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WordPress.com Review: Price, Features and Score

WordPress.com: Hosted WordPress with a free plan, themes, newsletters and plugins. Free plan; paid from $48 a year, on web and iOS. We did not test it; the facts come from its own pages.

Prices and data checked October 14, 2026 · Author Score computed by a published formula, not paid for

WordPress.com on the BookBird Author Score

Author Score · author website builders · #2 of 8 ·

Best for: Authors who blog or send posts as a newsletter on WordPress

BookBird Author Score8.2/10 #2 of 8 author website builders. Worked out from WordPress.com’s own pages, its price and US searches for its name, not typed in. Author jobs50 pts42.9/50Each of the 7 author jobs on the author website builders list is worth an equal share of 50 points, and counts only when WordPress.com’s own pages confirm it. 6 of 7 confirmed = 42.9 points. A job the vendor does not mention earns nothing.Cost25 pts25/25A free plan, or a platform that takes no upfront fee, earns all 25 points.Adoption25 pts14.4/25Searches, 20 points: 6,600 a month for “wordpress.com”, against Squarespace, the most searched in this category (673,000), on a log scale = 13.1. Trend, 5 points: down 24% (last three months against the first three of the year) = 1.3; a fall of half or more earns 0, no change 2.5, a rise of half or more 5. 82.3 of 100 points= 8.2 out of 10 The full method, with every product’s points →

Author jobs, from WordPress.com’s own pages

  • Not stated: Book pages with store links (not stated)
  • Yes: Templates made for authors
  • Yes: Newsletter sign-up
  • Yes: Your own domain
  • Yes: Blog or news page
  • Yes: Sell books from the site
  • Yes: Search settings you control

WordPress.com pricing

Free plan + paid plans. There is a free plan. Plans, in US dollars:

  • Free (site on a .wordpress.com address with WordPress.com ads shown to visitors; custom domains need a paid plan)
  • Personal (annual): $48 a year (USD 4/month equivalent; cheapest plan for connecting a custom domain; free domain for the first year; no ads; plugins and premium themes)
  • Personal (monthly): $9 a month (same features billed monthly; no free domain year (that needs an annual or longer plan))
  • Premium (annual): $96 a year (payment buttons via PayPal and Stripe, SEO title and description tools, video uploads)
  • Premium (monthly): $18 a month (same features billed monthly)
  • Business (annual): $300 a year (priority support, MailPoet email marketing to 500 subscribers, backups, SFTP/SSH)
  • Business (monthly): $40 a month (same features billed monthly)
  • Commerce (annual): $540 a year (WooCommerce online store)
  • Commerce (monthly): $70 a month (same features billed monthly)

USD prices from the vendor's public plans API (public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1.5/plans?currency=USD), which returns list prices only. The pricing page served to Poland shows PLN with a first-year discount (e.g. Personal PLN 144 first year, then PLN 168), so the US page may also show a first-year discount that this API answer does not include. 2- and 3-year terms are also sold.

What WordPress.com offers

  • Free plan on a .wordpress.com address, with ads
  • Theme filter for author and writer sites, with free and premium themes
  • Every site can collect subscribers and email new posts as a newsletter
  • Connect a domain from another registrar free on any paid plan; first year free on annual plans
  • Payment buttons for PayPal and Stripe from Premium; WooCommerce store on Commerce
  • Automatic XML sitemap; editable SEO titles and front-page meta description from Premium
  • Plugins and premium themes from Personal upward
  • Affiliate program covering WordPress.com hosting and other Automattic products

Runs on: web and iOS. Needs an internet connection.

WordPress.com alternatives

SoftwareScorePrice fromBest for
Wix9.7Free plan; paid from $17 a month (billed yearly)Authors who want author templates and a free starter site
BookBub Author Websites8.1Free plan; paid from $7.99 a month (billed yearly)Authors wanting a free author site with built-in email sign-ups
HostingAuthors7.5Free plan; paid from $90 a yearAuthors who want a free, permanent page for one book and room to grow into an author hub
Tertulia author websites7.5$7.99 a month (billed yearly)Authors selling ebooks and audiobooks direct without per-sale fees
Weblium7.4$132 a yearAuthors on a budget who want an e-book store template

Compare: All author website builders · All software for authors

How the score is computed: the formula, step by step.