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Medium vs WordPress: catalog facts
Medium	WordPress
Freemium Free to publish, with a paid reader membership.	Free Free and open source under the GPL; you pay only for your own hosting.
Web	Self-hosted
No hosting or setup to manage Built-in audience of readers on the platform	Very large library of themes and plugins Visual block editor with live preview
Little control over design and layout Your content lives on a platform you do not control	Needs a PHP and database server to self-host Plugins and themes vary widely in quality and need updating
Hosted service	Self-hosted
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License: GPL-2.0
Account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Needs internet	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.