Domain confusion – is here free hosting with custom domain

  • Unknown's avatar
    i428 · Member ·

    Hi, I really appreciate the helpers in WP forums, but although I have read a lot about WP domains, there are some things I cannot get straight.

    Case 1: I own a domain at Office365; I understand I cannot transfer it to WP but can “Map it” for $13/yr … does this mean I then can manage all the content within WP (like a ???.wordpress.com site)? Plus, I keep buying the domain renewals at the original host, correct?

    Case 2: If I buy a new domain at WP, do I have to choose the Premium or Business plan, or may I retain a free plan? My confusion comes from the plan page which indicates the free plan is for a WordPress.com address and custom domains are for the other plans.

    In other words, does registering and buying the domain from WP ($18/yr), get me the same free options as starting a WordPress.com address site? (If so, this seems very nice for a year’s of hosting if the basic WP is all one needs.)

    Thank you.

  • Unknown's avatar
    auxclass · Member ·

    Hosting is free here

    1) if you have your own custom domain name, you can map it for $13.-/yr – all that changes is the address your visitors see, you still work in the dashboard the dashboard of the original blog (whatever.wordpress.com)

    2) You should be able to buy and map a custom domain name through WordPress.COM without buying a Premium or Business plan (unless things have changed in the last two weeks or so) – there was a move to require a Premium plan $99.-/yr for just domain mapping an existing domain name $13.-/yr – – that was not a popular change and the outrage in the forum was very large, so the money grubbers backed down a bit – but it looks like they are chipping away at things again

    Your $18.-/yr domain name and domain mapping – all it changes is the address – nothing more – nothing less – same thing as your basic free blog, just a different name for your visitors

  • Unknown's avatar
    albopf · Member ·

    All I am confused about is, the advantage or disadvantage of going Premium at WordPress.com versus installing WordPress on a site I host elsewhere. Does it make a hill of beans’ difference? (I have an installed WordPress[.org] site at the moment, with a hand-cobbled theme.)

  • Unknown's avatar
    auxclass · Member ·

    WordPress.COM is turnkey, the staff do the updates for you and take care of security (you do need a good password is all) – you can only use the 300 or so themes here – no hacking the code – no Plugin’s, but many fancy Widgets built in as well as special short code – you can’t sell your own ads, but if you want to maybe make a few bucks you can apply to the WordAds program – it is a revenue sharing system if you have a custom domain name and enough traffic

    For more on the difference: http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

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