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I have a very basic understanding of HTML and CSS.
So I purchased a domain, downloaded a template and changed it based on how I needed.
However I wanted to tweak my site as it wasn’t doing what I wanted, so I’ve purchased a WordPress (basic/starter whatever it’s called) plan.
However a couple domains on their are the domain I own+ WordPress.com— then it has my actual domain, which I believe it said was pending transfer.
If I transfer my domain to WordPress, is my $16 a year still the same? If I decide I don’t like WordPress and don’t renew next year, I will keep my domain for the fee I originally signed up with on hover?
Any help is greatly appreciated
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You are confusing some things I think.
You biuy a domain and a registrar sells it to you and generally holds the domain name. I buy domains from GoDaddy as I find them very easy.
Once you have a domain, you need to put something on it. Your website. And a place to host (keep) it
WordPress has two arms (.org is for self hosted sites and .com is for WordPress hosted)
If you allow [Wordpress.com](http://Wordpress.com) to host you usually will have a sub domain of WOrdPress which is limited to what you can put on. (They may have another option with more features now)
If you go to [WordPress.org](http://WordPress.org) that is purely the software to ruin the site. Then you take it and can host it on any host you like. Go Daddy, HostGator, Liquid Web 1&1, WP Engine, etc.
Back at the registrar…you change the instructions where it goes, this is the DNS or Domain Name Servers.
I always (always!) get my domain name from another company than my hosting. For example, I get all my domain names from NameSilo.com, but NameCheap.com is another good choice. That way, if I need to change hosts, it is easy peasy simple dimple. No complications from having to fight my host to get the domain name. Just go onto NameSilo and change the dns servers. That’s it. For the same reason, I never use the host’s email offerings. I use a separate email server (gmail in my case). That way, if I switch hosts, I don’t have to worry about losing years of email. So that’s my methods: separate companies for hosting, domain name registration and email providers. That removes a lot of hassle.
Your domain name is independent of your website hosting. DNS allows you to point your domain to any web server, email server, etc, regardless of where it is registered.
To use a domain name on WordPress.com’s hosting service, you need to pay an additional fee for that.