WordPress.com Review: Good, but Is It Past Its Prime in 2025?

WordPress.com at a Glance

WordPress.com Pros, Cons, & Things That Could Be Better

WordPress.com may have started as a simple blogging platform, but it’s evolved to be far more than that. You can use it to build anything from membership sites and image boards to online stores, whether you’re a beginner or a power user.

While coding skills can unlock advanced features like custom themes and plugin development, even beginners can take advantage of its 50,000+ plugins to customize their sites with ease. That said, my experience setting up a site revealed that WordPress.com might not be ideal for absolute beginners due to its learning curve.

However, its range of pricing plans (including a free one), means you can get started without too much upfront investment. And, with support for 200+ languages, WordPress offers accessibility for users worldwide. Read on to find out whether it’s the right platform for your needs.

WordPress.com Offers Several Built-In Themes, Plus Access to Third-Party Options

WordPress.com boasts over 360 themes (which other builders call “templates”) spread across 19 categories, which are called “Subjects.” About 185 are available on the free plan, and they’re all very sleek and professional.

How much you can customize is limited by the customization options of the individual theme you use and the amount of money you’re willing to spend. However, advanced design customization is available only from the Premium plan up. Which means you’ll have to pay for the ability to edit the CSS files directly. Still, there’s a good chance that the base themes will be good enough for you, as they’re pretty high quality and all mobile-responsive.

Design and Customization

​​WordPress.com offers robust customization options through its intuitive block-based editor, allowing you to design a site that aligns with your vision. Each content block, such as paragraphs, images, or videos, includes a range of settings for alignment, color, and layout, making it easy to tweak individual elements. You can even transform one block type into another – for instance, you can change a paragraph block into a list or a quote block.

While WordPress.com doesn’t impose strict design restrictions, the editor doesn’t let you insert blocks anywhere on the page. Instead, it uses a structured grid system to encourage thoughtful layouts, reducing the risk of creating cluttered or visually overwhelming designs.

If you’re an advanced user, you can further customize your site by switching to the code editor for direct HTML editing. Meanwhile, beginners can take advantage of pre-designed block patterns like galleries or footers to streamline the design process.

Plugins Enable You To Do Just About Anything

WordPress.com’s plugins allow you to transform your website in just about any way you can think of. For example, you can boost your SEO some more, and you can build an actual social networking site. And yes, you can upload and install third-party plugins, too.

Sadly, WordPress plugins are available only from the Business plan up. Still, I think it’s worth the price for the extra functionality and flexibility they provide. So, from a features standpoint, WordPress.com is up there with the best site builders.

Store Builder

As long as you’re in the U.S. or Canada, and on a Business Plan or higher, you can set up a store to work with your WordPress.com site. Taxes are calculated automatically, and you can accept payments via PayPal or Stripe, and offline by check or cash-on-delivery. Coupons and product reviews are supported as well.

If you live in a different country, you can always install any e-commerce plugin you like, though, of course, you’ll have to set up things like payments for yourself.

Marketing and Analytics Tools

WordPress provides a number of tools for boosting your SEO, establishing your branding, measuring your traffic, and sharing your blog posts on social media. You also get free integration with Mailchimp, if you want to let users sign up for your newsletter straight from your website.

Easy Monetization

From the Free plan on up, you can accept recurring subscription payments, donations, and standard payouts for your content. You just need to add a Payments block on your website via the editor.

If you upgrade to the Premium plan or higher, you can start putting ads on your site with minimal fuss.

My Experience With WordPress.com

Getting Started With WordPress.com

During my sign-up process, WordPress.com prompted me to specify my website’s primary goal – blogging, showcasing a portfolio, or setting up an online store. I chose to create a portfolio, and WordPress.com curated a selection of portfolio templates, but it also allowed me to explore templates across other categories easily.

When I selected a real estate template, WordPress.com directed me to customize its style immediately. I like that I was able to do this before diving into the editor, but I wasn’t too pleased with the overall assistance I got during the template selection process.

When I selected a blog category, I was directed to a general page of blog templates, with no differentiation between specific blog types (e.g., personal vs. business blogs). This lack of specificity made it difficult to find the best option for my website.

Plus, while exploring, I didn’t encounter any app or third-party integration suggestions during the template selection phase. It would be helpful if WordPress.com recommended tools tailored to specific needs – such as SEO plugins for business blogs or social media integrations for personal blogs. This kind of guidance could have significantly streamlined my setup experience.

Customizing My WordPress.com Website

Adding content to my WordPress.com site was straightforward. I simply used the block inserter (the “+” icon on the top-left corner), where I could drag and drop any block element – like images, buttons, or even full pre-designed patterns – directly into the page. The flexibility to rearrange or insert blocks at specific spots using the cursor or list view added to the seamless experience.

