subject: Free Or Paid Hosting? [print this page] There are pluses and minuses to both free and paid hosting. The only deciding factor is, frankly, your requirements.
Free hosting:
(+) It's for free. You don't need to pay for domain name.
(-) Some free accounts let you use your domain name, but with some your domain name is associated with the name of the host website.
(-) the host may also use your page for advertising purposes. You have no control over the advertising on your page.
(-) also, if you move your website to another provider in the future, you may lose some or all your traffic.
(-) Most web servers that offer free hosting are privy to their limitations, only some tell you upfront what you get and what you do not get in their free service.
Here are some features that you should look for:
FTP and a control panel with an online file manager
Add-on domains, subdomains, and parked domains
MySql management, and more than just one (1) mySql databases
PHP my Admin, with cURL and other features enabled
JavaScript, CGI-bin, and custom .htaccess
Webmail and POP mail
Live chat, forum, or reliable customer support
Also, you wont get too much disk space and bandwidth with a free host. It means if the content on your web page requires a lot of disk space, this option is not feasible for you. But if the content will fit the average provision of 500 megabytes, which most websites do, then you dont really have to pay for more.
Free hosting services are a great alternative for many reasons and if you only require the bare minimum to run your site this might be a viable solution. If these conditions are ok for you, then free web hosting may be right for you:
Its ok if the host wants to advertise on your page.
Performance / reliability dont really matter.
You don't expect much customer support.
Your website is small and will not grow
Paid web hosting:
(+) since you are hosting your own domain, if you decide to change the web hosting provider in the future, you can easily transfer the domain to the new provider and don't lose your traffic.
(+) you get better service. Most paid hosts offer 24/7 support via email or live chat and some of them provide toll-free phone support. Security also is much higher hosts have programs in place that prevent hacking and other cyber crimes.
(+) Paid hosts usually offer unlimited disk space and bandwidth. But this is only useful if youre building a really massive upload/download website.
Paid hosting costs, but this isnt much of a minus, because paid hosting has become much cheaper now.
To conclude, if you want to experiment with a website or maybe try learning everything there is to know before spending money, free hosting services are an acceptable option. On the other hand, if you are serious about having your own site and want a truly stable experience and robust solution, then paid hosting is the only way to go.
