Hosted vs Self-Hosted for your WordPress Site

Self-Hosted or Hosted WordPress?

When it comes to your wordpress website you have two options.  Hosted on WordPress.com or self-hosted on your own domain and servers.  Now before you say, "That's easy, I have no servers", let's look at the pros and cons of each because there are a lot of advantages to hosting it yourself and its not as hard as it sounds.

Self-Hosted WordPress

With self-hosting you are loading the full WordPress apllication, which can be downloaded free, to your web server.  This allows you to use your own domain name and gives you complete control over your website without limitations.  Although WordPress is still free you will need to pay for a domain name and hosting, however both these costs can be as low as $10 a month combined so it is not too big an expense for the many benefits you get.

Some of the reasons I recommend self-hosting:

• You can use your own domain name
• You can use any theme you want from thousands of free and paid options
• You can install any WordPress plugin you want, both free and paid
• You can integrate your site with thidr-party applications
• You can sell advertising on your site
• You can fully modify your site
• You can set up an e-commere store or membership site

Hosted WordPress

You can host your blog for free at WordPress.com but their are limitations on what you can and can't do if you choose this option.

• Your site is hosted at wordpress.com and you get a custom WordPress address like mycoolsite.wordpress.com
• You are not able to upload any plugin of your choice
• You are not able to use or modify themes of your choice.  (There is a selection of themes and plugins available but they are limited to what the site allows.)
• Hosting is free but limited to 3GB or space
• Ads display on your site
• You cannot sell your own advertising on your site, (including Google AdSense)

You can make use of paid upgrades to access business features that give you a little more freedom but once you're doing that you might as well have just hosted it yourself to begin with and avoided the restrictions.

The difference between the two is like renting a car versus the freedom of owning one.  If you plan on running and growing any kind of business online then you need the freedom and lack of restrictions that hosting your own WordPress website provides.