Self Hosted Blog Versus Free Blog

There is a wall of difference between self hosted blog and free blog. However, the importance attach to the reason why we want to start a blog depend greatly on our choice of host whether free (blog hosted on a sub domain) or paid (self hosted). The fact remains that one has more features and functionality than the other.

Basically, both perform the same function. Like I said earlier, the choice is all yours. I would outline the features they both have so as to help figure out the one that will suite the purpose of the blog at initial setup stage.

Self Hosted Vs Free Blog

FEATURES	FREE BLOG	SELF HOSTED BLOG
URL (Domain Name)	Name + Host name	Your Name
Host	Sub-domain	Self
Branding	No	Yes
Flexibility	No	Yes
Control	No	Yes
Plugin & Widget	Limited	Unlimited
SEO Tools	Limited	Unlimited
Trust Repose on Site	Limited	Unlimited
Bandwidth & Space	Limited	Unlimited
Customer Support	None	Host Dependent
Email Service	None	Available
Free Domain Registration	None	Host Dependent
Themes	Limited	Unlimited
Site Backup	Automatic	Manual Setup
Look & Feel	Limited	Unlimited
Setup	Simple	Complex
Professional Presentation	Limited	Unlimited
FTP Uploads	Unavailable	Available
Permalinks	Limited	Unlimited
Ownership	Host	Owner
Cost	Free	Paid

From the above analysis, it is obvious that a self hosted blog has more features and advantages over a free blog.

A blog intended for business or marketing purposes for instance, should consider self hosting. But it could be interesting trying out blog on a free blogging platform like blogger in order to learn how to blog before considering paid hosting packages.

That is what I did in my case. There are a lot of free and paid blogging platforms that offer great and interesting features among which are WordPress, Blogger, Weebly etc.

However, bloggers or business owners and organizations considering a self hosted blog should understand how to choose a good web host because of issues like uptime, site performance & breakdown, cost/value, customer support, price variation of hosting companies and plans etc.
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