Free vs. Charged

xcom

Acquaintance
Joined
Feb 1, 2011
Messages
25
Reaction score
0
FP$
6
What is better for forum go-ers? Free forums or forums you must pay for with proper hosting? could you please post some reasons why you chose whatever one.
 
There is an FP blog posts here: blog.php?mode=view&b=21 about your question (half answers if you mean free hosting, not free forum hosting).

I choose custom hosting because of it's flexibility and capabilities which far exceed free hosting, eg. specific addons, security. There tends to be higher quality hosting and there is a sense of assurance that your paid hosting (generally with a big company) will actually be worth it.
 
suppose it is a forum for a few friends? (or about 50-200 members?) not very many but still a good amount to have a little bit if traffic.
 
Personally, if you can pay for it, then I'd still get custom hosting. I guess for you, if you use free hosting then there is nothing of high value (eg. revenue/profit) if it gets shut down by the host without reason because they are your friends and I don't think you'd lose your friends because of your forum shutting down.

However, those free hosts tend to be slow which is a hassle. I tested a few free hosts and compared their speeds and they are really slow compared to the custom hosting I have now.

But still, it's your choice. Maybe consider other opinion before making any final decision.
 
Thank You for the positive help. i will consider it. but first need to think of the basics, such as a name and features.

Cheers.
-Xcom
 
To be honests i really dont think it matters if its a paid or free forum that is not going to stop guests from joining the forum it comes down to what the forum looks like and how active it is, i have been using free forums for a number of years and i have had a paid one as well and the free one is doing better than the paid one. So i would say use free forums to start of and if it dose not go any where then there is no money lost at the end of the day.
 
I have paid hosting, and I enjoy that better because as was said above, you can customize it anyway you like. I'm not tech savvy, though, so I do have a tech-administrator. However, not all free hosts are bad, despite the limited things you can do with your forum. Why, if I could I'd go back to ProPHPBB in a hurry,as that is one of my favorite free forum hosts. But advanced hosting is definetly the way to go. Especially if you're running a forum that's going to require a lot of mods, such as an advertisement forum.
 
In my honest opinion you can go with a free hosting but you have check out their track record. I have been with Tikolah which is a Post 2 Host and they been very good with min hickups
 
Pvcomputers said:
In my honest opinion you can go with a free hosting but you have check out their track record. I have been with Tikolah which is a Post 2 Host and they been very good with min hickups

That's true. And like with any host, it's best to go with someone who's been around for a while, rather than to go with someone who's only been around for a month or two. I see all too many administrators going with a host that has just barely been released, and that's not a good idea as you never know how good these guys are or how long they'll last, and not all hosts, no matter how promising they are, will last.
 
hmm, i checked out that 'Tikolah' site. it lead me to a 'co.cc' free domain website, is this right?
 
xcom said:
hmm, i checked out that 'Tikolah' site. it lead me to a 'co.cc' free domain website, is this right?

If it lead you to the site where you can get the domain, then it's not right. The domain either expired or it's no longer being used.
 
Second option is better, in my opinion.

Hosting your own site gives you much more freedom than if you were hosted on a free host.
 
This forum is a little under construction, but i think its good enough to show off. I posted a topic for testing and informational use. Please tell me what you think!

Outside the Box
(considering using a shortURL)
 
xcom said:
What is better for forum go-ers? Free forums or forums you must pay for with proper hosting? could you please post some reasons why you chose whatever one.
I'd go with running your own community that's on proper hosting. Sure, you can build a community on free hosts, but why? It's not that expensive to get a domain, and hosting these days.
 
Back
Top Bottom