WordPress is one of the popular hosting in the blogging market. And there are two options available out there for you to use. Subscription hosting where the creators of the WordPress have option to host the blog for you on .com domain name. Here you get the features offered by the Automatic for your blogging needs. Second option is you buy your own hosting and domain, and you get to have all the control on your blog, themes, plugins and the hosting backend.
If you were to start from scratch, which hosting option you'd choose?
"Self hosting" mainly because you get more freedom with it.
You have to pay more just to gain the ability to do more in Wordpress.com while you can purchase a cheap shared hosting plan (or alternatively, get free hosting from someone you know in exchange for something you can provide them such as a service) and use any theme/plugin you wish, place advertisements on your blog, and even host unlimited websites. Well, of course, there is a limit to your resources so you technically can't host "unlimited", but you get the idea 😉
If finance was no barrier, I would choose self hosting as you get more freedom and control over your your blog. Just one reason to why hosting by yourself is a good idea, there are plenty others too.
Self-hosting. So much more flexibility and the ability to actually monetize. You can get hosting for as low as $2-3 a month at some places.