One of the most frequently asked questions about WordPress is, ‘Why is WordPress free?’ There is no simple answer to this, but we have attempted to provide a concise explanation here.
WordPress is an open source community project, which means it is not owned by a single individual or entity. Apart from the project development being led by a core group of developers, suggestions and contributions are welcome from anyone who wishes to make them. It is licensed under GPL, which allows users to do whatever they want with the code, including modifying and redistributing it. GPL is a copyleft license, which means any derivative of the source code is automatically licensed under GPL as well.
Why is it free if it is so good? Actually, it is the other way around. The reason why WordPress is good is that it is free in both senses of the word – free to use without any cost and has the freedom to modify and change it. The contribution of thousands of talented WordPress users is what makes it so good.
Who makes money with WordPress and how? There has to be some reason other than the satisfaction of a job well done for such a talented bunch of developers to consistently contribute to the development and maintenance of this free software. There are many ways to make money with WordPress, such as creating and selling attractive and useful WordPress themes and plugins. There are companies who do exclusively that and make a lot of money doing so.
What does it cost to build a WordPress site? The basic costs of owning a WordPress site include no more than the domain registration costs and the hosting server charges. There are thousands of free plugins and themes available that can provide different features and levels of customization. Of course, like everything else that you own, you can always spend money to make it better. There are premium WordPress themes and plugins available that provide everything from an exclusive look and feel to better functionality and features, as well as more convenient management of your site.
The difference between .com and .org. WordPress.org is a site which allows you to host your site at a basic hosting cost. It offers the freedom to do what you want with the site and a great degree of control over its design and maintenance as well as allowing you to post ads and keep all the revenue. On the other hand, the responsibility for the security, maintenance, and the regular updating of your WordPress site is your own. The WordPress.com free services on the other hand provide a hassle free experience in that they do all the maintenance/upgrades required to that site. However, the rights to install themes or plugins and to customize your site are severely curtailed and can only be achieved through paid membership.
This article attempts to explain succinctly and clearly some of the inner workings of WordPress and to help the user understand which costs associated with their WordPress site are required and which ones are optional.