Rundown on Free Web Hosting
May 26, 2004

Paying nothing for web hosting is a beautiful idea, but is free web hosting the best choice for your web site? Read on for the pros and cons of free web hosting.

Free Hosting Advantages:
Price is Right
Free hosts are great because they are FREE! Everyone wants to spend less when they can. Free web hosts free up cash you might spend on hosting so you can use it on things that are more important.

Great for Any Level of Experience
Free hosts are perfect for the penny pinching webmaster or those who are new to or just dabbling in building web sites. Some free web hosts cater specifically to new users, or "newbies" as they like to call inexperienced webmasters, with easy to use features, add-ons, templates, and more. Free hosts for newbies make knowing programming codes, like HTML, unnecessary with WYSIWYG site builders.

Quick and Easy
Many free hosts supply online site builders or site templates so users don't even need to use programs like Dreamweaver, GoLive, or Microsoft FrontPage to build and design a site. Web based file managers and upload tools help make a web site 'live' in a jiffy.

Free Subdomains
Many free hosts offer a free subdomain (ex. Yoursite.freehost.com) with hosting so users sites are instantly available and they don't have to wait for domain registration or transfers to have a live site.

Just Enough
Free hosts provide enough web space, bandwidth, and features for the common user so users don't have to pay for more than they need as is often the case with paid hosts.

Disadvantages to Using Free Web Hosts:
Little/No Support
Free hosts generally offer no customer support to their free customers and if they do it is low priority. While many free users are new to web hosting, neglectful support can ruin the hosting experience.

Overcrowded Servers
Free hosts are not known for their reliability and uptime. Often the servers web hosts put free users on may be overcrowded and slow or even frequently down. Since it is relatively simple to get a free web host company started many free hosts are fly-by-night operations and care little for the long term well being of users files.

Less Features
Free web hosting plans usually don't include advanced features, software, and email services that paid ones do. (ex. PHP, MySQL, FTP accounts, and POP email)

Ad Banners
To fund the free hosting, web hosts add an advertisement in the form of a text link, banner or pop-up to free users web sites. Many users find these ads take away from the design of their site, or are a nuisance to their visitors.

Why I Like Free Web Hosts
As a webmaster, I like to use free web hosts to host my non-profit sites, or web sites that are in their beginning stages. It is easy to sign-up for a free web site to try out new site ideas, or just to store files for a while.

To find free web hosting reviews - visit 100 Best.

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