WordPress.com provides a handy interactive tour upon entering the editor. The guided walkthrough explains essential features, such as how to add and manage blocks, and how to navigate the editor. If I’m being honest, this tour is basic at best, and if you’re entirely new to website management, it may not be detailed enough to get you started. You’ll likely still have to explore WordPress.com’s resources and tutorials to fully understand how the editor works.

Performing basic tasks like uploading photos or adding new pages was easy enough. For instance, uploading an image involved selecting the Image block and dragging it to where I wanted it.

I was also able to utilize AI tools through WordPress.com’s Jetpack plugin. The plugin includes an AI Assistant that helped me generate blog posts, identify and correct grammatical errors, and optimize meta descriptions and keywords for better SEO performance. These AI tools significantly reduced the time I spent on manual tasks and improved the readability of my content.

Overall, WordPress.com provides a solid mix of customization options. However, the platform may not be the most ideal for absolute beginners who might not have the time or inclination to dive into documentation and tutorials.

Additional Ease of Use Features

WordPress has always been designed to be easy to use – so long as you already know a little bit about running a website. If you’ve never built a site before, then there may be a learning curve. And if you plan to edit your CSS and install third-party plugins, it could get more complex.

Frankly, if you’re a non-technical user and all you want is that five-page brochure site, one of the many other website builders like Wix may be better for you. But if you need something more complex, the learning curve is absolutely worth it and the good news is that the most important things are the easiest to learn.

Content Editor

WordPress.com’s editor allows you to drag and drop any piece of content around the page or post to reorder things easily.

The editor also enables you to embed multimedia, create multi-column layouts, and enhance visual design, making it highly flexible and user-friendly.

Theme Customizer

What you can customize depends on the theme you’re using. But if you change a link color, move a widget around, or choose an entirely different kind of layout, you can always see what it will look like before you commit.

If you want a drag-and-drop design experience with WordPress, you can always install a plugin like Elementor (if you upgrade to the Business plan or higher).

Organization and Publishing Tools

WordPress offers intuitive tools for scheduling posts, organizing content, and structuring pages hierarchically, making it effective for managing large amounts of content.

While the process is a little complicated, tutorial pop-ups, and navigation guides will help you get started.

WordPress.com Provides a Prompt and Helpful Service

For every user – including those on the free plan – there‘s a knowledge base full of articles, and even video tutorials to help you get started. If you can’t find what you need there, there’s a community forum you can check out.

Every paid plan comes with email support and live chat support, but only the Premium plan and above guarantee you 24/7 support. My only criticism is that if you’re on a plan that offers both email support and live chat, the “Still need help?” button in the editor’s Help Center won’t give you both options.

You’ll be funneled straight to the live chat, and you won’t find the help desk email address. I had to ask for it in my live chat session. I literally had to contact support so I could contact support.

The live chat was very impressive. I felt a bit awkward asking the support agent about their email department, but I was determined to find WordPress.com’s support email. Thankfully, the representative didn’t think my question was as strange as I did and responded with a clear and concise answer. One cool thing is that you get transcripts of your chat conversation emailed to you when you finish. It’s always good to have records.

As for the email support, it was quite helpful. I asked if there was a way to create a store even though I’m outside of the U.S. and Canada, and I got an AI bot reply within a minute. While I’d have preferred to speak to a live agent, I can’t deny the fact that the response was actually detailed and useful.

Cost-effective Plans That Give You Value for Your Money

Overall, I’d say that compared with other website builders out there, WordPress’ pricing plans offer a lot for very little money.

The free plan is simple enough: You get a functional blog. It comes with 1 GB of storage space, access to a decent number of free themes, and support via the community. WordPress will place ads on your site, but they’re just a text link in the footer that basically says, “Designed with WordPress.”

You can’t add your own themes or put in plugins, however. And you can’t make money from your site, at least not in any way that’s backed by the platform.

Now, what do you get for upgrading? Starting with the Personal plan, it’s perfect if you’re just getting started. You’ll say goodbye to WordPress ads, get a custom domain and 6 GB, and get access to a selection of premium themes to make your site stand out. Meanwhile, the Premium plan gives you the keys to all premium themes, more storage space, and lets you start monetizing your site through ads and subscriptions.

The Business plan, however, unlocks the ability to install plugins. Plus, you’ll get access to powerful SEO tools to help your site shine and reach a bigger audience. But for the ultimate in online selling, the eCommerce plan is where it’s at. It offers full native e-commerce functionality, the ability to accept payments from over 60 countries, and seamless integration for selling your products effortlessly.

WordPress.com offers refunds within 14 days of purchase for annual, two-year, and three-year plans, and within 7 days for monthly plans. The only exception is domain registrations, which you’ll have to cancel within 96 hours to get a refund.