Differences Between Free Hosting and Paid Web Hosting

If you are an expert or have experience in hosting your presence on the web, then I dare say that this article will not be relevant to you (of course, you are welcome to criticize or add constructive comments). This is based on my experience over the years, with both free and paid hosting (I still have both, using Blogger for my free blog postings, and having paid hosting for some other blogs).

Consider this; you are just starting to create your own website, a place to host your own content, the place of your dreams. You have thought through all that you want to create, and are ready to go. However, now you are stuck with the logistics of where to create your own website. You would really not want to spend a large amount of money, while at the same having a good hosting experience and a set of tools that will help you easily host your content.
You have a choice now; you could either use a free web hosting experience, or you could go in for a paid site. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Advantages of free hosting:
1. It's free; this literally needs no explanation

2. Helps when you are new to the web and would like to experiment with the medium

3. The hosting companies provide easy tools to upload content onto the site

4. If using some host such as Blogger, Tripod or Geocities, you are working with companies that have a huge amount of experience in this field

Disadvantages of free hosting:

1. Many of these free hosting companies make money through ad banners - so when somebody comes to your site, they will see ads and popups

2. The revenue from these ads goes to the hosting company, and not to you

3. For many of these free hosting companies, you may get a domain name that is actually a sub-domain, that has the name of the hosting company as part of the name

4. The space provided may seem large initially, but this is actually limited space.

5. If you are looking to appear professional, then it is better to host your own domain.

6. Paid hosting gives you access to many different softwares such as blogging software, Content Management Software, Forums, Emails, Database Access, Shopping Carts, and so on.

7. You get much better support if you are using paid hosting.

8. Search engine rankings can be sometimes poorer if you are using free hosting

9. You may get limitations in terms of restriction on bandwidth - so if your site becomes very popular, visitors may find themselves unable to access the site.

A) For a list of free hosting, refer to this list:
A listing of many free hosts
Netfirms
Bravenet
Mister.net
Tripod
Free Web Hosting Area
Geocities

B) A list of top paid hosts (am using one of them, and almost all of them will appear in a top 10 list:
Global
vistaPages
MidPhase
BlueHost
HostExcellence
IX Web Hosting
HostMonster
HostPapa
Affiliate-free links