It's obvious that paid services always have an edge over free ones. This is true in case of web hosting also. It's not that free hosting is not chosen by any one. Scores of people who have low budget to spend online opt for free hosting most of the time. But people, who have large-scale business requirements always choose paid web hosting.

To begin with, online business requirements fall into two broad categories—low scale & high scale. Depending on the needs web visitors choose web hosting plans. Some amateurs and netizens, who have less bandwidth requirements go for free hosting. However people and organizations, which have high bandwidth requirements for their corporate websites and online businesses such as online stores etc . most often choose paid web hosting as they need reliable and supportive hosting devoid of any sort of pitfalls.

Talking about the technical aspects of free vs. paid web hosting, it's these features that categorize the two hosting options.

1) Data Transfer

This is the most challenging aspect in both kinds of hosting plans. Web visitors hate slow sites. So people who anticipate large turnover of visitors to their sites must always seek paid hosting. Such sites are visited by people, who have processing requests, product queries etc. In that case, if the site gives a sluggish response and the processing requests take a considerable amount of time then your entire online effort may go in vain. Bandwidth determines the pace of speed transmission, which is the call of the hour. Free hosting gives very limited data transfer limit. So it's good that first you evaluate your bandwidth requirements and then choose free/paid hosting accordingly.

2) Disk/Storage Space

It's the allocation of space that differs in these two hosting arrangements—free and paid. It depends on two aspects: nature of business and number of web visitors. If you have large online requirements then never attempt to compromise on disk/storage space since it's an important determinant of the fate of your website. Estimate your disk/storage space requirements precisely and choose free/paid hosting. Paid hosting always gives you greater disk/storage space, which adds pace to your website besides freedom to experiment.

3) E-mail Accounts

When you choose your Web Hosting Provider, foresee your requirements and operation of affairs. If you have limited requirements, you can rest with few email accounts. However, bigger sites and businesses often need a greater number of e-mail accounts, which can only be obtained with paid hosting plans. This is an extended benefit in paid hosting when you compare it with free hosting.

There are a number of web hosting providers that offer free as well as paid hosting such as LimeDomains, Network Solutions, HostGator etc. So now that you're all set to begin your online journey, you must have determined your online business requirements. If yes, then go ahead and choose free/paid web hosting accordingly.