Our experience with WordPress.com
WordPress.com is great for beginners running blogs and static websites. It is not great for business websites. There is no cPanel and no file manager apart from plugins, so you have less control over your own site.
Our rating
1.0 / 5
Reviewed by the PremiumPress team.
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Why it falls short for PremiumPress sites
Access to your own files should be easy, and WordPress.com makes it difficult. There is no cPanel and no file manager of its own. To work with your site's files you have to rely on a file manager plugin, and those can be unreliable. SFTP access is only on the Business and Commerce plans.
PremiumPress customers are used to full access to their own hosting. That access matters when a file, a setting or a failed update needs fixing by hand.
The content rules are a smaller point. WordPress.com does not accept dating or escort themes, or any other theme that would include adult content.
Most PremiumPress customers will get more value and fewer restrictions from a standard hosting provider on this list. We would keep WordPress.com for simpler, content-only sites where the managed convenience outweighs the lock-in.
Pros
- Great for beginners running blogs and static sites
Cons
- No cPanel, and no file manager apart from plugins
- Not great for business websites
About this review
- Reviewed by
- PremiumPress team
- Our rating
- 1.0 / 5
- Our verdict
- Not Recommended
- Third-party themes & plugins
- Paid plans only
- File manager
- Plugins only
- Control panel
- No cPanel
- Billing
- Monthly to 3 years
Plans and pricing
Best plan for PremiumPress themesAny paid plan can run a third-party theme. File access by SFTP needs the Business or Commerce plan.
Our review, in detail
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
WordPress.com is not the same thing as the WordPress software your PremiumPress theme runs on. The two are easy to confuse by name, but they are different products.
- WordPress.org is free, open-source software that you install on hosting of your own choice. Every PremiumPress theme assumes this.
- WordPress.com is a separate, fully managed hosting platform. It bundles the same software with hosting, automatic updates, backups and support.
WordPress.com launched in November 2005. It is built and run by Automattic, the company co-founded by WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg.
Trade-offs for theme-based sites
That convenience comes with real trade-offs for a business site built on a theme.
WordPress.com has a free plan and five paid ones: Personal, Premium, Business, Commerce and Enterprise.
The free plan does not let you install plugins or upload a theme, so a PremiumPress theme can't run there. Every paid plan, from Personal up, lets you install plugins and upload a third-party theme.
Developer tools such as SFTP/SSH access and WP-CLI are kept for the Business and Commerce plans.
There is also an AI website builder that creates a site from a chat prompt. It is aimed at people who don't want to pick a theme at all.
What it's good at
WordPress.com is good at what it was built for. It suits bloggers, portfolio sites and small business owners who want no server maintenance and are happy to work inside Automattic's platform.
WooCommerce is built in, which makes it a reasonable choice for a simple online shop, as long as you don't need a custom theme.
The hosting runs across Automattic's own data centers around the world. Uptime and page speed are generally not a concern on any plan.
Pricing, control panel and support
Paid plans can be billed monthly, yearly, or every two or three years. The longer you commit, the lower the monthly price.
Automattic controls the whole hosting environment, so there is no cPanel or file manager. You manage the site almost entirely through WordPress.com's own dashboard.
That is a very different day-to-day experience from the self-hosted control most PremiumPress customers are used to. It also means less flexibility if your site needs a particular server setting or a plugin that WordPress.com does not officially support.
Every paid plan includes support. The Business and Commerce plans get 24/7 priority support.
Ready to get started with WordPress.com?
Any paid plan can run a third-party theme. File access by SFTP needs the Business or Commerce plan.
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This review is our own opinion, based on our experience and feedback from our customers. Your experience may differ.