Många blir förvånade när de får veta att WordPress, den mest populära plattformen för websites, är gratis. Det är ett kraftfullt verktyg som vem som helst kan använda utan att betala för själva programvaran.
I den här artikeln utforskar vi varför WordPress är available utan kostnad, vad du kan behöva lägga pengar på när du run-ar en WordPress site och om det finns något att hämta. Vi kommer att använda vår mångåriga erfarenhet av WordPress för att klargöra eventuella missförstånd och ge en enkel förklaring.
Att förstå kostnaderna för WordPress kan hjälpa dig att budgetera för din website på ett mer effektivt sätt. Vi kommer att gå igenom allt från avgifter för webbhotell till valfria uppgraderingar.
Vårt mål är att förse dig med den kunskap du behöver för att fatta välgrundade beslut om att använda WordPress för din website eller blogg.
WordPress är en programvara med öppen källkod. Den är gratis i betydelsen frihet, ej i betydelsen gratis öl. You kanske frågar sig vad skillnaden är mellan dessa två.
Programvara med öppen source ger dig friheten att använda, ändra, bygga vidare på och vidaredistribuera programvaran på det sätt du gillar utan att betala några avgifter.
Det kan dock finnas kostnader på andra area. Vi kommer att diskutera kostnaden för att använda programvaran open source WordPress senare i denna artikel.
Video Tutorial
Om du föredrar skriftliga instruktioner kan du fortsätta Läsa.
Varför säljer de inte WordPress som en programvara?
Vi får ofta frågan, varför säljer inte människorna och företagen bakom WordPress det? Om WordPress är så bra som alla säger, skulle de uppenbarligen tjäna mycket mer pengar på att sälja det.
Alltså, WordPress driver över 43% av alla websites på internet.
Detta skulle vara meningsfullt om ett enda företag eller en enskild person ägde WordPress.
WordPress är ett community-projekt med öppen källkod där tiotusentals begåvade människor har bidragit till att göra det till den fantastiska programvara som det är idag.
Ett core-team av utvecklare leads projektutvecklingen, men vem som helst kan bidra med patchar, fixa buggar, göra funktioner, föreslå funktioner etc.
Dessutom ändras projektledarna från en version till en annan. Om du engagerar dig djupt i communityn kan du också bli en core contributor till WordPress.
Filosofin bakom programvara med öppen källkod
Open Source-rörelsens filosofi är att mjukvara inte är som andra materiella produkter. När en programvara väl är skapad kan den kopieras många gånger till en låg kostnad.
Låt oss ta exemplet med en leksaksfabrik.
Varje leksak som tillverkas har olika delar, var och en med en kostnad. Fabriken kan beräkna tillverkningskostnaden för dessa delar för att besluta om en rimlig vinstmarginal för produkten.
Å andra sidan är kostnaden för att skapa programvara och göra kopior av den inte densamma. Vissa grupper anser att programvarans vinstmarginal blir mer orättvis för varje exemplar som säljs.
För att förstå mer om idealen för programvara med öppen källkod, kontrollera GNU:s filosofi.
Hur tjänar folk pengar med WordPress?
De två mest lönsamma delarna av en programvara med öppen källkod är produkter och tjänster som baseras på samma programvara med öppen källkod.
Ofta förväxlas WordPress med WordPress.com, men det är faktiskt två olika saker. WordPress (ofta kallad WordPress på en egen server eller WordPress.org) är en gratis bloggplattform och website-byggare.
Matt Mullenweg, som var med och utvecklade WordPress, startade företaget Automattic, som tillhandahåller ”begränsad” gratis hosting provider för bloggar på WordPress.com, och du kan betala/upgradera för att låsa upp funktioner och ta bort annonser.
Men för att utlösa alla funktioner i WordPress måste du uppgradera till en dyr plan. Du kan till exempel inte starta en online store med WordPress.com om du inte betalar för planen ecommerce, som kostar från 45 dollar per månad.
Automattic har tagit in över 985 miljoner dollar i finansiering.(Källa)
Andra utvecklare har också gått vidare för att bygga framgångsrika företag med flera miljoner dollar runt WordPress genom att skapa kommersiella tillägg och kommersiella teman och till och med erbjuda WordPress webbhotell.
Några exempel på framgångsrika WordPress-företag med flera miljoner dollar är:
- WP Engine – Ett hanterat webbhotell för WordPress som har tjänat över 400 miljoner dollar och nu också äger StudioPress kommersiella teman.
