You will often hear people talk about WordPress.org and WordPress.com as if they are opposites of one another.

Let me start by saying that WordPress.com is owned by a company called Automattic, but Automattic does not own WordPress. The WordPress core files are open-source (free) and governed by the WordPress Foundation.

While Automattic is a contributor to the upkeep and integrity of the WordPress blogging software, Automattic does not own the WordPress blogging software in and of itself.

WordPress.com uses the open-source files of the WordPress project to offer a multisite platform for users to create WordPress sites for free or to pay to upgrade to get more features.

While the WordPress core files are free to use in a self-hosted environment, Automattic offers several services, free and paid, that require you to have a free WordPress.com account even if you have a self-hosted WordPress site.

Aside from WordPress.com itself, the services I have used in the past and use currently are:

• Akismet [active on clients' site only]
• Gravatar [currently use]
• JetPack [active on clients' site only]
• Tumblr [currently use]
• WooCommerce [currently use]

You essentially need a WordPress.com account to “hook up” with/to these services.

Other brands owned by Automattic are:

• Cloudup
• Crowdsignal
• Day One
• Happy Tools
• Longreads
• Newspack
• Parse.ly
• P2
• Pocket Casts
• Sensei
• Simplenote
• VideoPress
• WPScan
• WordPress VIP

So…

The bottom line is that you do not need a WordPress.com account if you're not using any of the services listed above. If you are… then you need a WordPress.com account.