When you log onto the internet to find the perfect website hosting provider, you are bound to become immensely confused; there are literally hundreds of options to choose from, and the choice becomes overwhelming when it’s time to make it. The best web hosting providers are really expensive, and not everyone can afford web hosting services. If you are one of those people who require free web hosting, you need not worry, because there are many free web hosting providers online that will host your website for you, free of cost. However, there is a good, bad, and ugly side to free web hosting providers, and it is best you know about all of them in depth before you decide to go for these free web hosting providers.
The Good
The foremost and best thing about free web hosting providers is evident by its name: it is free! For beginners this is a golden opportunity to launch their website(s) on the internet for the world to see without investing even a dime. Many people are low on confidence as far as their website design or idea goes, and they end up never launching it simply because web hosting requires investment. However, with free web hosting, that is not the case anymore, and people can host their website anytime they want.
Another huge advantage of free web hosting is the fact that you are not restricted to a number of sites. In fact, you can create unlimited websites on a single free web hosting provider and it will not complain at all, even while knowing that the owner is a single person. This provides immense opportunity for start-up projects which are still in their testing phases, and offers them a testing platform to test launch their product on the internet, without any charge, to see demand and reviews.
The Bad
Unfortunately, with free web hosting service providers, you are not able to launch your website under a personalized domain name. For example, if your web hosting provider’s URL is www. Freewebhosting.com and then your website will appear as “yourwebsite.freewebhosting.com”; it will not be exclusive. This non-exclusivity may come off as slightly unprofessional, and if your website’s intention depends on the image, then such non-exclusivity can be a very bad thing.
Another major disadvantage of using free web hosting services is non-reliability. Free web hosting providers do not enter upon a contract with you stating that they cannot vanish into thin air, destroying your website altogether. Remember, they own your website, and until a contract to the contrary is applied, they have exclusive rights to it. They can modify it, or remove it, without any illegality as to that effect. This guillotine on the head is a very uncomfortable state of affairs, and will hamper your growth in the long run.
The Ugly
First of all, free web hosting providers don’t offer any technical support, and any webmaster or web developer will tell you how important technical support is as far as the smooth functioning of your website is concerned. Your website is at the mercy of website hosting providers, and it is up to them when they may fix it, if they may fix it at all.
Secondly, free web hosting providers are not so free after all. They compensate you for not taking any money from you by placing ads on your carefully crafted website which suck all the appeal out of it. Ads not only take away the beauty of your website, but are also a huge distraction for the viewers of the website. Also, people don’t like ads, and view them in a very negative light these days, so having ads on your website will have a very demeaning effect on it.
Lastly, you do not have access to detailed website statistics, and you don’t get an exclusive server at all. If you get a shared server, which is being shared by how many people, only the web hosting providers know. All this will affect the performance of your website, and will offer you little room to improve on it. You also do not have any email accounts with free web hosting providers, which is another downside as far as looking professional is concerned.