- Awesome Motive – Lead by Syed Balkhi, är ett annat multimiljondollarföretag baserat på WordPress. Företaget hanterar WPBeginner, OptinMonster, WPForms, MonsterInsights, SeedProd, AIOSEO, Smash Balloon och andra populära WordPress-tillägg som används av över 25 miljoner websites.
- ElegantThemes – Temaföretag med flera miljoner dollar som ligger bakom den populära drag and drop page builder Divi och flera andra tillägg.
Related to: Se vår lista över de högst upp WordPress-företagen.
Bra WordPress utvecklare och konsulter gör också en bekväm heltidsinkomst genom att bygga customize webbplatser, applikationer och tillägg runt WordPress för sina kunder. Många av dem tjänar över sexsiffriga belopp i årsinkomst på egen hand.
Är WordPress gratis ur Copyright-synpunkt?
Nej, WordPress är ej gratis. Den är licensierad på ett sätt som allow alla att använda den, men varje bidrag till programvaran är upphovsrättsskyddat.
Den är publicerad under GPL (General Public License). Det innebär att du får använda, ändra och distribuera koden vidare. Du kommer att ha Copyright till de ändringar du gör i programvaran men ej till hela koden.
GPL kräver att alla härledda verk som du släpper eller distribuerar licensieras under GPL. Du kanske har copyright att göra vad du gillar. Men ditt härledda arbete ärver automatiskt GPL-licensen, så andra är gratis att använda, ändrades och vidaredistribuera din kod på vilket sätt de vill.
Är all premium WordPress Themes och tillägg licensierade GPL?
Enligt ett officiellt blogginlägg på WordPress.org är teman också GPL. Images, CSS och JavaScript som används i teman och tillägg kan uteslutas, men alla PHP- och HTML-delar i teman och tillägg använder i stor utsträckning WordPress-funktionalitet. Därför är de härledda verk och licensierade under GPL.
Även om vissa människor inte håller med, följer de flesta betrodda WordPress-företag och följer gemenskapens riktlinjer.
Ärver det content som publiceras med WordPress också GPL?
Nej, du har rätt att licensiera ditt content hur du vill. Såvida inte det content du publicerar faktiskt är ett derivat av WordPress eller något annat GPL-licensierat verk.
Om du till exempel delar dina artiklar, foton eller andra konstverk på din blogg, äger du full upphovsrätt till dem.
Men om du skriver ett blogginlägg som visar hur man använder en WordPress-funktion med exempel, kan det vissa blogginlägget licensieras på ett annat sätt. Den kod som används i exemplen är ett derivat och ärver automatiskt GPL-licensen.
Varumärket WordPress
Koden för WordPress som programvara släpps under GPL, men orden WordPress, WordCamp och WordPress-logotypen är registrerade varumärken som ägs av WordPress Foundation.
För mer detaljer, se WordPress Foundations varumärkespolicy.
För att skilja mellan en site eller resource som är officiell eller community-run, ber stiftelsen folk att ej använda ”WordPress” i sitt domain name.
Detta är anledningen till att vår site anropas WPBeginner istället för WordPressBeginner. Varje website, utbildning eller resource som du ser har WordPress i sitt domain name är förmodligen run av någon som inte vet tillräckligt om WordPress. Detta innebär att du förmodligen inte bör betala dem några av dina pengar.
De flesta legitima företag som är built-in runt WordPress är medvetna om varumärkespolicyn och respekterar reglerna.
Kostnad för att använda WordPress
WordPress är en gratis programvara som du kan ladda ner och använda. För att kunna använda WordPress på webben behöver du dock ett webbhotell för WordPress.
Du kan använda WordPress.com för att skapa en gratis blogg, men tänk på att det finns vissa skillnader. Se vår jämförelse av WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org för mer detaljer.
Kostnaden för att använda WordPress är relativt minimalistisk och gäller även för att köra någon annan typ av webbplats. Den enda verkliga kostnaden är webbhotell ($ 7,99 per månad) och domain name ($ 14 / år).
WPBeginners användare kan dock få ett gratis domain name och upp till 77% rabatt på webbhotell från Bluehost, vilket innebär att du kan starta en webbplats för så lite som $1,99 per månad.
Bluehost är en officiellt rekommenderad WordPress hosting provider. De är tillförlitliga, kommer med 1-click WordPress install, erbjuder 24/7 customer support, och mer.
