In the world of web hosting, there are two options. You can go with free website hosting, or paid website hosting. There are pros and cons to each of these options. In this article we will explore the various advantages and disadvantages of both free and paid hosts. Let's start off by taking a look at free hosting.
Free website hosting is ideal if your budget is small to non-existent. It can be the perfect thing for a personal web site. However, for a business, free hosting is not recommended. Free hosting accounts often do not provide enough storage or bandwidth for most businesses. You may wonder how free providers can afford to offer free hosting. Almost always, they make money by putting advertisements on the free pages. Therefore, you can certainly expect your pages to show ads on them that you did not place there. The worst is when a free host uses popups, which is very aggravating for visitors.
Paid website hosting is the better option for anyone seeking web hosting for a business. Many paid hosts are so cheap that even those with personal or hobby sites can afford to use them. There are a variety of hosts out there that offer different packages at different prices. You can get hosting for as little as $1.99 per month. Of course, if you are buying hosting for a business and you need lots of space and features, you can expect to pay around $20, sometimes more, sometimes less. It honestly depends on the host and the features you're getting. Paid web hosting often includes numerous email accounts and other handy features you don't get with a free account.
Paid hosting definitely comes out as the winner. It simply has more to offer, and can be obtained for very affordable rates these days. Free hosting is great for a starter site, or for someone who is brand new to web development and wants to practice making a site before paying for hosting. Most free providers are also paid hosts, which means you can start off free and upgrade your hosting to a paid plan in the future. Do plenty of comparison shopping to find the host who offers the best features, at the best price.
Showing posts with label Free Web Hosting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Free Web Hosting. Show all posts
Monday, April 30, 2007
What is Shared Hosting?
Shared Hosting is usually what people refer to when they say "web hosting" or "hosting".This type of hosting is what most people use and fine for sites that don't get a lot of visitors. It is called shared hosting because usually there are hundreds of customers per server so they are sharing the server.
Because you are sharing the server with a lot of other people this lowers the cost but can also lead to instability. For instance if the server has a lot of people and one person starts getting a lot of traffic on their forum it can cause the server to crash every site on the server. A good host will be able to keep the server up usually but no host can do this perfectly unless they raise prices.
Because you are sharing the server with a lot of other people this lowers the cost but can also lead to instability. For instance if the server has a lot of people and one person starts getting a lot of traffic on their forum it can cause the server to crash every site on the server. A good host will be able to keep the server up usually but no host can do this perfectly unless they raise prices.
Disadvantages of Free Hosts
We all know that there are some definite advantages to free hosts. But is paying nothing for web hosting the best option for your web site? Read about the disadvantages that users face when dealing with free hosts to get a clearer picture of the downside of free hosting.
Why Free Hosts Aren’t So Good
As far as web hosting is concerned, you definitely get what you pay for (and sometimes less than you pay for!) Below are the disadvantages to free 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 hosts, 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 Hosts
As a webmaster, I like to use free 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.
Why Free Hosts Aren’t So Good
As far as web hosting is concerned, you definitely get what you pay for (and sometimes less than you pay for!) Below are the disadvantages to free 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 hosts, 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 Hosts
As a webmaster, I like to use free 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.
Why Choose Free Hosting?
We lay it out for you- the good the bad and the ugly of free web hosting. Read the pros and cons of free web hosting to decide if saving a few dollars per month on hosting is worth it for you and if a free web host would work well for your web site.
Why Free Hosts Are Good
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.
Why Free Hosts Are Good
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.
Free Web Hosting For All?
Since the first free web hosts burst onto the scene in the early days of the internet, many things have evolved and changed. The early free hosts consisted largely of community-based ideas like Geocities and Freeservers.com. With the advancement of technology, bandwidth prices dropped and the cost of data storage went from dollars per megabyte to pennies per gigabyte. Many have predicted the demise of free hosting as shared hosting has become cheaper and easier to use.
Free Web Hosting Still Popular Today
As the internet has become available to more and more households across the world, the interest in building a website has increased daily. Through some form of free hosting millions have made thier mark on the world wide web. The teen-ager builds a MySpace page to connect with friends and share similar interests - free web hosting. The business person starts a blog to share ideas on market predictions and stock market speculation - free web hosting. The elderly view pictures on Photobucket of thier great-grandchildren who live thousands of miles away - free web hosting.
Paid Web Hosting - The Next Logical Step
Sooner or later anyone with a web presence wants to kick it up a notch. Whether they get tired of the pop-up ads or the lack of thier own dot-com address - some form of paid web hosting becomes the next logical step. With prices edging down around $50 per year for a hundred gigabytes of storage and all the bandwidth you could dream of, paid web hosting is within reach to all.
