Understanding the Difference Between a Free Web Hosting Service and a Paid Web Hosting Service

There are basically two forms of web hosting service. One is the free web hosting service and the other one is the paid web hosting service. Today, you can easily come across so many free web hosting services on the internet. You also usually come across paid hosting advertisements which boast of various unique hosting features. There are many web hosting service providers which offer their web hosting packages which are almost the same with regard to pricing. Online websites are growing day by day. We all are aware of the fact that every website needs a web host, in order to get widely exposed on world wide web. Since there is so much of demand for web hosting service, it is the hosting market that is getting more and more crowded with web hosting companies, trying to carve a niche for themselves and thus wanting to earn money through web hosting service. Before one tries to make use of the service of any hosting company, look out for a reliable hosting company.

It becomes a bit difficult at times to decide upon the right web hosting service for your website. We need to understand that free hosting plans are used for personal and non commercial websites. On the other hand, the paid web hosting plan is considered to be suitable for a business related website. The difference between a web hosting service and a paid web hosting service is explained as follows:

1) Restrictions toward hard disk space or storage facility: In a free web hosting plan, there are restrictions in terms of web space. Such a situation is not suitable for any respectable business. A website is considered as a collection of files that are produced on the Internet for viewing. In such a case, it becomes necessary to store them at a particular place for accessing it as and when required. The place where web files are stored is called a web server. This web server is being offered by the web hosting company. Usually, free web hosting solution offer less storage place(Approximately about 500 mb or even less than that). A 500 mb web space, will not be sufficient for a business related website. Even personal websites that has many video and music files, will not be able to accommodate all the files in the concerned web based server. However, if you opt for a paid server, all your web based files can then easily fit on the server space. If you still require more space, you can pay a particular service fee and thus expand the storage facility. In other word a paid server can provide extended storage facility by paying a small extra service fee amount.

2) Restriction towards web traffic: A proper business promotion activity can lead to large amount of traffic towards your website. A free based web hosting service provider will provide limited access with regard to the traffic that is coming towards the concerned website. Free web hosts, usually allow about 5 GB(max) of traffic to your website. Anything beyond that results into no display of website. In other words, in a free web host package, if the traffic towards the concerned website crosses more than 5 GB, you will immediately not be able to see your website on line. In order to make your website appear on line, you will have to call the hosting service provider to rectify the issue in the form of re-setting the web host server or you will have to upgrade your web hosting plan toward paid hosting package. A paid web hosting package gives you the advantage of allowing much greater traffic toward your business related website. This is the basic advantage that you get through a paid hosting service provider.

3) Restriction with regard to email account: Free web hosting service provide about 2 to 5 email accounts. However, if you need email addresses for each employees who are working within the business organization, then in that case you will have to switch towards a paid web hosting service provider who will allow a greater number of user email accounts.