Pros and cons of free web hosting
Newcomers to the online world will be very happy to hear that there are free web hostings available for them. They then hunt and compare those free web hostings. Generally, they will choose the one with the biggest disk space and the biggest bandwidth. Is it true that free web hosting is a dream comes true for newcomers to the online world? Let’s discuss about it.
The good thing about free web hosting is that you are able to start hosting your website without any initial investment. You are able to learn to use FTP, online file manager, uploading files, etc. Instantly after registration, your free web hosting account is ready to use. You can put contents and also insert AdSense code to earn money for every click from your website.
However, free web hosting has several disadvantages.
The main disadvantage of a free web hosting would be the advertisement from the free web hosting provider. Those providers need money to survive, and the perfect way to do that while giving your free hosting is by putting banners on your websites. Some providers force you to display a large banner. Some only needs one small text link. Whatever it is, an ad is a must or your free web hosting account is banned.
The next disadvantage is the small bandwidth and the low reliability of the server. You will get maximum 1 or 2 GB monthly bandwidth. Because it is free, the free accounts will be gathered in one server. This means the load of the server will be very high. In the end, your websites may have more down time or perform very slow compared to paid web hosting. No matter your website is only for personal use or for business, your visitors will be upset when they find out that your server is down.
Free web hosting will also suffer from fewer features. It is not uncommon for you not to have email account, autoresponder, PHP support, database support like MySQL, cron, and any other web hosting features. These features might be the standard for most paid hosting but not for free hosting.
The last disadvantage could be the unavailability of a decent domain. If you apply for a web hosting, you would get a subdomain or a directory for the URL. Some free hosting provider provides you the ability to get your own domain and host it along your free hosting. However, this case is rare. Most free hostings do not come with a domain hosting. Thus, you could never have a normal URL even if you want to. You have to stick to a subdomain or directory until you move to paid account.
In summary, free web hosting although gives a promising start, could not be compared with the paid web hosting. A forced advertisement, small bandwidth, low reliability of server, and unavailable domain hosting are just several disadvantages of free web hosting. It is true that some free web hostings have no forced banner, or come with big bandwidth, or other features. However, compared to paid web hosting, free web hosting should not be used for serious website, personal or business. Free web hosting would be useful for people to learn how to use FTP, how upload files, and other basic tasks. Free web hosting is also a good option for testing idea or to host website prototype before moving to paid web hosting.
Technorati Tags: free web hosting, free web hosting account, free hosting, paid web hosting, free hosting provider