When you’re brand new to WordPress it can be confusing to figure out what you really need and what the different kinds of WordPress actually are. One of the first things to understand is WordPress hosted vs self hosted, often described as “WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.”
Here are some more ways you may see this question phrased:
Do you need WordPress.com or WordPress.org?
What’s the difference between WordPress hosted vs self hosted?
Should you start a blog on WordPress.com?
So what do these things really mean?
In A Hurry? Take a look at some web hosting accounts that do what I describe in this blog post.