Just like the major choices you make when building a website, there are a couple major ones to make when you’re ready to launch it. You have to choose a domain name and, most importantly, find a web hosting service. While they all do the same thing, the differences between services can be vast with the biggest difference being paid versus free. Deciding between the two will be based on the makeup of your site and your budget.
Cost
The most obvious difference. Free web hosting services don’t charge for hosting a site on their server, uploading files on to it or anything else. Meanwhile, paid web hosting services charge subscription-based fees that can be set monthly or yearly.
Space
When it comes to space, free web hosting can be restrictive, providing users only an allocated a predetermined amount of server space. With a paid service you can acquire — at a cost — all the space you need, with plenty of room to grow. If you plan on adding more web pages in the future, don’t cut yourself short on space.
Speed
Another thing limited on free web hosting services is bandwidth, which determines how fast your site can load. If a site features a lot of images and video, a small amount of bandwidth will affect how users interact with it. Consider the websites of companies, like Groupon or KISS Insights, which are used by a lot of people consistently, need a significant amount of bandwidth to keep pace.
