WordPress.com plans versus other web hosting such as BlueHost, Hostgater etc.
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I currently have a free wordpress.com site and free theme that I like but want to upgrade to a beginner option where I have my own domain name. I am confused about all the options around hosting but primarily need to know…since I like my wordpress website just as it is, and just want to be able to use the same tools for development, would moving my site to one of these other hosts still enable use of the wordpress exactly the same as when I’m on wordpress itself? Sorry for the rookie question!!
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hey there,
The first thing to know is that if you have your own domain (or are going to buy one) you can map the domain to your current WordPress site. Support document here:
https://en.support.wordpress.com/map-existing-domain/
Now let’s shift to your other question about what is called self-hosting. When you have a WordPress.com site, like your current site, your site is hosted by WordPress. Some people that like to have more control of the site will host their site elsewhere (Hostgator, Siteground, etc…) and deploy WordPress on the site. When you self-host, WordPress is the same but you have more options like control of stylesheets and the ability to add plugins to name a few.
Here is a support document covering the difference between self-hosting and WordPress.com hosting.
Hope this helps.
Regards
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Hey again,
On a side note I have hosted for many years with Hostgator.com and recently left them for Siteground.com. From a service standpoint Hostgator is subpar. Siteground has been awesome from ease of use to great support to free ssl certificates.
So, if you go the self-hosting route, take a look at Siteground. Just an opinion that I thought may help you now or down the road.
Regards
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Thanks for the info and your suggestions. So to just be very specific…if want my site to stay exactly the same with the same functional tools for building galleries and pages as I currently have with my free wordpress.com site, (I am new to this and just became comfortable with building the site using those tools) can I just change the name of my site by setting up my own domain without the .wordpress.com and wordpress ads, and then host the site on another hosting platform or does that mean I am now required to switch to wordpress.org? And if I switch to another hosting platform “to get more control” does that mean that all the tools to build change and I end up having to relearn the new way of building a site? Hope this question makes sense.
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Hi there,
Hosting refers to whose servers your site lives on. If you have a WordPress.com site, we host it no matter what your domain is. So, you can buy a domain directly from us and add it to your site, or you can buy a domain from GoDaddy or Bluehost and add it to your site, but we’ll still be hosting your site, and nothing will change on your site except for the address people see in their browsers.
So if you want your site to just stay the same as it is now, all you need to do is add a paid plan at My Site ->Plans, and then either register or connect a domain.
And if I switch to another hosting platform “to get more control” does that mean that all the tools to build change and I end up having to relearn the new way of building a site?
If you switch to another hosting platform you’ll be using the other version of WordPress @hlbecker mentioned above, WordPress.org. It is similar to WordPress.com, but also has some important differences, so you will need to learn some new stuff and you’ll need to use add-ons called plugins to do many of the stuff that’s included by default on WordPress.com.
Please let me know if you have any more questions about this.
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So when you say I will need to learn some new stuff…how significant? It’s funny because I was talking to a rep from site ground, and they told me that the tools would look exactly the same. I took a mini workshop on starting a website to learn how to build this free one. Does wordpress support via videos, or information sheets the changes I will need to understand? Is there something I can look at now to get a better understanding of how it will change, before I make my decision about which hosting site? I do like the idea of growing with my site instead of keeping it exactly the same, but I’m not a computer geek, so don’t want to be struggling with the mechanics of trying to get my website the way I want. Thankyou for your help so far, it’s been very useful info.
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So when you say I will need to learn some new stuff…how significant?
I would assume that up to now you’ve used My Sites to do most things on your site. Self-hosted sites don’t have the My Sites interface that we have on WordPress.com, but does everything via the WP-Admin dashboard, like you can find for your WordPress.com site here:
http://artintheshuswap.wordpress.com/wp-admin/
The self-hosted dashboard is similar to the WordPress.com one, but not exactly the same.
Some important differences include that to have sharing buttons, subscriptions, etc, you will need to add plugins to your site – those features are not included by default. We make a plugin called Jetpack that adds many WordPress.com features to self-hosted sites, and also allows you to manage your content via the My Sites interface. You’ll also need to install any theme you wish to use.
More important than themes and plugins, though, you’ll need to update the WordPress software yourself when a new version comes out, and also update plugins and themes. If an update, a plugin or theme breaks your site, or your site gets hacked, you’ll need to fix it yourself, usually by logging into the server hosting your site where you might need to go into your site’s actual code to fix it. You’ll also be responsible for keeping your own backups of your site, and restoring them if necessary.
On WordPress.com we do all of this for you.
So, while the tools look the same, there are some very important differences in how they work, and what you’ll need to do over time to ensure your site stays online. With self-hosted WordPress you gain a lot of customizability, but it comes at an ongoing maintenance cost.
Does wordpress support via videos, or information sheets the changes I will need to understand? Is there something I can look at now to get a better understanding of how it will change, before I make my decision about which hosting site?
The official documentation on self-hosted WordPress can be found here:
There are also many unofficial tutorials on Youtube and sites like wpbeginner.com that you can use to learn more about it.
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Thanks for your thorough response. I have made my decision and since I am so new to website building I think starting off with WordPress.com is the right choice for me. Thanks all!
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