Beyond Free-Mail

If you're paying anything for e-mail, Internet access, Web hosting, backup storage, or a personal information manager, you may be paying too much. Dozens of sites give away everything from applications to personal organizers to multiple megabytes of storage space. Some ISPs even offer free Net access, a huge bargain that can save you hundreds of dollars annually. But are these services really free? What are the hidden costs? And do no-cost offerings make sense for every user?

With so many free services available on the Web today, some people may wonder whether they'll ever have to pay real money to work and play on the Web again. But while these no-charge services may be a no-brainer choice for small-office and home users, businesses may want to think a bit harder. For example, a free Web site may be ideal for showing pictures of your family to friends or for posting an online résumé for all the world to admire, but if you're using the site as a business storefront, the mandatory ads that pop up on it will irritate clients. Free online storage is handy for personal file sharing or for storing your collection of MP3 audio files, but many free sites lack the security features and storage capacity that businesses demand. And most free Internet service providers require you to fill out intrusive marketing surveys and include creepy, we're-watching-you language in their contracts. If you consider any of these limitations significant, you might be better off paying for the services you need.

In this article, we've divided free Web-based services into five categories: e-mail, PIMs, ISPs, Web hosting, and storage/backup. We chose these categories because they're the most popular ones among PC World readers and Internet users in general. We list the advantages and disadvantages of each service type and highlight our top picks on a scorecard (after having evaluated at least five of each type of service). In some cases, we found that the convenience and cost savings of a freebie outweighed its drawbacks. But in other cases, a free online service simply did not measure up to its fee-based competitors.

Our favorites--or Best Bets--in each service category ranged from the well-known to the less familiar: Yahoo Mail and Hotmail for free e-mail service, AnyDay.com among the PIMs, Homestead in the hosting bracket, Freei.net in the ISP group, and X:drive among storage services. (Other free services--such as computer help and e-commerce and workgroup tools for small businesses--are covered in other sections of this month's special issue.)

With so many useful Web-based services to choose from--at no cost to the user--will you ever again have reason to pay for such popular applications as e-mail and personal planners? That depends on your tolerance for advertising, the lifeblood of free online services. Still, even if you abhor the thought of a pop-up Wheaties ad blemishing your spreadsheet or word processing document, chances are good that you'll find something worthwhile among the services discussed here.