Related to: Hur man startar en blogg i WordPress (Ultimate Guide)
Ytterligare kostnader kan vara relaterade till kommersiella WordPress-teman, även kända som premiumteman för WordPress. Du är dock inte obligatorisk att använda dessa eftersom det finns över 10 800 gratis WordPress themes som du kan använda.
Folk använder ofta kommersiella tillägg, men du är inte obligatorisk att använda dem heller eftersom det finns över 59 000+ gratis WordPress tillägg tillgängliga.
Vi har skapat en detaljerad guide om hur mycket det verkligen kostar att bygga en WordPress webbplats, med instruktioner om hur man startar en webbplats på en budget och sparar pengar.
Är WordPress gratis Vanliga frågor
Under följer några av de vanligaste frågorna om WordPress är gratis eller ej:
Vad tar WordPress betalt för?
WordPress.org är en plattform med open source som är gratis att ladda ner och använda. Men det finns kostnader attachment om du vill att din WordPress site ska vara live på webben. Den största kostnaden är webbhotell för WordPress och ett domain name, som börjar så lågt som 1,99 USD per månad med Bluehost.
Du kan också utöka funktionerna och funktionerna på din WordPress site med premiumteman och tillägg. Du kan dock hålla kostnaderna nere genom att använda gratis tillägg och teman.
Äger jag min website i WordPress?
Ja, du kan installera programvaran open source WordPress.org på ett hosting provider för att skapa en website som du äger till 100 %. Detta ger dig fullständig control över hur du runar din site.
Detta är ej fallet med andra lösningar som gillar WordPress.com. Med WordPress.com kan din site tas bort när som helst om den bryter mot deras användarvillkor. Det finns också begränsade alternativ för customomize och intäktsgenerering.
Kan jag tjäna pengar på WordPress?
Ja, du kan tjäna pengar på din WordPress site på många olika sätt. Du kan till exempel skapa en membership site, börja med affiliate-marknadsföring, annonsera med Google AdSense, sälja digitala produkter och mycket mer.
Du kan också använda det gratis tillägget WPForms för att godkänna onlinebetalningar och donationer via Stripe direkt på din website.
Vi hoppas att den här artikeln besvarar dina frågor om WordPress-licensiering, kostnaderna för att runka en WordPress-webbplats och affärerna kring WordPress. Du kanske också vill se vår lista över affärsidéer online som är enkla att starta och som faktiskt tjänar pengar eller våra rekommendationer för den bästa programvaran för webbdesign.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Syed Balkhi
Hey WPBeginner readers,
Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
Every month, our top blog commenters will win HUGE rewards, including premium WordPress plugin licenses and cash prizes.
You can get more details about the contest from here.
Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!
Amogh Agrawal
Such a awesome article and very well crafted!
Vince
Thank you for this information! I just started my own WP blog and this filled in many gaps of my knowledge that I didn’t find in my initial research of blogging platforms. This is definitely a great reference to pass along to others!
hope
I really learned alot from this website today and it is not the first time I wanted to compare WP.org and WP.com…I really liked everything about WP.org but my question is that what are host payment methods, im from south Africa PayPal and other methods are not easy for me…but bitcoins are always easy and cheap, is there any bitcoins payment method?
Brittany S.
Hello, I’m sorry to bug you with this question, but I tried asking it on the WP forums and got no response. Since this post mentions the costs of having a WP account, I hope this is an ok place to ask this.
I currently have a free wordpress.com account. I simply want the .wordpress gone from my domain name.
Every place I look in the help docs or forums, it states to look at the plan pricing, and of course, when you look at the plans, you see that a custom domain is free with any plan. Ok, got it.
However, this is why I’m confused. The site lets me go in and add a custom domain and private domain registration to my cart for $18/year and $8/year respectively. So $26/year total. It says nothing about having to buy a plan.
Now, if you stop and think about this for a sec, it doesn’t make sense. If you MUST have a plan in order to have a custom domain, and if a custom domain is FREE with a plan, then why would the system show pricing for a custom domain? See how that doesn’t make sense?
Essentially, I’m not brave enough (yet) to just say screw it and try to pay the $26 bucks and see what happens. I just wondered if anyone here knows. Any time pricing and such is mentioned on the WP forums, the same link to the plans is given and that’s the end of the conversation.
Thanks in advance!
