Free Hosting versus Paid - Any Difference?

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The web hosting thread below was started by cpureview on 2009-11-15 14:03:07:

I had always thought that free web hosting was a bit of a gimmick. Even though the claims were of a hosting product practically the same as paid - it seemed they never were. For example - what I found to be really true was:

You get free web hosting, BUT you have to display advertising on your website to defray the costs.

You get free web hosting, BUT the resources allocated are so miniscule that you will invariably run out as soon as you start.

You get free web hosting, BUT you won’t get any technical support whatsoever.

You get free web hosting, BUT you can’t actually load or run the CMS you truly want (probably because its too resource intensive).

So now I read here in the Webhostingtalk.com news section about a brand new - just launched - free web hosting product from Lime Labs. According to the news item:

”The LimeDomains accounts come with access to an extensive catalog of open source web applications ranging from popular blogs such as Wordpress, to full-featured content management systems such as Drupal and Joomla. Users can also upload their own files or transfer their existing websites – such as their Geocities pages – to LimeDomains via a built-in file manager, or any popular FTP client. Most popular web design applications, such as Adobe Dreamweaver, are also supported.

Unlike other free hosting services, there are no strings attached to the free hosting offer on LimeDomains. Users do not have to sign-up for any third party services, or submit themselves to a barrage of solicitations (e-mail, or otherwise), or place mandatory ads on their website. Most importantly, the free accounts are not crippled in any way – and receive the same quality of service, performance and reliability that most other hosting services charge a premium for.”

So my question is:

Does this mean that free web hosting is now just like paid?

What do you think?

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