Does wordpress.com still have a free option?

  • Unknown's avatar
    joeschameleon · Member ·

    Does wordpress.com still have a free option? I’m not finding it, just upsells for buying a domain and the various paid options.

    There used to be an option to use a wordpress.com subdomain, but I’m not finding it.

  • supernovia · Staff ·

    Hi, free sites are available here: https://wordpress.com/free — and if you’re not seeing it in the signup process, just note you can skip any upsells or scan the page for the word “free” if you’re not seeing the options.

    If you don’t need our maintenance and support services, you can also install your own free copy of WordPress with a different host.

  • Unknown's avatar
    joeschameleon · Member ·

    Thanks. I do self-hosted WordPress and have many sites at several hosts, not a novice.

    Well, I entered a “site’s name or some keywords” and was offered lots of upselling, plus a subdomain that added characters, a lot of them, to my desired name.

    Now I know things change, but that’s not how I remember it working in the past. If you entered a name that wasn’t already in use, you’d be offered that exact string as a name. Doesn’t seem to be the case, and I’m not sure why not.

    And now I’m trying it again after going to your “free” url. This time I entered a completely random and long name and get offered no free/subdomain option.

    It’s not that important, I just want to know what to tell people who ask me if they can get a free WordPress site at WordPress.com. At this point, I wouldn’t recommend it, it’s not a good user experience. Funny about how upselling when you’re also talking “free” makes that happen.

  • staff-zinnia · Staff ·

    Do you remember in the start up flow if you picked site or blog? In the past I’ve had folks get stuck in this type of loop when the start up flow thinks they want a site.

  • Unknown's avatar
    joeschameleon · Member ·

    The whole experience is not something I would recommend to a beginner. This is why I’m exploring this.

    So far, lots of upselling, hidden/obscure opportunities to skip buying something, extremely confusing workflow. Again, I’m not a novice, at least when it comes to running self-hosted WordPress.

    I was thinking of recommending this as a free option, but now I’m having second thoughts. Not appropriate for a beginner.

    I know, free isn’t really free, and all that. I try to get people to get around to the idea of paying something to set up a website. WordPress.com might have been an option but honestly, I can do better for the amount of money, even the least amount, that WordPress.com is asking.

  • Unknown's avatar
    joeschameleon · Member ·

    I can set them up with a domain and hosting for $30 a year at Reclaim Hosting. I can host them myself for a bit more than that. WordPress.com doesn’t really make sense when I have those options.

    Thanks for your help.

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