EmDash vs WordPress.com
WordPress.com gates file and SFTP access behind the Business plan at $25/mo billed yearly. EmDash gives you SSH, the database and the whole filesystem on day one, for $7/mo, and ships a WordPress import wizard to get your posts across.
EmDash vs WordPress.com: The Verdict
If you want a blog with a custom domain and no server to think about, WordPress.com Personal at $48 a year is cheaper than a $7/mo pod and you should take it. The comparison that actually matters is Business, at $25/mo billed yearly or $40/mo month to month, because that is the first plan where you get SFTP and file access. That is $300 a year for a level of control a $7/mo EmDash pod hands you in the first minute, with SSH, the database file and root on the box. EmDash is also a different bet on the content itself: Portable Text rather than serialized HTML, TypeScript rather than PHP, passkeys rather than passwords, and content types you define from the admin UI. What WordPress.com has that EmDash does not is twenty years of plugins and themes, Automattic running the servers, and a product that is finished. EmDash calls itself a beta preview and ships roughly weekly. If you need WooCommerce or one specific WordPress plugin, stay where you are.
Last updated: 2026-09-01Quick Comparison
| Feature | WordPress.com | EmDash |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Free with WordPress.com branding, or Personal at $48/yr | $7/mo flat ($84/yr) |
| First plan with file and SFTP access | Business: $25/mo billed yearly ($300/yr), or $40/mo monthly | SSH included from the first minute |
| Full plan ladder | Free $0, Personal $48/yr, Premium $96/yr, Business $300/yr, Commerce $540/yr | $84/yr. There is one plan for this app |
| Month-to-month price | $9 Personal, $18 Premium, $40 Business, $70 Commerce | $7/mo, no annual commitment |
| Database access | Through the host, on the higher plans | The SQLite file is on your disk, in your backups |
| Plugins and themes | Installable on every paid plan. Twenty years of ecosystem | A sandboxed plugin system, but a young and much smaller ecosystem |
| Content storage | Serialized HTML with metadata in comments | Portable Text, structured JSON |
| Stack | PHP and MySQL | TypeScript on Node 22 with embedded SQLite |
| Login | Email and password, with optional 2FA | Passkey-first: Touch ID, Windows Hello or a security key |
| Content types | Custom post types via a plugin or code | Visual schema builder in the admin, each type a real SQL table |
| Migrating in | n/a | WordPress import wizard: WXR export, the WP REST API, or WordPress.com |
| Who runs the server | Automattic. Nothing for you to patch | InstaPods runs the pod, HTTPS and backups. Updates are one click |
| Maturity | Two decades of production use | Beta preview, releasing roughly weekly |
| License | Hosted service on GPL software | MIT, about 12,000 GitHub stars |
Where WordPress.com Gets Expensive
Trade-offs to weigh before committing.
File Access Is a $300-a-Year Feature
SFTP is available on the Business and Commerce plans only. On Free, Personal and Premium there is no file access, so the first plan where you can actually touch your own site is Business at $25/mo billed yearly, or $40/mo if you pay monthly.
Your Content Is HTML Soup
WordPress stores rich text as serialized HTML with block metadata buried in comments. That ties your content to one presentation, and it is why moving a WordPress site anywhere else is a parsing job rather than a copy.
The Free Plan Is Not Really Yours
Free sites carry WordPress.com branding and cannot use a custom domain, so the real entry point is Personal at $48 a year. That is a fine price. It is just not free.
Paying Monthly Costs Substantially More
The headline prices are annual. Personal is $48 a year but $9 a month, and Business is $300 a year but $40 a month. Choosing not to commit for twelve months is a 60% premium on Business.
Why Self-Host with EmDash?
What you get when you pick this stack.
Root on Day One, for $7
SSH, the filesystem and the database come with the pod, not with a plan tier. 2 vCPUs, 2 GB RAM, 25 GB of disk, HTTPS, a custom domain, unlimited bandwidth and daily backups, all in the $7.
A Real WordPress Import Wizard
EmDash pulls posts, pages, media and taxonomies from a WXR export, the WordPress REST API, or WordPress.com directly. The migration is a wizard rather than a weekend of copying and pasting.
Content That Is Not Locked to a Page
Portable Text stores entries as structured JSON, so the same post renders to a web page, an app screen, an email or an API response. Nobody has to parse markup to reuse your writing.
Nothing to Phish
Sign-in is passkey-first, so there is no password to leak or reuse. InstaPods puts a per-pod password in front of the setup wizard as well, so nobody can claim your CMS before you do.
Real Cost Comparison
One site whose owner wants file access, the database, and no branding on the page, over three years.
- WordPress.com Business, the first plan with SFTP: $300/yr
- Paying monthly instead of yearly: $40/mo, or $480/yr
- Three years billed yearly: $900
- Managed by Automattic. Nothing for you to patch
- InstaPods Build plan: $7/mo, no annual commitment
- EmDash: free (open source, MIT)
- SSH, the database and the filesystem from day one
- Three years: $252
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does WordPress.com cost in 2026?
Five tiers. Free is $0 with WordPress.com branding and no custom domain. Personal is $48 a year, or $9 a month billed monthly. Premium is $96 a year, or $18 monthly. Business is $300 a year, or $40 monthly. Commerce is $540 a year, or $70 monthly. Plugins and custom themes are installable on every paid plan; SFTP and file access start at Business. Prices read from WordPress.com on 2026-09-01 in USD, and they vary by billing currency.
Is EmDash cheaper than WordPress.com?
It depends which plan you are on, and the honest answer is not always. WordPress.com Personal at $48 a year is cheaper than a $7/mo EmDash pod at $84 a year, and it comes with Automattic running everything. EmDash wins against Business, the first plan with SFTP access, where you pay $300 a year for control that a $7 pod includes by default. If your comparison point is Personal, pick on features rather than price.
Can I move my WordPress site to EmDash?
EmDash ships a WordPress import wizard that brings posts, pages, media and taxonomies across from a WXR export file, the WordPress REST API, or WordPress.com. What does not come with it is your plugins: EmDash has its own plugin system and nothing like the WordPress plugin catalogue, so anything a plugin was doing needs a replacement or a rethink. Content moves cleanly, functionality does not.
Is EmDash actually a WordPress replacement?
That is the project's stated goal - it describes itself as the spiritual successor to WordPress and rebuilds the pieces that made WordPress dominant, extensibility, a real admin UX and a plugin model, on TypeScript foundations. Where it is genuinely different: content is Portable Text rather than serialized HTML, and content types are defined in the database from a visual schema builder rather than in PHP. Where it is genuinely behind: there is no plugin ecosystem of WordPress's size, and there will not be for a long time.
Is EmDash production-ready?
EmDash calls itself a beta preview and is shipping releases roughly weekly, so treat it as early software: expect frequent updates and some rough edges. It is a strong fit for a new blog, marketing site or portfolio you are happy to keep current, and a poor fit if you need a frozen stack. Your pod takes daily backups and updates are one click from the dashboard, so a bad release is a rollback rather than an outage.
What does EmDash cost to host on InstaPods?
$7/mo on the Build plan: 2 vCPUs, 2 GB RAM, 25 GB of storage, HTTPS, a custom domain, unlimited bandwidth, SSH and daily backups, with no annual commitment. Build is the floor rather than an upsell, because updating EmDash rebuilds the Astro site in place and that build runs out of memory on a 512MB pod. New accounts get a $10 credit when they add a card.
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