Free vs. paid websites:
Which is right for you?

Email Address(es)

Free:

You may need to use a different email address: instead of me@mysite.xyz, you might have to use a different free email service with an address like me@some-big-company.com. If Some-Big-Company goes out of business or you're frustrated with their service, you'll have to change your email address... try to get everyone to change your address in their address book... and possibly lose contact with some of your customers or friends.

Paid:

You can keep the same email address(es) forever. Most hosting companies let you have multiple email addresses (1&1 gives 600 addresses with their least expensive package!): me@mysite.xyz, you@mysite.xyz, and so on. Extra services such as mailing lists, forwarding, auto-responders, etc. are usually included or available.

(The page What can you do with 600 email addresses? has some ideas...)