WordPress.com vs Self-Hosted WordPress: What Moves to Static

WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress run the same software; the main difference is who hosts it. For a move to a static site (ready-made pages with no WordPress running behind them), SiteFree prices both kinds the same way, by page count. Every page and blog post moves. Cloudflare (the company behind the free hosting SiteFree sets up) says WordPress forms and comments do not work on a static copy, and SiteFree keeps your contact form working, with messages going to your inbox. A shop or a member area is a different job and gets its own quote.

That is the short answer. The rest of this post helps you find out which kind you have, shows what carries over, and covers editing, your domain and Google afterwards.

Which kind of WordPress do you have?

WordPress.com's own comparison page says both run on the same WordPress software and the main difference is hosting. WordPress.com includes managed hosting. With WordPress.org you download the free software, put it on a host you choose and pay for, and look after it yourself. That route is called self-hosting.

So the test is a billing question. Whom do you pay to keep the site online?

If you pay WordPress.com for a plan, or you are on its free plan, you are on the first kind. If you pay a hosting company you picked, you are on the second. If you cannot tell, ask whoever built the site. On WordPress.com, you own your content: WordPress.com says "You own your site content and are always free to move it as you please."

As of November 2026, from a Canadian connection, WordPress.com's pricing page showed its Personal plan at C$12 a month paid monthly, or C$5 a month billed every 12 months, excluding taxes. Other countries may see other prices.

Does the kind change the price of moving?

Not at SiteFree. The price depends on page count, not on the kind of WordPress, and the prices are at the end of this post. For timing, a WordPress site gets its private preview within three to four business days of payment, against two for Wix or Squarespace. If cost is what brought you here, a website with no monthly fees explains where the recurring money goes, and how to move a WordPress site to free hosting walks through the move itself.

Will you lose the site or have to start over?

No. The pages and posts are moved, and the old site stays live until you approve the new one. A full refund is available any time before you approve.

If you try the move yourself, the built-in export has limits worth knowing. On WordPress.com, the export file holds your posts, pages, comments, categories and tags, plus links to your images. It does not include your theme design, customizations or plugins, and it does not contain the media library itself. WordPress.com also asks you to keep the original site public until the images have been copied. The self-hosted export, per the WordPress.org documentation, covers posts, pages, custom post types (content types beyond pages and posts), comments, custom fields (extra data attached to a page or post), categories, tags and users, and the "All content" option adds navigation menus. That page does not say whether media files or the theme are included.

What carries over and what does not

A static site is a set of finished pages. Nothing is built when a visitor arrives.

If you convert the site yourself with a plugin, the limits come from the tools. Cloudflare's guide to turning WordPress into a static site names three things that stop working on the static copy: WordPress forms, WordPress comments and links to /wp-admin or similar internal WordPress routes (the pages WordPress uses behind the scenes). Simply Static, the plugin that guide uses, says static sites do not process server-side features by default, and its paid versions add options for forms and search. A plugin (an add-on that gives WordPress an extra feature) needs checking one by one, because neither Cloudflare's guide nor Simply Static's home page says which plugin features survive a static copy.

If your site is a brochure, a portfolio, a club page or a blog, your pages and posts come across, rebuilt to match the design closely. If a visitor logs in, buys something or leaves a comment, ask about that feature before you pay, because it may not move.

What about Elementor, Divi and other page builders?

Neither WordPress.com's export page nor Cloudflare's WordPress guide says what happens to a page builder's layout, so those sources do not settle it. The question to ask is whether the finished pages look right in the preview. The preview arrives within a few business days of payment, and the full refund runs until you approve.

What changes when you edit afterwards?

This is the worry that comes right after price: "can I still change things?" The answer is yes, in a different way.

WordPress has a familiar rhythm. Posts have drafts and scheduled publishing. On WordPress.com, edits to an already-published page do not show on the site until you click Save, and each page keeps a revision history you can restore from. Restoring the whole site to an earlier point is described in the restore guide as a Business and Commerce plan feature.

On a SiteFree site every change starts on a copy, you get a private preview link, and nothing goes live until you say yes. Every change is kept in your site's history, so going back to an earlier version means asking your assistant to undo it. That is the way a professional developer sets up a site, and you get it without running any of it yourself.

The costs are plain. You pay for an AI assistant separately (Claude Pro is US$20 a month, or use an AI plan you already have, and you can stop it between edits). You need a free GitHub account (an online account where your site's files are kept). After you approve a change, the live site updates a few minutes later. If you would rather not use an assistant, you can email your changes to SiteFree, or hire any web developer.

Compare that with the do-it-yourself static route. With the free Simply Static plugin, Cloudflare says every change to your WordPress site means downloading a new ZIP file and redeploying it (publishing it again).

Your domain and your email

A domain is your web address, such as yourbusiness.ca, and it is registered with a company that is often different from your host. Your domain stays yours. Email keeps arriving, because email settings are checked before anything switches. A move does not require you to transfer it. SiteFree tells you the one change to make where you bought the domain. If your domain or email sits with your WordPress.com plan or your host, check that before you cancel either.

Google and your old addresses

Every old address is redirected to its new page, so search results, bookmarks and links keep working. Nobody can promise rankings, and an exact copy is not on offer, so check the preview and your key pages after launch.

Shops and member areas

A WooCommerce shop and a member login area are the cases where the answer is a quote. WooCommerce is a shop system built on WordPress, and WordPress.com sells a Commerce plan for it. SiteFree quotes shops and member areas separately, as a fixed quote under its Bigger plan, and so does any site over 100 pages. If that is you, send the site address and ask.

The done-for-you option

SiteFree sells this move; this is its own service. It is a Canadian (Montreal) migration service with prices in CAD. It rebuilds your WordPress site to match its design closely, on free hosting in your own Cloudflare account, with the files in your own GitHub account. The site itself is served from Cloudflare's global network, from your own account.

The price is $99 CAD one time for up to 5 pages plus one blog or other section, or $199 CAD for up to 100 pages. Those are launch prices for the first 20 sites, rising to $360 and $720. There is no monthly fee. You get a private preview, up to two rounds of fixes and a full refund until you approve. You can check your site for a page count and a price.