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WordPress vs WordPress.com

Based on 859 and 10 real audits

View WordPress details | View WordPress.com details
MetricWordPressWordPress.comWinner
Performance4763WordPress.com
Accessibility8890WordPress.com
Best Practices8796WordPress.com
SEO9194WordPress.com
Security6767Tie
TTFB420ms232msWordPress.com
Composite7578WordPress.com
Performance
WordPress
47
WordPress.com
63
Accessibility
WordPress
88
WordPress.com
90
Security
WordPress
67
WordPress.com
67
SEO
WordPress
91
WordPress.com
94
Composite
WordPress
75
WordPress.com
78

WordPress.com outperforms WordPress in 6 of 7 categories, with a stronger composite score (78 vs 75). WordPress leads in no categories.

When to choose WordPress

WordPress doesn't clearly lead WordPress.com in any category on the sampled sites — pick it based on developer experience, ecosystem, or existing team skills rather than the audit scores.

When to choose WordPress.com

Choose WordPress.com when your primary concern is server response time and performance. Its audit data shows consistent strength in these areas across the sampled sites.

How this comparison was built

Scores are medians across 859 audited WordPress sites and 10 audited WordPress.com sites in the BeaverCheck database. Every audit runs the same 100+ checks — Lighthouse performance, security headers, accessibility, SEO, server response time — against a real URL. No vendor input, no sponsorship, no affiliate links. Read the full methodology →

FAQ

Which is faster, WordPress or WordPress.com?
Based on real BeaverCheck audits, WordPress.com sites score higher on Lighthouse performance (63 vs 47 on average).
Which has better security, WordPress or WordPress.com?
WordPress sites score higher on security analysis (67 vs 67 on average).
Which has better accessibility, WordPress or WordPress.com?
Accessibility scores measured by Lighthouse WCAG 2.1 checks favor WordPress.com (90 vs 88). Both technologies can be made fully accessible with care — the difference reflects common patterns in the sampled sites, not inherent platform limits.
Which is better for SEO, WordPress or WordPress.com?
WordPress.com sites score higher on Lighthouse SEO signals (94 vs 91 on average), which cover meta tags, crawlability, mobile friendliness, and structured data. Content strategy and backlinks still matter more than platform choice for ranking.
Which has faster server response (TTFB), WordPress or WordPress.com?
WordPress.com sites show lower Time to First Byte (232 ms vs 420 ms on average). TTFB depends heavily on hosting and CDN setup rather than the technology itself, but the sampled sites suggest a meaningful difference in common deployment patterns.
Should I choose WordPress or WordPress.com for my website?
Both platforms have trade-offs. WordPress.com scores higher on overall composite score while WordPress may excel in metrics you care about most. Run a free BeaverCheck audit on a real site using each to compare the metrics relevant to your use case.
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