Business Insider, and features on MSN Money, Jean Chatzky's HerMoney, and Yahoo Finance.
Sierra Campbell is a small business editor for USA Today Blueprint. She specializes in writing, editing and fact-checking content centered around helping businesses. She has worked as a digital content and show producer for several local TV stations, an editor for U.S. News & World Report and a freelance writer and editor for many companies. Sierra prides herself in delivering accurate and up-to-date information to readers. Her expertise includes credit card processing companies, e-commerce platforms, payroll software, accounting software and virtual private networks (VPNs). She also owns Editing by Sierra, where she offers editing services to writers of all backgrounds, including self-published and traditionally published authors.
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Why supper swapping is the new meal delivery trend
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It’s reshaping how we think about meal planning, cooking and sharing food with others..
In an era of rising food costs and busy schedules, a growing number of Americans are turning to an innovative solution: Meal swapping. These modern-day meal swaps are revolutionizing how people approach their daily meals, with participants taking turns to prepare dishes for their entire group.
From lunch swaps in office settings with delicious soups and sandwiches to supper swapping among neighbors featuring easy one-pan meals, these arrangements are not only saving time and money but also fostering a sense of community and culinary adventure. As this trend gains momentum across the country, it’s reshaping how we think about meal planning, cooking and sharing food with others.
What is meal swapping?
Meal swapping is a collaborative approach to meal prep where participants in a shared community take turns preparing and exchanging meals with a group. Meal swapping is gaining traction in different forms, each tailored to different settings and lifestyles.
Lunch swapping has become an office favorite, where co-workers alternate bringing homemade lunches for the group. This approach ensures that everyone has access to a delicious home-cooked meal with reduced pressure to meal prep daily. It also fosters camaraderie amongst the group while promoting healthier and more cost-effective eating habits relative to takeout.
Supper swapping represents the dinner alternative, wherein neighbors in residential areas coordinate to cook and share easy dinners on a rotating basis. Not only does this enhance social bonds within the community, it offers the opportunity for diverse and various home-cooked meals with a more manageable cooking schedule.
Meal trains are the third variation, often organized to help those who may need the support. Whether recovering from surgery or welcoming a new baby to the family, this can be a generous and practical way for friends and community members to support their neighbors
How it works
First and foremost, you must begin by curating a group to meal swap with. Reach out to friends, neighbors or colleagues who you think may be interested. You can also use social media platforms, community bulletin boards or even group chats to gauge interest in your community. Consider also sharing introductory resources like articles or videos to provide more information about the nature and commitment of meal swapping.
When you’ve created an initial group, schedule a meeting to set ground rules and expectations from the get-go. An important starting point is establishing a rotation schedule based on everyone’s preferences and availability. Whether weekly or monthly, the key is establishing an achievable schedule that works for everyone involved. Consider creating a message group chat and a shared Google Calendar to map out the schedule for easy access and smooth coordination.
Additionally, discuss any dietary restrictions and preferences, explicating any allergies or conditions related to food preparation or consumption. Also establish guidelines for portion size, meal types and ingredient quality. It can also be helpful to rotate the types of meals prepared, such as alternating between vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, to provide variety.
Planning, coordination and open lines of communication are crucial for a successful meal swap. Consider creating a shared document where participants can enter the meal they plan on cooking and the key ingredients to avoid repetitiveness. For example, you could include recipes like sheet-pan paprika chicken and veggies in your plan, which are easy to scale and share. By including a recipe, participants can stay informed about any food restrictions. By prioritizing open communication and being flexible with each other, you can address any issues that arise and keep the meal swap running smoothly.
Benefits of participating
Meal swapping is on the rise, with several factors contributing to its success. The most prominent reason is it saves a lot of time. By distributing the cooking load, you might only need to cook once or twice a week, knowing you’ll receive ready-made meals on the other days. According to MarkNtel Advisors , the meal kit market is set to double to $305.68 billion by 2032. This underscores a broader shift towards convenient and ready-to-eat meal solutions, reflecting the appeal of meal swapping.
Cost effectiveness is another critical factor driving this trend. With food prices continuously on the rise, meal swapping allows you to stretch your grocery budget further. By cooking in larger quantities and sharing, you’re able to buy more ingredients in bulk, reducing your overall cost per serving, making this a budget-friendly option.
In sharing food with the people in your community, you are also increasing your awareness and exposure to other diverse cuisines. It can increase your cultural awareness of culinary traditions from around the world, and each participant brings their own culinary background to the table. Dishes like baked salmon with potatoes can inspire you to try new ingredients and techniques, expanding your culinary horizons.
Moreover, meal swapping fosters a sense of community and connection. As you participate in these exchanges, you build strong relationships with your neighbors and colleagues. Sharing meals often becomes more than a convenience but rather adds a social dimension to your daily routine – offering a rewarding experience.
Challenges and solutions
While meal swapping offers some advantages, it also presents some challenges that need to be addressed early to ensure a smooth experience. One of the primary and most significant challenges is dietary restrictions and preferences. After sharing these in your initial meeting, create a shared document that everyone can easily refer back to, the link for which can be pinned in your group chat. Also take note of common allergens like milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans and try to avoid them if possible.
Ensuring food safety and quality is an essential aspect of a successful meal swap. At the onset, establish guidelines for food preparation, storage and transport, encouraging participants to follow proper hygiene practices while cooking. When it is your turn to cook, offer clear, written instructions, sending them in your group chat for quick reference on how to store and reheat food to maintain quality.
Managing schedules and commitments can be tricky, especially when dealing with busy lifestyles. Encourage open communication to address any changes or conflicts promptly. Flexibility and understanding are key; be prepared to make adjustments as needed to accommodate unexpected events or changes in participants’ schedules.
Ultimately, it is important to remember that meal swapping is not for everyone. It is a great system that offers many advantages. However, when putting together a meal swap group, everyone must understand the expectations and commitment to avoid disillusionment and frustration later.
Let’s get cooking
Meal swapping can revolutionize how you approach meal planning and prep, offering a practical and community-centered approach. While the initial task can feel daunting, the advantages are endless, creating a seamless and rewarding opportunity for everyone involved.
So why not give it a go? Whether starting your own small group or seeking out a larger community initiative, embrace the opportunity to connect with others, explore new cuisines and make your life a little easier. Try it out and see how meal swapping can enhance your everyday life.
Ksenia Prints is a writer, blogger, photographer and recipe developer from Montreal, Canada. She blogs over At the Immigrant’s Table , writing about food and drink for adventurous home cooks.
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A sunroom and large, open floor plan enhance this classic Farmhouse style house plan that is exclusive to Architectural Designs.With its great big country kitchen, cooking is a pleasure, with a trendy sliding barn door at the walk-in pantry. Head out to the big screened porch and dine outside.Two interior columns are all that separate the family room from the kitchen and dining area.You can ...
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It's reshaping how we think about meal planning, cooking and sharing food with others.
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