WPBeginner Support
Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
Administratör
Tonomoshia
I bought the domain for the $26. It is separate from the plans. The plans have monthly costs (paid yearly I think) and include certain upgrades for each level. I did not get those upgrades, just the domain name and private registration for the $26 per year. You can definitely get the domain without worrying about a plan.
Sneha
Thank you so much for this information.
I have a query.I am meaning to shift from wordpress.com to wordpress.org in order to run an e-commerce store.I already had bought the personal plan from wordpress.com.While exporting,will my plan and the subsequent amount go down the drain?
Regards
WPBeginner Support
Plans and other purchases on WordPress.com can be canceled and refunded with in 30days of purchase. Domain registrations can be canceled and refunded during 48 hours after purchase. Please contact WordPress.com support for more help.
Administratör
Azam ali
There are wordpress free themes, I want to know that how much permission are we having to use them freely
WPBeginner Support
Most WordPress themes are GPL Licensed, you may want to contact your theme developer for terms of service and support.
Administratör
ilayaraja
i bought one copy of wordpress theme license(per user). can i apply it on my friend site?
WPBeginner Support
Contact theme developer to learn more about their licensing terms.
Administratör
Adebayo idris
How can I create free website with wordpress?
Shazia Kausar
Thanks for great post.
Elyse Sokoloff
True beginner, semi-luddite here. I thought I had things figured out but now I’m confused again. I started a blog through WordPress and I’m assuming it was wordpress.com. I bought my domain name, so does that mean I’m self hosted? If I upgrade my blog to a Genesis or Headway site, how does that change how I’m hosted, or does it? Your site has been very helpful thus far, thanks for all your work.
WPBeginner Support
Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
Administratör
Elyse Sokoloff
Ah, got it. I had read it but was still confused. Re-reading I think I get it, I’m NOT self hosting. And if I want to do something like Genesis or Headway I’ll need to become self hosted, say on Blue Host for example. Correct?
Mahesh Rajamani
yes! you are right!!
Pete
Nice read. I am currently a duda pro but costs are becoming too high. I have 30 websites and pay £330 per month to duda. I do charge my clients a monthly fee but would rather keep the £330 by using wordpress instead. Can even use that saving for themes or plugins.
Am i correct in thinking that I can construct 30 websites on wordpress and host it with godaddy for around £6per month? Or am I missing something?
Unfortunately we cannot transfer websites from duda to another platform but where there’s a will there’s a way??
Joel Silverman
Great article! Thanks for helping me understand some of the things to consider. The article on the differences between wordpress.com and wordpress.org was good too.
WPBeginner Support
Glad you found it useful.
Administratör
Chidi Anslem
Great and useful post. I found this very enlightening. It’s cleared most of my misconceptions.
Oge Brenda
Hi Chidi. I need your help please, I want to launch a fashion blog on a free host. Which of the word presses do I use? I have read through and in all honesty found it hard to understand the terms and I don’t really know how you go about it. Can you break it down for me?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Oge Brenda,
You may want to see our step by step guide on how to start a WordPress blog.
Administratör
one
very informative post. It’s helps me to understand the difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org.
Christian
Yay! I hate TF too
I really enjoyed how the article ”missed” mentioning TF heheh
Victoria
I am about to head off on an amazing holiday overseas & wish to keep a blog to email to family & friends of all the highlights & experiences of our trip. WordPress was recommended by a friend who has a blog through you. I just wanted to double check that what I set up will be free, that I will be able to email what I write & that I can do all this from the Macbook Air (running Mac OSX 10.9.5) that we will take with us? Thanks.
Willow
If you don’t use WordPress on the web will people still be able to view your blog?
rayan
Tell me about famous e-commerce websites using wordpress. I am a web designer using wordpress, and i want to convince my customers that wordpress is good enough to have your online store running perfectly.
Nina
I am starting a blog and was wondering if it is a good idea to start with the free WordPress as I gradually add content. Right now I have zero content.
Since it is possible to transfer to WordPress.org in the future, is it worth it to take advantage of the traffic that the free WordPress provides in the meantime? Or would it be too much of a hassle/inconvenience to my future readers to transfer over?
I read that WordPress.org does not help you gain traffic… what do you suggest? I want to do everything right from the beginning so I can establish a good foundation for my blog/business. Please help! Thank you!
