Advantage/Disadvantage of Free Hosting

[jennie23]

Hi,

I have seen many hosting companies offering free hosting service.
I need an advice from hosting Expert, what are the advantage and Disadvantage of Free hosting service?

Your expert comment might be helpful to users.

Thanks

 

[RH-Calvin]

Free hosting might look attractive in the beginning, but for the long run it is always advisable to go for a paid hosting. Free hosting comes with lot of ads, though some are ads free. But still there is an advantage to go for a paid hosting to get a good technical support for what you pay.

 

[Yorkshire Host]

In probably all cases paying will get you more like RH-Calvin mentioned with technical support but also more space and bandwidth so your not limited to what you can use as such

 

[mummybox]

The one thing I try and keep in mind with Free host is that they come and go like a revolving door. Your website and info may be there one moment and gone the next. Hopefully you backed everything up on a local drive.

With a paid host you can rest a little more assured your info will be ok...but still keep backups.

 

[MilesGeek]

Technical support is something that every website owner might not be able to manage. If there is highly technical issue with your website, then only a paid web host can provide you with the appropriate solution otherwise there might be slowdown or downtime to your website.

 

[deanhills]

It depends what you want to do with your free hosting. If you're using it for testing Websites, or trying new things out, or figuring out new designs, then it's a good way of beginning. But for serious Websites paid hosting is probably a better idea as good paid hosting usually comes with more quality admin support. Just remember however that not all paid hosting is equal. And there are paid hosts that are actually not so good as some of the really reliable free hosts. Paid hosts of course have more income to afford more security, although again, I've seen free hosts with more security than paid hosts. Depends on the quality of the technical support that is attached to a paid host.

 

[WooWeb]

Advantages are –
. Free websites are also useful in sharing web content among groups having similar interests but not able to spend money for one reason or the other. By posting useful information and providing mutual links these sites may gain search engine visibility as well.
Voluntary organizations and non-profit organizations with low capital can use these services to set up a basic website to publish information about news and events or communicate with participants.
It does not cost you anything, free website hosting sites are generally user-friendly, time is not money
Disadvantages are-
Limited space, limited bandwidth, poor customer support ,upload file size limitation, long and hard-to-remember web address ,no guarantees of site availability and longevity, no branded emails addresses

 

[ehostingpk]

The Advantages of Free Web Hosting
The major advantage of free web hosting for a newbie includes learning all the basic intricacies of starting a website and feeling more comfortable in the future when changing to the paid web hosting.
If you're launching a personal website, then this can be a great choice since the site is only for entertainment and information purposes. So there's no point in spending a lot of cash to purchase paid web hosting.

The Disadvantages of Free Web Hosting
Free web hosting has only limited space amount that you can utilize. A free hosting account doesn't give much storage or perhaps bandwidth for businesses with a large amount of traffic.
There usually isn't enough space on the server provided for a huge website with lots of colorful graphics, videos, and lots of pages.

 

[Worgen]

Free hosting sites are attractive at first. But it will paid after a few session.

 

[Athertle-2FH]

Free Hosting has multiple pros and cons, so I'll just be going over a few of them.

Pro:

• You can easily test out and start your website without paying a cent
• Many times, paid hosting has the same uptime as free hosting (just a marketing gimmick)

Cons:

• You'll be limited very soon if you start being successful
• Customer Support is usually very limited compared to paid hosting
• You'll start experiencing hosting problems

 

[AdvancedSolution]

Hi Jennie,

I understand the situation you're in since not all of those who wanted to establish their websites are well-versed when it comes to hosting. In order for you to determine if a free hosting is right for you, you need to identify the needs of your website first.

Do you need unlimited bandwidth? Do you need big storage space? Is your website for information purposes only and not for e-commerce?

Providing answers to the questions above can help you decide given that free hosting has the following advantages and disadvantages:

Pros:
1. Free
2. User-friendly and
3. Good for beginners

Cons:
1. Limited bandwidth/speed
2. Limited storage space
3. Some free hosting services require you to post into their forums a number of times monthly to be able to renew free services.
4. Limited customer support

The above are just among the pros and cons when availing for free hosting services.

If you think that the pros weigh more than the cons, then you can consider trying it out to see if you can comply.

Hope this helps!

 

[weboutgateway]

Posts above have their points for the advantages and to the disadvantages but here is my compilations for your query.

☣Merits:

✔IT’S FREE means you’re notrequiring to pay any paid subscription.

✔Generally FREE web hosting sites are user-friendly.

