Is paid Apple Developer Program subscription required to distribute test IPA file? I am building an Ionic app, and I want to distribute it to a few people in my organization.

Ionic Cordova iOS build command runs successfully. Now i need to generate the IPA file to install the app on iOS devices.

When I am running Product → Archive in Xcode Menu, it gives code signing error.

My queries are:


How to get the IPA file? Does it need paid subscription to the Apple Developer Program? 
Best solution to distribute to app to a limited number of people?
Getting signing error?

Code Signing Error: app has conflicting provisioning settings. app is automatically signed for development, but a conflicting code signing identity iPhone Distribution has been manually specified. 

Set the code signing identity value to "iPhone Developer" in the build settings editor, or switch to manual signing in the project editor.

Code Signing Error: Code signing is required for product type 'Application' in SDK 'iOS 12.1'
So as a new iOS developer i found three way for building and distributing app.


For app store distribution normal developer license can work. 
For in House apps you can buy enterprise edition license. With this you
can distribute app via MDM and diawi when you want to
distribute .ipa file of your app.
If you have limited in house
users and have physical access to those devices you can directly
install app via xcode in the device.