WPBeginner Support
Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
Administratör
Daniyal Ahmed
Thank you so much for this great article. I need to ask, is WordPress plugin author (free plugin those available on wordpress.org) also consider as WordPress contributor or not ? Actually you didn’t mention about those in article as a contributor.
WPBeginner Support
Basically anyone working and sharing the work with rest of the WordPress community is considered a contributor. One can contribute by answering support requests on forum, helping with documentation, organizing WordPress meetups and WordCamps, and so on. However, only those users who contribute to the development of the WordPress core are credited as core contributors.
Administratör
Saloni
I am a beginner. I created my site in hubpages few days ago. Now I am bit confused. I want to know which is profitable wrt making money online. It’s self hosted(myname.com) or like the one I am currently having.
Secondly, if I create a website in WordPress(myname.com) will It be entirely self hosted by me or will that be hosted by others and not me?
Can you plz suggest which one I need to create? How much I need to pay yearly fee? Also, can you plz provide link to create?
Monir
How good is wordpress for multi-vendor e-commerce site?
WPBeginner Support
There are already many such sites built with WordPress, and they are doing great.
Administratör
jalil khan
this is best site for information about WordPress..I want your advice about my plan that is I wanted to run a video site not self hosting and which Host is best for me in low Cost..
Thanks
WPBeginner Support
Please see our WordPress hosting guide.
Administratör
Sacha
WordPress is truly is amazing!
Letala
Thanks. This article was very helpful.
Serouj
My entire business is based on WordPress. I can only say thank you!
Adeel Sami
Hey WPBeginner guys,
Now I know what involves to run a self-hosted WordPress blog.
No doubt this is the best blogging open-source software who gets contribution from hundreds of developers who are good at making WordPress a free software for the people like me.
Being said, I love it over any other software that give ability to run a blog or a forum. And being free is just our good luck.
Thank you once again!
~ Adeel Sami
Darshan Gajara
Hey WPBeginner, thanks a ton for sharing such insightful information about WordPress guidelines.
elisa
How will other people be able to see my blog??Can I use facebook to attract traffic for my blog?Is it allowed? If no then can u suggest otjer ways to attract readers for my wp blog??please help i am totally a newbie
WPBeginner Support
Facebook does allow promotion of your blog using your Facebook page. But it also limits the reach of your page’s posts so you will have to boost each post for more reach. You can also use Twitter and other social platforms to promote your blog.
Administratör
eileen f
Hi I am very new to blogging not new to writing but the entire blog thing. I successfully downloaded the android version of wordpress to my note 3 but I wanted it on my laptop. I downloaded wordpress from wordpress.com to my laptop and opened up a plethora of malware and other applications that obviously weren’t expected. I finally cleaned my pc of the infection but still really want to find the safest wordpress app to run on my laptop. Can you let me know where I can find such an app or from the correct website to find the true free uncompromised version? Just the application not the extra apps that came tumbling down like before. I would greatly appreciate
WPBeginner Support
There is no official WordPress app for desktop. There are plenty of third party blogging clients that you can use, like Windows Live Writer.
Ali Khan
You can begin from wpbeginner
Syed Balkhi
You would need to follow this tutorial:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-properly-move-your-blog-from-wordpress-com-to-wordpress-org/
Nsquared
Help! I just paid $18 on WordPress.com for my own domain thinking I was self-hosting. After reading this article…apparently I am not. How do i self-host even i’ve already bought my domain on WordPress.com?
Afzoon Rampal
I am a learner about wordpress. But dont know lots of places to learn about it. Here i found just a discussion about it. Anyone know where should i begin?
bri
excellent explanation…. i didn’t get it til now thanks WPBeginner!!
Debra
I don’t know anything about code or themes or much of anything else you spoke about — GNUs, which I assume aren’t animals, and other acronyms—– I just want to write about what I want to write about and make some honest money as I go. If WordPress has the tools and I can easily understand how to use the tools, and I don’t have to pay a lot of money upfront to use the tools, I’m overjoyed. Somebody told me that if I used web hosting at WordPress, I’d have to shell out a couple thousand dollars a month minimum. I’m guessing now that I have read what you’ve written here and found out that I can understand what in blue blazes you are saying enough to stumble through the process without screwing up too badly, that it really won’t cost be a couple thousand up front to get started?
WPBeginner Support
The costs of hosting your own WordPress site depend on how popular your site becomes. Hosting could be expansive but there are plenty of options available to choose from. We would recommend you to take a look at our list of recommended WordPress hosting providers.
