WordPress.org is self-hosted software you install on your own server, letting you use any themes and plugins. WordPress.com is a hosted service that limits your choices, more like Squarespace or Wix. The difference comes down to control versus convenience.
which means that I use the same software and I install it on my own hosting account, as opposed to WordPress.com. You're using the same software, but they allow you what themes you can use, what plugins you can use, and they limit things like that. And so in that sense, they're the same as Squarespace or Wix or Weebly or any of these other platforms out there.
