BostonGlobe.com is designed to appeal to users who prefer a deeper reading experience and the full scope of the Globe’s journalism, including exclusive reports, in-depth analyses, and a range of commentary.

Boston.com is envisioned as being attractive to readers who consume news more quickly and casually, want access to a broad array of information and services, and might be unwilling to pay.

Globe executives said they divided the company’s Web presence to cater to different groups of readers.

BostonGlobe.com represents an effort to markedly improve the online reading experience by creating a digital product tailored to consumer tastes being shaped by iPads and smartphones, which make information easily accessible anywhere.

The Globe launched Boston.com in 1995, making it among the first US newspapers to launch a website, as it sought to offer news and information in a region with a high concentration of tech-savvy readers. Boston.com today has 6.2 million unique monthly visitors, making it by far the largest media site in New England and among the most visited newspaper sites in the nation.

“We’ve never had The Boston Globe have its own front door in the digital space,’’ said Globe publisher Christopher M. Mayer. “It’s always been integrated with Boston.com . This was an opportunity to build something brand-new and to have it front and center and really do justice to the brand promise The Boston Globe offers to its readers.’’

The strategy at the Globe, which is owned by The New York Times Co. , is unique because the paper has decided to split its news brands - Boston.com and The Boston Globe - into two distinct websites.

Other major newspapers have also started to charge for online content as readers and advertisers continue migrating to the Internet, cutting into the print revenue that pays for a large percentage of newsgathering operations. Particularly notable has been The New York Times, which requires a subscription to gain access to more than 20 stories per month.

The newspaper’s existing site, Boston.com , will remain free and will offer breaking news, blogs, photo galleries, sports coverage, and a limited selection of stories from the paper.

For the rest of September, BostonGlobe.com will be free, but after that readers will have to pay $3.99 a week for a digital-only subscription. Home delivery subscribers will not have to pay extra for the site but will need to register online to gain access.

BostonGlobe.com will combine the newspaper’s print stories with breaking news on a site designed for customers who want premium content they can read on multiple devices, from computers to tablets to smartphones.

The Boston Globe today launches a new subscription-only website, BostonGlobe.com , betting that readers will be willing to pay for an online product that offers an innovative, inviting reading experience that is the only gateway to all of the Globe’s journalism.

The company expects that many readers will use both sites.

“BostonGlobe.com is essentially purely journalistic, and Boston.com is more of a town square where you get news and information, but you can also buy tickets to events and exchange information and opinions with your neighbors,’’ said Globe Editor Martin Baron.

The stories and advertising content on the sites will divide along those lines. Boston.com will have full daily sports coverage, online features and lifestyle information, as well as five stories selected daily from the print edition.

It will also offer summaries of stories that can only be read in full on BostonGlobe.com, similar to what The Wall Street Journal does with its subscription-based website. Boston.com is also in the process of adding two dozen new blogs, primarily related to business, consumers, and nightlife.

As a free site, Boston.com will remain ad-supported, and it will continue to be an outlet for a variety of digital advertising that currently appears there.

BostonGlobe.com is designed to combine the sensation of reading a print newspaper without the disruptions of online pop-up, pop-under, or page-takeover ads. It includes all of the daily news contained in the print edition, plus breaking news updates and a range of Web-only multimedia videos and photo presentations.

The site makes use of the latest Web technology, including what is known as “responsive Web design,’’ which automatically adjusts the page layout and overall presentation to fit any device being used. Many media organizations now must develop distinct approaches for different devices - separate apps for smartphones and tablets, along with a website for laptops and desktops.

The Globe’s approach is to develop a single website that, using responsive design and other technology, adapts to the device in use. On tablets and smartphones, BostonGlobe.com lets readers scroll through photographs with the swipe of a finger; on a desktop computer, a standard mouse would be used.

Readers will also have an option to save a copy of a story for offline reading later, whether on the same device or another.

While BostonGlobe.com will fit any screen size, the Globe is still exploring the creation of dedicated apps for iPads and smartphones. The company already has mobile apps for Boston.com and the Big Picture blog, among others.

“Our priority,’’ Mayer said, “was to make sure we launched BostonGlobe.com and that it was a terrific reading experience across all those devices. We are still looking at building out applications that are device-specific.’’