@therapyjoe WordPress.org is a free, open source software project. You can install it at your own host (indeed, with a "click here" installation) and do your own plugins, themes, and maintenance.
WordPress.com is managed service: we've installed it, set up the plugins that we think will help most, and maintain that installation for you. If you like analogies (I do!) it's like the difference between a recipe and a restaurant. And we just recently started allowing third party plugins (like outside ingredients?) on the business plan.
If you are hosted here, we provide the SSL.