wordpress.com are WordPress blogs hosted on WordPress.com servers, but create an account anyway so that you can get your Akismet API key for your blog
wordpress.org is where you can download core WordPress files to install WordPress on your own host if you don't have Fantastico installer in your hosting cpanel
wordPress.org also contains all WP documentation as well as themes and plugins to extend WP

There are other differences too:

* You can't use WP.com for commercial purposes
* You risk losing your posts if WP.com closes down your blog (although I was able to get them to open it for long enough for me to export them)
* Although initially your search engine results are great, over time they'll be better on your own self hosted blog.

There are some more details in the article I've linked to below (which also contains a comparison with Blogspot):

http://www.wealthydragon.com/blog/20...-or-wordpress/

Cheers,

Martin.

i think , wordpress.com used to hosted blogs for free, and wordpress.org is for cms annouchment such as updates, plugins, etc. i use wordpress to for my blog, and doing SEO, custom the theme by my self. i love to develop the wordpress it self on my own hosting than the hosted version.

Ok, I am looking for some opinions here so that I can get a better grasp on which site is really the better choice. I am fairly new to formal blogging (however I have been writing on line for years now) and I am finding that I am getting a bit frustrated with the limitations I find here at WP.com, so I did some research into WP.org and now I am in a quandry as to which site is actually more functional when you want the ability to be creative with your blog?

Hi Rugstore,
When I first talked about building a blog (this year) I was told that wp.org was the ONLY long term option (by IM professionals). I was also told that there would be a learning curve---especially for a newbie like me.

I hear that it allows a lot more creativity and customization from people who use it regularly---most say they will never go back to the regular blog formats (blogger wp.com etc).

Well I'm always up for a challenge so I moved forward with wp.org. I felt a huge sense of accomplishment getting it done----though there were some hours I wanted to throw my laptop onto the street lol.

I am getting ready now to start a new site and will use wp.org again. I want to have a site that is dynamic and not static and allows for creativity. There are some great sites that help if one gets stuck.

Success to you!

There is no guarantee if you have blog in wp. com, It can be closed even if one user has reported.

At wp. org, it's all in your hands.

WordPress Support explains the difference in a very easy to understand way at:

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org Support — WordPress.com

In this case you would be best using the WordPress.org version that comes with a hosting account you purchase.

As pretty much everyone says, go with a self-hosted WordPress.org one if you're serious about your blog and want to monetize it, etc. But, in the meantime you can easily sign up for a WordPress.com one to play around with and get used to the format (and to get that Akismet API key).

wp.org is meant for the open source wordpress software and the collection of all plugins and themes various users have posted. wp.com is like blogspot, allows you to create a free blog as a subdomain of wordpress.com

WordPress.com is a free, hosted blog system (similar to Blogger). Your blog lives on WP's servers, and is maintained by them: WP.com-hosted blogs are subject to restrictions they have in place with regard to design and functionality.
WordPress.org supplies software which you install on your own server or web hosting. It is under your control, which means that the technical responsibility for maintaining, upgrading and backing up your blog is yours.

Question: Can you transfer a blog from .com to .org and how hard is this to do for a fairly non-techie?