Actual cost of the 'Personal Plan' with an existing domain name?
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I am quite confused by the pricing plans at WordPress.com. I already own my domain name and I would like to move it to a site hosted with the ‘Personal Plan’ at WordPress.com. What will hosting this site using my custom domain name cost per year?
On the one hand, the Personal Plan claims to provide one free custom domain name per year. On the other hand, it seems that there is no way to transfer my existing domain to WordPress.com to take advantage of this offer.
This makes it seem like the only way to use the custom domain will be to ‘map the existing domain’ to my Personal Plan account. But will this cost $13/year or be counted as the ‘free custom domain’?
The cost could be $36/year if I can transfer my existing domain in.
The cost could be $48/year if I have to pay an outside registrar to maintain my domain name for $12 plus pay WP.com $36 for the Personal Plan but get the mapping free.
The cost could be $61/year if I have to both pay the outside registrar $12 for the domain and WP.com $13/year to map it.
So which is it? Why is this so hard to find out at WP.com? Why is there no sales number I can simply call to answer questions like this?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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In case anyone else has this question, I thought I’d share the answer I got from someone at Automattic (their “VIP Support”)…
“All paid plans come with a credit that can be either used to register a new domain or to map a domain you already own.”
In other words, it sounds like the answer to my question is $48/year (I’ll have to pay for the Personal Plan and for my $12 third party registration, but not for mapping).
I am still shocked at how hard it was to reach a human being to answer this question. I thought Automattic was better than this. I hope they at least add some clarity about this issue to the documentation of these plans online.
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Hi there,
All plans at WordPress.com include one free domain. That can be either a custom domain that you register directly with us, or a domain mapping that you can use to connect a domain you own somewhere else.
If you already bought a domain from someone else you need to map it here, as it’s impossible to transfer a domain to us – we are not a domain registrar, and the registrar we use doesn’t allow us to accept incoming domain transfers.
From our Domains page:
Adding a domain to your site (either registering a new domain or mapping one you already own) requires a WordPress.com plan. Each plan comes with one free domain credit. – https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/
Saying the cost is $48 a year is inaccurate – we charge $36 a year for the personal plan. Fees you have to pay to other providers for services you bought from them are separate from fees we charge. If you buy a car you don’t tell the dealership the car is actually more expensive because you have to go to a gas station to fill it up before you can use it.
I am still shocked at how hard it was to reach a human being to answer this question.
Our support documentation explains all the different support avenues, including how to get a staff reply in the support forums:
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Thank you for confirming this again, @kokkieh. I had seen that domains page but was not certain it meant that an external mapped domain was “free” or that a domain registration could be transferred for free.
The reason I point out the real cost for an account with an external domain is $48 (and I was very clear to note that only $36 of that was charged buy WordPress.com) is that I was trying to understand the full costs of such an account to the user. It is like noting the difference in ongoing fuel costs and maintenance when buying various model cars, which people do all the time.
The fact is that WordPress penalizes people moving an existing site to WP.com. If you are creating a new site it will only cost you $36 per year. But since no transfers of existing domains in to WP.com are allowed, someone moving an existing site to WP.com will have to pay a third party to maintain their registration. WP.com does not even credit users for the $5 stand-alone difference between the $18 add-on registration and the $13 add-on mapping.
This means when I bring a new customer with a preexisting website to WP.com who is really not a techie (which is why I suggest WP.com to them in the first place), they end up still having to maintain a separate domain registration account adding complexity and a real cost to their move to WP.com.
At least now I know for sure that the mapping won’t be an extra charge, which is good. And overall. WP.com will still be a good value for clients without ongoing tech support or skills. I’ve been building WP sites for a decade and find what you’ve done with WP.com very impressive, it has grown a lot over the years.
But, there is a real penalty for moving existing sites and I hope WP.com does consider allowing inbound domain transfers to even the scales.
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The fact is that WordPress penalizes people moving an existing site to WP.com
I understand what you’re trying to say, but it really does not work like that. Not giving you credit for a product you bought from a different company isn’t punishment. It’s just how any business operates.
I hope WP.com does consider allowing inbound domain transfers to even the scales.
It’s not about allowing. It’s impossible. As in technically impossible. We’d love to accept incoming domain transfers, but our domain registrar does not offer this option so for the time being we literally can’t do it, as much as we want to.
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