Paid vs. Free Web Hosting

Free Hosting

The majority of hosting options have two types of tiers: free and paid. Free hosting is ideal for individuals who currently constructing a website or just want to test a hosting service before making a full commitment. Typically, many features are available but a limited capacity. For example, features such as server speed, disk space, and monthly traffic and file size could be capped to a certain amount. Also, some features, such as password and virus protection are not available with a free hosting service. Therefore, upgrading one's hosting service is an option. Normally, individuals using a free hosting service can upgrade to a paid plan without losing any of their information if they stay with the same company.

Paid Hosting

In contrast with a free hosting service, a paid hosting service offers all the features that are at a limited capacity or not available with the latter. A paid plan is ideal for individuals who are constructing a website for professional purposes. Therefore, they need as much freedom to construct their website as possible. Features that are limited in capacity such as server speed, disk space and monthly traffic are unlimited. Also, opting for a paid hosting service provides other services such as backup capabilities, email forwarding, and SITE builder. In addition, many companies that provide this service tend to have a money back guarantee. Therefore, consumers can test out what paid hosting plan is ideal for their websites without the full commitment.

Compare FREE and PAID web hosting by features

Features FREE Service PAID Service
? This is the comparative speed your web site will be running when hosted on FREE compared to PAID server. Server Speed Fast Up to 70% Faster
? This is the allocated storage space you get for your hosting plan. All of the data you have on the server i.e. pages, files and emails are using your hosting plan's disk space. Disk Space 1 GB Up to Unlimited Space
? This is the actual data transfer (amount of data transferred) between your site and your visitors i.e. each time somebody is loading a page, file or graphic from your site, data transfer is generated. Monthly Traffic 5 GB/mo Up to Unlimited Transfer
? This is the number of domain names you can host with the current hosting plan. Domains Hosted 1 Up to Unlimited
? This is the maximum size of the files you can upload on your web hosting account. On the Free hosting there is 2 MB file size limit, preventing uploading of songs and movies which usually imact with copyright issues because of the Free service anonymity. File Size Limit 2 MB No Limit
? Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is is an Internet standard for electronic mail (email) transmission across Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Mail servers use SMTP to send emails. Without this feature you cannot send emails. Free hosting accounts has SMTP turned Off based on spam threats. SMTP Yes Yes
? This is web creation tool Soholaunch, that can be used efficiently both by novices and experts. With Soholaunch you create your unique, multifunctional website in no time, without any costs. The version of Soholaunch is basic version. SITE Builder No Yes
? ZackyScript Installer is a FREE software applications installer you get with every paid hosting. It installs: Blogs, CMS, Forums, GuestBooks, Shopping Carts, Discussion Boards, Image Galleries, Ecommerce Solutions, Customer Support Management, Ad Management, Calendars, Classified Ads, GroupWare Tools, Polls & Surveys, Web Hosting Tools, Wiki. No technical Skills required! Zacky App Installer No Yes
? Hosting is storing data on a server which is available online anytime. Servers are machines and sometimes it may happen they crash. Restoring data in such case is absolutely necessary. Paid hosting plans has backup for last 2 days. In case of technical problem and data loss we restore backup from the previous day. Free hosting plans does not have this extra. Backups No Yes
? php.ini is the configuration file of the PHP interpreter. By editing the php.ini file you can customize the PHP configuration of your web hosting account. This very useful feature is available on the Paid hosting rather than Free, where limitations are a must based on the free of charge service utilized by hundreds of thosands users. Custom php.ini No Yes
? A record maps a domain name to a 32-bit IP address. Changing your A record you can point your domain (web site) to a different physical location than domain is hosted. Paid hosting has this feature available, rather than Free hosting where is commonly used for malicious purposes by free hosting users. Custom A record No Yes
? An MX (Mail exchanger) record is a record in the Domain Name System (DNS) specifying how Internet e-mail should be routed. Generally MX records point to the servers that should receive an e-mail. Having this feature avaibale in Paid hosting you can receive your emails elsewhere than site's hosted. Custom MX records No Yes
? Canonical Name or CNAME is the record to create hostname aliasing e.g. if you wish www.yourdomain.com to open yourdomain.com. It actually associates www.yourdomain.com to yourdomain.com which has already assigned IP with an A record. Paid hosting has this feature available. CNAME records No Yes
? A 404 error page is displayed when someone enters a URL or follows a link that does not exist. You can customize your 404 page i.e. put anything you like on it such as friendly statement that the requested page could not be found, using the same look and feel as for the rest of your site. This 404 error page enables you to track where your visitors come from and where the source of the broken link is. On Paid hosting you have this feature whilst on Free hosting on 404 hits an advertisment is displayed. Custom 404 pages No Yes
? Password Protection feature helps you restrict the web access to the directories in your hosting account. You can add password protection to any folder in your hosting account so that no one can access it without username and password. Free accounts does not have this feature based on security reasons. Password Protection No Yes
? On paid accounts you can rely on our Virus Protection Program to scan, detect and remove any unwanted programs that can potentially corrupt your data, or infringe the normal operation of your system. We also guarantee a very high level of protection against unsolicited emails (SPAM). Spam/Virus Protection Yes Yes
? You can set your personal auto respond message to all of your email accounts. Use it when you are away, or just as notification upon receiving an email. This feature is available only on paid accounts due to its mail servers demanding nature. Autoresponders Yes Yes
? This is mailbox that catches all emails send over to not existing emailbox. For example if you have name@domain.com, any email send over to anything@domain.com will go inside this Catch-All mailbox. Paid accounta has this useful feature rather than Free account due to its mail server demanding nature. Catch-All No Yes
? This feature enables you to forward your incoming email traffic to any other chosen email address. Paid accounts has this feature rather than Free accounts due to its mails server demanding nature. Email Forwarding No Yes
? PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system. It is enterprise class database, highly scalable both in the sheer quantity of data e.g. can manage in excess of 4 terabytes of data. It is available only on Paid web hosting accounts. PostgreSQL No Yes
? PHP is programming language which help you create a dynamic web pages. Currently 80% of all dynamic web pages are devepoped by php. Our Paid web hosting supports PHP 5 / 7 / 8. Free hosting supports only PHP 5 / 7 / 8. PHP Version 5 / 7 / 8 5 / 7 / 8
? Ruby available only in Paid hosting accounts support multiple programming paradigms, including functional, object oriented, imperative and reflection. It also has a dynamic type system and automatic memory management. Ruby No Yes
? web applications, e.g. via mod_python for the Apache web server. It is supported on Paid hosting accounts. Python No Yes
DECIDE FOR YOURSELF »
Useful information to save you time
  • co.za domains can be purchased directly from UniForum in South Africa through CozaReg for free and hosted on our servers by first adding them to our system via the control panel once a member and proceeding to CozaReg. Registration requires that the domain already be enlisted with our DNS as the registrar checks whether the name servers specified on the registration form are valid and the domain enlisted. You can also transfer the domain to us.
  • We do not put up any ads (at all) on our Free Hosting Plan, though you are free to put up your own; it is completely free and for life.
  • We can be followed on twitter.
  • If already a member, please file a trouble ticket to support from your control panel to resolve any queries, otherwise use the Contact Us form. We wish you the best in your enterprise.
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