Administratör
ahsan karim
You are a great man. bundle of thanks
Shane Chambers
Very helpful article! My concerns have been exploring how viable WordPress would be for an initial startup product. I’d like to potentially take a WordPress Theme, modify it for an initial launch of my web startup, and integrate custom code from there as I go along. I’ve been concerned about scalability, etc. of WP as an overall platform. After reading your article, I’m now concerned about this GPL under GNU. It sounds like any innovations I built on top of a theme or code I inherit from WordPress would not necessarily be protected under my IP? If so, that’s a huge problem for me and would completely rule out me using WP as a platform. What would be the point if my competitors or anyone can just take all the hard work I’ve done and replicate it immediately? Obviously, I need to research this myself.
More details: my startup is initially building a niche job board with all the modern features (profile, job match, applicant mgmt., social integration/authentication, xml job pull, etc.), and eventually integrating future innovations which might include things like integrating another open source functionality like CRM or recruitment tech. Having “open source” availability is important to me so that I can modify algorithms if need be (such as the job matching), integrate new code features as I scale, and so I can have access to the underlying customer database for analytics, etc.
I would appreciate any helpful feedback. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!!
Jessica Santos
Editorial Staff,
I’m currently using Blogger right now but I have recently been informed that the material I submit onto my current blog is not neccessarily mine. I have read that WordPress is a better site for a blog because it is not only free but I have full ownership and full abilitiy of what to do with the material published on my blog. However, I am still questioning whether or not it is safe for me to post/submit my work onto a blog from WordPress. I am a writer, poet and photographer and I would not appreciate the knowledge of someone, even a blog site, to take my material from me, alter it or claim it as their own. Do I have full ownership? If so can I post/submit material/content with reassurance that it will not be taken and considered someone elses or considered to belong to WordPress?
Jessica
WPBeginner Support
Content you create on your website, on your own, is yours and you have complete ownership of it. However, if the content you are posting is someone else’s work then they can claim the copyright infringement. In that case they can file a complaint with search engines to deIndex your content, or contact your web hosting service provider to take down infringing material.
Administratör
chris
im none the wiser-what a load of waffle.is it free or not????
its still impossible to know how to log in to word press and impossible to get help. i have no time to spend days siftting through hours of forums to find out hhow to sign in or some other stupid simple thing
is this the level of inane stupidity humanity bhas come to? Everyones time is being stolen by computer inanitys. Everyone reading this would be far better off going out and buying a typewriter. Within second syour awy- no impossibly complicated systems,silly anal codes or password-just words on a page. Better still, pick up a pen and write on a piece of paper
WPBeginner Support
Yes it is free. However, WordPress needs WordPress hosting service, like a typewriter needs paper, a desk, and ink. You can always pick up a pen and paper, but it will not make your written word instantly accessible to everyone in the world. Signing in to WordPress is not difficult type your website address with a /wp-admin to access the adminstration area. Like if your web address is example.com you would go to http://www.example.com/wp-admin to login. As for help, you can search WPBeginner Archives for help and you are always welcome to post your questions here. You can also join us on Facebook and Twitter and ask your questions there.
Administratör
Grace
Great post! I arrived at this article after reading a comment you made elsewhere on the site that you don’t recommend Themeforest because they ”do not follow the spirit of GPL”. Could you explain what you mean? I thought reading this post might help me understand what you meant, but it didn’t.
So happy I discovered your site, Syed!
Editorial Staff
Grace,
Up until recently, Themeforest forced their authors to sell their themes under a proprietary license. I’m not going to explain what GPL is, you can read about it on GNU Public License page. But long story short, Themeforest has recently gave their authors the freedom to sell their work under the GPL license.
However that wasn’t the only reason I don’t recommend them. The quality of most themes there are not very good (at least from the best practices standpoint). The themes might look great aesthetically, but usually cause a lot of bugs with numerous plugins.
-Syed
Administratör
Adrian
Many thanks for this article Syed – incredibly useful. I’ve been using Weebly Pro for a good year now and, while there have certainly been benefits for me in terms of time to launch, I have always found it very restrictive, sometimes painful and invariably I’ve ended up having to massage the code anyway – although the ”free” hosting certainly helps (and it’s great for very small businesses to launch quickly).
I’ve been planning to make the jump to WP for some time now, and you article has inspired me to finally put some time into it -especially as I am confined to bed for the next 10 days – perfect opportunity.