Whether you are a business person wanting to generate leads for your business or a punk rock band looking for exposure to a bigger audience - the internet is your highway. And if the internet is the road to glory then a website is your mode of tranportation. You can choose free hosting or paid web hosting but get on board, it's gonna be one heck of a ride.
Free Web Hosting Still Popular Today
As the internet has become available to more and more households across the world, the interest in building a website has increased daily. Through some form of free hosting millions have made thier mark on the world wide web. The teen-ager builds a MySpace page to connect with friends and share similar interests - free web hosting. The business person starts a blog to share ideas on market predictions and stock market speculation - free web hosting. The elderly view pictures on Photobucket of thier great-grandchildren who live thousands of miles away - free web hosting.
Paid Web Hosting - The Next Logical Step
Sooner or later anyone with a web presence wants to kick it up a notch. Whether they get tired of the pop-up ads or the lack of thier own dot-com address - some form of paid web hosting becomes the next logical step. With prices edging down around $50 per year for a hundred gigabytes of storage and all the bandwidth you could dream of, paid web hosting is within reach to all.
Whether you are a business person wanting to generate leads for your business or a punk rock band looking for exposure to a bigger audience - the internet is your highway. And if the internet is the road to glory then a website is your mode of tranportation. You can choose free hosting or paid web hosting but get on board, it's gonna be one heck of a ride.
Free Web Hosting Defined
Web hosting is the service that allows you to have a website on the internet. I like to think of it as online storage units. The data can be hosted on fast servers for a monthly fee, or for free on overcrowded - slow servers. Free web hosting is very popular because of the easy access it provides beginners to build their first website.
Why is it Free?
Most free hosting companies make money by selling ads on your website. Everything from banner ads to pop-ups can generate revenue on user websites. Some free hosts get a little carried away, like one I have used that has 2-3 pop-up ads and several annoying banners. This may seem annoying but hey, it's free.
Another reason they can give it away free is that you are sharing a server with sometimes up to 100,000 other people. This overcrowding limits the amount of storage space and bandwidth transfer that a free host can provide. Most of the popular free hosting companies offer only enough space to have a small personal website. The good ones have paid upgrades available so you can graduate to paid web hosting when you are ready.
Pros and Cons of Free Hosts
Besides the office benefit of building a website for free there are other reasons that free web hosting is a good option. What about a website for a school play or a birthday party? After the event is over, the website is useless. This is a good place for a free hosted website. Since most paid web hosting plans have a one year term, free hosting is a good choice for short-term sites.
Some find the anonymity of free web hosting useful when building sites that require secrecy. This can be a downside as well since you are sharing a server with thousands of other webmasters. If one spammer or scammer gets blacklisted or banned for questionable actions - it can effect everyone on the server.
What about Domain Names?
Free hosting most often does not include a domain name. Your website address with a free host usually looks something like yoursite.freehost.com or like www.freehost.com/bobswebsite. These are called sub-domains and are not easy for your users to remember the address. Some will let you upgrade to your own .com domain name, but most of them require upgrading to a paid hosting package first.
Why is it Free?
Most free hosting companies make money by selling ads on your website. Everything from banner ads to pop-ups can generate revenue on user websites. Some free hosts get a little carried away, like one I have used that has 2-3 pop-up ads and several annoying banners. This may seem annoying but hey, it's free.
Another reason they can give it away free is that you are sharing a server with sometimes up to 100,000 other people. This overcrowding limits the amount of storage space and bandwidth transfer that a free host can provide. Most of the popular free hosting companies offer only enough space to have a small personal website. The good ones have paid upgrades available so you can graduate to paid web hosting when you are ready.
Pros and Cons of Free Hosts
Besides the office benefit of building a website for free there are other reasons that free web hosting is a good option. What about a website for a school play or a birthday party? After the event is over, the website is useless. This is a good place for a free hosted website. Since most paid web hosting plans have a one year term, free hosting is a good choice for short-term sites.
Some find the anonymity of free web hosting useful when building sites that require secrecy. This can be a downside as well since you are sharing a server with thousands of other webmasters. If one spammer or scammer gets blacklisted or banned for questionable actions - it can effect everyone on the server.
What about Domain Names?
Free hosting most often does not include a domain name. Your website address with a free host usually looks something like yoursite.freehost.com or like www.freehost.com/bobswebsite. These are called sub-domains and are not easy for your users to remember the address. Some will let you upgrade to your own .com domain name, but most of them require upgrading to a paid hosting package first.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)