When we think of start blogging then the first thing we always look for is a free blogging platform. If you want to start a blog, then WordPress.com offers a hassle free solution to get started. WordPress.com is a commercial venture. We are often asked by our users how they can get started with blogging. We usually respond with the question, “What do you want to do with your blog?”. A lot of people just want to share their personal thoughts, ramblings, photos and such. For that purpose, WordPress.com offers a free, easy to use, secure and stable platform for you to blog on. However, if you want to do more with your blog such as make money, build a membership community, among other things, then there are some inherent limitations so go with Blogger.com. In this article, we will help you understand what are the limitations of WordPress.com, so you can decide if WordPress.com is the solution for you.
Blogger.com Vs WordPress.com: Which one is best for you?
Let’s start with some features a free WordPress.com blog offers:
- Offers you free 3GB space for posts and media.
- Publicizing feature to connect your blog with other social networks.
- Hassle free set-up.
- Access your dashboard via app available for iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry.
- Track visitors with real-time statistics.
Limitations of free WordPress blog
1. Monetizing Limitations
You can’t serve ads of Google Adsense or any other advertising programs on your WordPress.com blog. You can’t write paid posts, sell links, review products, etc on your site. Actually WordPress.com’s terms of service restrict you from using your free blog for any commercial activity. However, you can apply for WordPress.com’s advertising program which is called WordAds. This program is currently available only for WordPress.com blogs that match certain traffic and quality requirements. Once you are approved for WordAds program, you will be sharing your advertising revenue with WordPress.com.
2. Limited Space (3 GB)
A free WordPress.com blog offers only 3 GB to host your posts and media. After using the full space you can upgrade your space as the following on per year basis:
- 10GB Space Upgrade: $20.00
- 25GB Space Upgrade: $50.00
- 50GB Space Upgrade: $90.00
- 100GB Space Upgrade: $160.00
- 200GB Space Upgrade: $290.00
3. Fear of Account Suspension
WordPress.com is very strict in protecting their services from abuse. They suspend blogs suspected to activities prohibited in their terms of service. Visitors can also report a blog with an option. WordPress.com allows suspended blogs to export their posts for a limited time. Also WordPress.com may not even notify or ask a blog owner to remove content. This means that usually there is no warning for the blog owner. Once a blog is suspended the WordPress.com subdomain will be held and will not be released for anyone else to use.
4. Limited Customization Flexibility
WordPress has become a powerful content management system on itself. It is no more just a blog publishing platform. With WordPress.com, you are only getting a free blog service and not the actual powerful CMS features that are becoming the main reason of WordPress’s popularity. To make it easier for you to understand is that let’s suppose that you start with a basic blog and then want to offer online courses, sell digital downloads, or add a forum, or even an online store. It is not possible to do all this on your free WordPress.com blog. It charges you money for any customization like Custom Design ($30 per blog, per year) adds custom CSS (not PHP editing) and fonts, Custom Domains ($13 per domain, per blog, per year) removes the wordpress.com part of your URL.
On the other hand….
Blogger.com gives you more flexibility in terms of ease of use, customization and totally free until you purchase your own custom domain and hosting. Let’s see some popular features Blogger.com provides to every user:
1. Free of Cost
Price is often a major concern for newbie bloggers. So the good thing is Blogger.com is completely free to users. All of the features and services available through Blogger.com are offered free-of-charge to all users. While Blogger.com is offered to users for free, but if you want to get your own domain name, you’ll need to pay for that.
2. Interactive Features
The key advantage in choosing Blogger.com as your blogging platform is its versatility. Bloggers are not limited in the amount of traffic or storage space that their blogs generate and use, and bloggers can create as many blogs as they want. Bloggers who use Blogger.com also have the ability to manipulate the templates available to them in order to create more unique blog themes. Many bloggers love Blogger.com because it automatically integrates with Google AdSense, so bloggers can earn money from their blogs from day one. Additionally, Blogger.com users can edit their blogs’ codes to include advertising from other companies as well.
3. Domain and Hosting
Blogger.com blogs that are hosted by Blogger.com are given URL extensions of “.blogspot.com”. The domain name a blogger chooses for their Blogger.com blog will precede “.blogspot.com” for example, “www.BlogName.blogspot.com”. Unfortunately, a Blogspot extension has come to connote an amateur blog in the minds of web audiences. But it’s not a big deal. You can add your own custom domain by paying a minimum fees to your domain hoster.
Final Words!
If you want to blog just for fun or because of your hobby then go with WordPress.com. But if you want to grow as a professional blogger and make living online then choose Blogger.com because it provides you more flexibility for customization and monetization of your blog. If you can spend some little amount of money then it’s better to go with a self-hosted WordPress.org blog which has no real alternate in terms of power and flexibility.
I hope this article helped you to choose the right one for you. If you have any doubt or query then do let me know by using the comment form below 
KEEP CALM AND CHOOSE YOUR BLOGGING PLATFORM
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