One who is having even little bit knowledge for hosting knows that this service can be availed for free or for several hundred dollars. But the question is what’s the difference? The answer is quite shocking often times if one is talking about typical shared web hosting in the $6 to $20 range then nothing. Except for good old fashioned marketing and hype. That’s it!

In a survey conducted on 5 well known shared hosting accounts to see exactly what’s the difference between free web hosting and paid web hosting the results that came out are quite shocking. The survey was conducted keeping in mind the factors like requirement for a basic site like adequate disk space, ample email accounts, and reasonable bandwidth. After looking on all the other bells and whistles the result was there were not many who were really willing to pay loads extra for them. Also the term taken was not long but a short term say monthly or quarterly.

Upscale

Verio’s Bronze Plan –

Monthly Price (including set up fees) – $24.95 per month + free setup

Basic Specs – 250 MB of disk space, 7.5 GB of bandwidth, and 20 email accounts

Extra’s – Web design software, free domain pointing, Urchin web stats, free chat software

Opinion – If this were 1998 one would have consider paying $24.95 for a package like this but, as its 2004 it’s not a good choice.

Mid Tier

Interland’s b100 Account –

Monthly Price (including set up fees) – $12.95 per month + free setup

Basic Specs – 250 MB of disk space, 10 GB of bandwidth, and 30 email accounts

Extra’s – Web Trends web stats, access to log files, firewall protection

Opinion – In hosting this is considered as one of the biggest brands in hosting and even their prices have came down but still it is expensive in comparison to other competitors.

SuperbHosting’s U Power Service –

Monthly Price (including set up fees) – $12.50 per month + free setup

Basic Specs – 1000 MB of disk space, 50 GB of bandwidth, and 250 email accounts

Extra’s – Free domain, 30-day money backs guarantee, daily data backups, and free search engine submission, no content restrictions

Opinion – Mid-tier is the well-known hosting service that seems to offer considerably more value.

Cheap Hosting

IPowerWeb –

Monthly Price (including set up fees) – $9.95 per month + $30 setup

Basic Specs – 800 MB of disk space, 40 GB of bandwidth, and 400 email accounts

Extra’s – $50 Google AdWords credit, money back guarantee, SSL included, unlimited email forwarding

Opinion – It is considered as one of the low priced hosting leader. They are really cheap with offering services for mere price of $7.95 per month.

HostSave Standard Hosting –

Monthly Price (including set up fees) – $8.95 per month + free setup

Basic Specs – 1000 MB of disk space, 100 GB of bandwidth, and 500 email accounts

Extra’s – Free MySQL database, catch-all email address, PERL v5, log file access

Opinion – This can be considered as one of the best deal for the fulfillment of basic needs. The advantage is that they are having a big brand name and all the features one requires plus the MySQL database.

Conclusion

Thus it can be concluded that one can pay a lot for basic shared web hosting but it can be availed with a low price as well. However there are certain special features which justifies paying extra but overall as it is all hard earned money conclusion is cheaper is better.
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