Thanks again, please keep up the great work!
– A
Ian Dunn
”WordPress is an open source software. It is free in the sense of freedom not in the sense of free beer.”
Actually, WordPress is free-as-in-speech AND free-as-in-beer. The two concepts aren’t mutually exclusive.
Editorial Staff
Free doesn’t refer to the price, it refers to freedom. You can read more about it here:
http://codex.wordpress.org/License
Administratör
Ian Dunn
Free can refer to both the price and freedom, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_libre. When you say that ”WordPress is not free in the sense of free beer”, you’re implying that people have to pay in order to obtain a copy of WordPress, which isn’t true. WordPress is free-as-in-speech because the GPL gives you the freedom to modify it, but it’s also free-as-in-beer because you don’t have to pay for it.
Editorial Staff
Thanks for the clarification. I went and re-read the entire article to make sure that it reflects an accurate meaning and it does. It says there might be costs involved somewhere while using WordPress, and there is. We never implied that you have to pay for WordPress. If you read the whole article, then you will see under the section Costs of using WordPress, it says ”WordPress as a software is free for you to download and use. However, to use WordPress on the web, you will need WordPress Hosting.” << which costs money.
Ian Dunn
I think maybe the problem is just in the way that sentence was phrased.
“WordPress is an open source software. It is free in the sense of freedom not in the sense of free beer.”
I’m guessing you meant to say something like, ”WordPress is an open source software, which means that it is free. ’Free’ primarily refers to freedom to modify the software, as opposed to obtaining the software without payment, although it is also free in that sense.”
But the way it was worded, it literally says that WordPress is not free-as-in-beer: ”…not in the sense of free beer.”
And that’s where the problem is. WordPress IS free-as-in-beer, in addition to being free-as-in-speech.
Antonio Casella
How refreshing to find a person actually replying. That’s certainly a plus. I also like the philosophy/ethics that appears to be behind the WordPress concept. Thanks, Syed, for posting the training video above. I’m about to launch into the blog/website, partly to promote my novels. I’ll start with the free package at first to see how it works out.
Editorial Staff
Let us know if we could be of any help in your journey with WordPress
Administratör
Keller Coleman
Great post, I love my WordPress site
Igor P.
It is great to know that such an open community like WordPress powers millions of sites and feeds thousands of professionals. According to the WP survey conducted in 2012, around 74% of respondents where making their living from WordPress. It is noble what this open source software can offer.
Editorial Staff
Yes Igor, it is truly remarkable what WordPress has done for so many.
Administratör
Caspar Hübinger
This article gives a great overview on the monetary costs to run a WordPress site and on why and how WordPress as a software can be used free of charge.
There is, however, a “hidden” cost implied in running a WordPress powered site successfully, and that would be the gaining of knowledge (resp. the time and energy required to gain knowledge).
As with all great tools, WordPress won’t do the magic for you alone. You will have to learn how to use it right. Which themes and plugins are safe to use and abide the WordPress Coding Standards, so they won’t mess up your installation? How to test new plugins to make sure they behave well? (Ever tried WP_DEBUG true in a test environment?) How to backup your site and restore it from a backup if something went wrong.
All of that could be named a cost, too, because in order to succeed you will either have to do it yourself, or hire an expert (or service) to do it for you.
Editorial Staff
Caspar, you are correct. Time is very valuable, and you can/should put a dollar value on it. Despite the learning curve, anyone with dedication and motivation can totally accomplish what they need to do without spending $$$ on someone. There are sites like WPBeginner here to help. There are tons of amazing folks in the forums who are answering questions on a regular basis. WordPress StackExchange also has a great community.
Rest assured, experience is one of those things that you cannot buy. Gotta play the game like the rest of us.
Administratör
Paul
Excellent post. This should be required reading for anyone who is considering or has already started a wordpress.org blog or site. The question about why wp is free was always in the back of my thoughts? Now I know.
Paul
Editorial Staff
Thanks Paul. Glad this article was able to help. It is making the rounds in social media. Share it with your audience and spread the knowledge
Administratör
Austin Gunter
Great post. I get a lot of questions from larger companies who are using WordPress for their sites, and still more who are doing research into whether they should be using WordPress or another CMS. Having this post as a resource will help answer their questions
Imran Hunzai
Hala GPL! Hala WordPress!
Haseeb Ahmad Ayazi
These were also in my mind. Thanks to Syed Balkhi for this great information