Forty eight percent of the 100 top blogs run on WordPress. According to WordPress statistics and the total number of websites online, at least ten percent of them are hosted by wordpress.com. Factor in the millions of downloads from wordpress.org and the number of websites powered by the WordPress publishing platform is certainly much higher.

WordPress.com is a managed hosting platform that makes it easy for anyone to build a website and publish a blog online. The software (and all of the sites it powers) is hosted and maintained by Automattic.

WordPress is a free blogging platform software – available for download at wordpress.org – that anyone can install and use on their own server.

Yet, there is much confusion about WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com. Not surprising really, considering the vast array of features the publishing platform provides, and the relative technical expertise required to install and maintain it yourself.

NOTE: This article was published in 2013! Statistics and pricing may have changed.

Check out the infographic below for a quick overview, then read the WPMU.org article for a detailed explanation of WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org costs, features and benefits.

This infographic is provided by the fine folks at WPMU.org, one of the largest WordPress news sites and publishers of some of the best WordPress and Multisite plugins and themes available. Get the code to embed it on your site here.

Self-hosted WordPress is our publishing platform of choice. We use it to power all of our sites, including Tripawds – our own WordPress multisite network of more than 1,400 blogs with 5,500 members and growing. This wouldn’t be possible without the premium WordPress plugins and support from WPMU Dev.