Who Owns WordPress and How Does WordPress Make Money?

This is quite confusing to beginners who have just stepped into the world of blogging and make money online.. Before making a WordPress site there core concern is to differentiate between WordPress Org and WordPress (dot) com. If both are not the same then why don’t they sue each other? If both are different companies then why they are using the identical copyrighted logo and name.

So, are WordPress. Com and WordPress Org same?

The answer is Yes and No.

Worpress.com is developed and run by the private company Automattic. Matt Mullenweg is the CEO of Automattic.  He is also the co-founder of WordPress.Org. Automattic was started after 2 years of WordPress launch in 2005. Since WordPress was an open-source platform, still in its infancy stage. Matt had an interest in making WordPress easier with an easy Hosting solution. To fulfill the same WordPress. Com is launched.

Perhaps, this platform work similar to Wrodprss.org

1. WordPress.com is for people who are just hobby writers and want to start a website without costing a penny. Anyone can opt-in for wordprss.com and create an account there.
2. You can choose a domain e.g, (Yourdomain. wordpress.com). Here the root domain Wordprss.com comes as default and you can’t change it. 
3. You can choose a theme (limited themes only) from the platform and apply that to your site.
4. You need not purchase any domain and hosting to run a site through WordPress.

WordPress Org is also an open-source platform with lots of functionalities and customizations. It is run by WordPress foundation — a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing free maintenance, development, and usability of the WordPress platform. This organization is responsible for ensuring that WordPress is always free and updated. 

Also, It is a license under GPL that gives the user unmatched control over the entire source code. Keep in mind that “Automattic is not the parent company of Wordpres.org — As several media houses such as recode, thenextweb, and TechCrunch, etc claims. It is just the parent company behind WordPress.org.

What WordPress.Org offers:

1. Users need to purchase a domain and hosting in order to get started. 
2. They need to set up a WordPress website that is technical. 
3. Users  enjoy tons of free themes and plugins unlike wordPress.com
4. Since it is an open-source platform. You can make any kind of customization even to the root files of the WordPress platform. 
5. The last thing that will blow your mind is that you can sell WordPress (100% legal) after changing the logo and name. Making it simple –WordPress totally belongs to the general public, You can do whatever they want. 

WordPress.com earns money by selling the premium stuff. If you run a website with WordPress.com and your website gets lots of traffic and you further want to customize the website, you need to buy their premium plan (which is costly). If you want to use a custom theme, you need to buy their “premium or business” plan, If you want to use a custom theme, you need to buy the premium version. 

Although wordprss.com doesn’t allow ads by the user on their platform. But if you have large traffic, you can sign up for WordAds, WordPress’s own ad platform. WordPress.com’s major income depends on selling WordPress-related services such as hosting, domain, backup, and others. 

They also earn through ads placed on users’ websites. Only they can run ads on your website until you have lots of traffic and you opt for WordAds.

In a nutshell “WordPress.com earns by selling Website-related services”

Most WordPress users think that WordPress is free and you don’t pay anything for using the platform. Although it is true, but to some extent only. One common question arises here: How is WordPress able to provide all the updates and maintain the service if it’s not earning from its platform. The short answer is from donations.

WordPress runs on the donations made by companies whose service lies with the existence of WordPress.  If there is no WordPress, they will be like a fallen tree. With the Emergence of WordPress Popularity, there are a large number of WordPress Development companies that sell services and products related to WordPress.

They donate for the betterment of the WordPress Platform. Their WordPress developers (Voluntarily) work round the clock to make WordPress a better place. They are not getting paid directly by the WordPress org but by the companies who are providing the WordPress services. 

Companies want WordPress to be the biggest holder of market share. Hence they donate money to WordPress.Org. Also, If you have ever purchased hosting from, Bluehost, siteground, Hostgator, big rock, etc. A significant amount goes to the WordPress Org. That means you are indirectly paying WordPress.Org for using its platform.  A large number of plugins that have millions of installs e.g., Yoast SEO, and Backupbuddy, etc — also pay a donation to WordPress.

In a nutshell WordPress.Org runs through Donations and Indirect help from Related Companies.

Although, WordPress.Org is and always will be a nonprofit organization that doesn’t charge for using its platform because it is made and developed by countless unseen faces, developers, researchers, etc. But still, it has an earning model that pays WordPress voluntarily without asking for any sum. We hope it clears your misconception about the WordPress revenue model.