✔You can get the FREE space on the server and access your website over the World Wide Web​

☣Demerits:

◆Because it’s FREE! rNr! Expect the unexpected ADS (popups).

◆Do not provide the domain name only the sub domain name

◆No customer support for your technical issues.

◆LIMITED amount of space you can use (bandwidth and data transfer speed).​

Putting businesses or large website that contains essential details (particularly a client based project) into free web hosting is NOT advisable, free hosting is only good for your personal use (like personal blogs /websites).

And I was hooked and agreed to RH-Calvin said “look attractive in the beginning, but for the long run it is always advisable to go for a paid hosting”

 

[HostPuma]

The biggest disadvantage I have seen is free web hosts showing up and disappearing without a notice, leaving you with no backup!

 

[kevin Fisher]

Advantages:

1) Cost effective
2) Easy to use
3) excellent choice for newbies

Disadvantages:

1) Advertisements; Obviously, the commercial website owners would not like to put any ads on their website other than their own
2) No Main Domain; The free hosting plans do not provide the separate domain name. Instead, they only offer the sub domain upon their own domain name.
3) Poor Customer Support
4) Limited Bandwidth And Speed
5) You do not own your website
6) Search engines often give free websites low priority
7) You can not use your own business name as the domain name

 

[wswd]

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

1) Advertisements; Obviously, the commercial website owners would not like to put any ads on their website other than their own
2) No Main Domain; The free hosting plans do not provide the separate domain name. Instead, they only offer the sub domain upon their own domain name.
3) Poor Customer Support
4) Limited Bandwidth And Speed
5) You do not own your website
6) Search engines often give free websites low priority
7) You can not use your own business name as the domain name

1) Not true for all (even most) free hosts.
2) Not at all true. Most allow you to use your own domain. In fact, we require it!
5) Who does then? The host doesn't own your website or content.
7) Sure you can!

 

[kevin Fisher]

I'm not an expert though .. I guess others have more experience

 

[Sky Host]

Points of interest:
The main favorable position of free web hosting administration is their cost viability. They require no compensation membership and thoroughly free of cost. In any case, the correct arrangement and approach may differ starting with one hosting specialist organization then onto the next. The site proprietor gets free space on the server and a free domain for site and getting to site and worldwide reach over the World Wide Web. Actually the upsides of free web hosting are secured by different faults of free web hosting which don't make it reasonable for business use. Free web facilitating frequently utilized for sites and little sites.
Hindrances of free web hosting include:
Commercials, no principle space for your website or blog, restricted or no client support, and constrained Bandwidth.

 

[hongta]

Hi,

I have seen many hosting companies offering free hosting service.
I need an advice from hosting Expert, what are the advantage and Disadvantage of Free hosting service?

Your expert comment might be helpful to users.

Thanks

Advantages of Free Website Hosting:

• It does not cost you anything. There are not any monthly fees, and everything you want can be uploaded to your website.
• Free website hosting sites are generally user-friendly. This can be a good website hosting option for newbies, who are still learning about all this.
• Time is not money. A free hosting site, has no monthly fees like some of the best paid website hosting companies, so you do not have to feel you are not making good use of your money. It takes you a long time to learn.

Disadvantages of Free Website Hosting:

• Free website hosting only has a limited amount of space you can use. Free hosting accounts often do not provide enough storage or bandwidth for most businesses. There is not enough room for a large website site with many colorful graphics, some video, and multiple pages.
• You may wonder how free providers can afford to offer free website 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. Free web hosting sites term and conditions often require that you allow their online banners and advertisements to be placed on your website. As they will say, it is what pays the bills.
• A free site has their name along with your unique domain name in the address. If you have a business, a potential client might think you are not successful enough to have your own website and turn away to find someone whose website is with one of the best-paid website hosting services.
• You must use their website designs and system and cannot upload other popular website products like Wordpress into the free site.

 

[InterserverMike]

Disadvantages of Free Website Hosting include;
-Disruptive Advertising
-Limited Advertising Options
-Increased Downtime
-Limited Storage & Bandwidth
-File Type Limitations

 

[daica85]

Pros
– Free of Charge
– Using with small demands or personal website and blog

Cons
– You must to use a long sub domain name with hosting provider name (such as: yourname.hosting.com)
– Using with very slow traffic and resources, especially RAM & CPU usage limitation
– Using with small ads on your website from hosting providers
– Some restrictions on files, scripts, softwares,…and many more others
– Using with lack security and maybe without database install on it
– Using with no technical support