by Stephanie Ly

Created on: April 16, 2010   Last Updated: April 18, 2010

There are many web hosting service providers available on the internet, both as free and paid alternatives, which can make your decision to choose a suitable web hosting service provider for your website a difficult job. As difficult as it may appear, such decisions should be taken seriously to prevent disappointment and complications later. Such complications may cause you to have headaches, stress and be up for many late nights. It is therefore important for me to outline in this article the difference between free and paid hosting services.

Price

Prices will always be one of the most attractive elements of any product and this includes the online world. However, we all know that not everything you get for free is good. To be realistic you get what you pay for. In this instance free webhosting is a completely free service and sounds great, especially if you are on a tight budget and new on the internet. However, you may want to read the terms and conditions that apply as free hosting may restrict some features that can affect aspects of your website in which you may not be aware of. Paid web hosting usually cost anywhere from $5 to $30 per moth depending on the hosting service provider and the features you choose to include in the plan.

Speed

Speed is related to the bandwidth of your hosting service provider. The more bandwidth available on your plan the faster your website can load and the more traffic your website can handle at the one time. Free web hosting services are most likely to restrict the amount of bandwidth available to you. In addition they may charge you if you go over the limit. Paid hosting services generally allow more bandwidth; some even provide you with unlimited bandwidth, an advantage if you wish to grow your site with a peace of mind.

Space

The amount of web space you use for you website is also another important factor to consider. You need to think about how much space the files for your website will require. Generally speaking, the average website with a few pictures and pages would need no more than 100MB, an online store with lots of pictures or a website that shares videos will need more than this. Free web hosting accounts usually provide you with less web space than paid hosting services. Some paid service offer you unlimited web space. Once again this is beneficial for you if you want to grow your website.

Functionality:

A lot of people usually just look at the above three features when deciding on a web host. There are many more features that a webhost can provide to you. Such things include functionality and control of your website. Free web hosting will usually not allow you to use your own domain name (instead you have to use a page on their website such as http://www. freehost.com/ yourname.html), or may require you to put annoying ads on your website in return for the free service. If you choose to pay for your hosting then you have much more freedom to do as you wish with your domain and in particular your web site layout and design.

As you may have come to realise by now, paid web hosting has many more advantages over a free hosting company. Web hosting is so important in the development and success of your website that you should not compromise for anything less than what your site really needs.

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