Weighing in Free Web Hosting Services
There are always two sides of the story for everything in this world. It’s the balance of life and that goes the same for web hosting. There will always be a good and bad in using free web hosting services. Let us take a look at what free web hosting services are good for, and what it is not suppose to be used for.
If you are just starting into the world of web hosting and the internet, free hosting can help you learn the basics without much fear. After all, there is not cost involved in having a free hosting account, therefore there is no financial burden no your side.
You can practice your web programming skills using a free hosting account. There are not many free hosts that will provide support for scripting languages such as ASP, PHP, or CGI, but there are a few that do.
All in all, it is a good place to have your personal website without having to pay a single cent for it.
Of course, as the saying goes, “There is nothing for free in this world.” Hence your free website will come with a price. Though you do not pay for it literally, indirectly you are being made to pay for using their services. This can come in forms of banners that the host will install in your web pages or pop ups that will display adverts when visitors enter your site. They are annoying, but inevitable. This is how the host earn their dollars.
The next thing about free hosting is that you will not have your very own domain name. Most of them will give you a sub-domain like you.hostdomain.com or hostdomain.com/you. This again doesn’t look good for your website’s prestige, but nothing much you can do about it.
Don’t expect support 24/7 either. That will not happen in free hosting services. If they are good, they will provide you a forum where you can post questions regarding your problem and hopefully wait for someone, another member or the webmaster, to reply you with an answer.
Bandwidth and storage space is another concern for you if you need a lot of them for your website. Free websites have limitations for the bandwidth and storage usage. Though it is good enough for a personal website, a place for you to host your resume or family pictures, it is definitely not going to work if you intend to use it for a more professional purpose.
FTP access may not be available too. Most of them will not provide you with one. So you will have to depend on their file manager to upload your website. This is a tedious process. If they are a good free host, they will allow at least an upload using compression such as zip files to upload your files at one go. Not a bad feature to have for a free host.
Lastly, the control panel they provide may be lacking in everything that you will need it for. Still if they even provide you with one, it is nothing much to complain about.
After all, you get what you paid for and if you happen to get a free host that provide all of the above, good for you. If you think you do not want the hassle in dealing with these problems free hosting companies give you, then my advice is to go for a paid hosting service.
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