If you’re looking into web hosting, there are many ways to do it for free including Facebook and GoDaddy — but are these services right for you? The no cost aspect is certainly appealing, but there are some major disadvantages. Here are some pros and cons of free web hosting:
Pros of Free Web Hosting
- Free: The best advantage of free web hosting is that it doesn’t cost you anything. I know free sounds unbelievable, but the companies make up for it by advertising on your site.
- Experience: Because the website is free, you have the ability to get experience in web hosting. You have nothing to lose since you aren’t paying a monthly fee, so you can test scripts for the software that’s used on the server. Getting experience and testing the waters can help you later if you choose to purchase a domain and create a website of your own.
- Easy Sharing: There are many free web hosting services available, like Facebook which has a platform that allows you to create a page solely for you. Because there are websites like Facebook that allow you to create a free webpage, you can easily share your page with other people around the internet.
- No Contracts: When you pay for a web hosting service, you may be required to sign up for a contract to lock in a lower price. If you use a free web hosting service you won’t be locked into a contract, and you can cancel anytime you want without penalties.
Cons of Free Web Hosting
- Advertisements: For a free web hosting service to earn money, ads are posted on your page. Some of the advertisements can be rather large and can take away from the content of your website due to the size.
- No Main Domain: One of the biggest benefits of paying for your site is that you get your own domain. Domain names are what people often refer to as a "web address" and is typed into the address bar when locating your site. When you use a free web host, your website will be a subdomain of the company’s URL, meaning you can’t have a unique name.
- No Customer Support: If you ever need assistance, most free web hosting services don’t offer support for non-paying customers — choosing to pay often gives you 24/7 access. If your site goes down, you can contact the company, but don’t expect much assistance.
- Low Bandwidth: When people visit your page or view content on your site, bandwidth is required. Free web hosting services give non-paying clients much less bandwidth than the paying customers. The less bandwidth you have, the fewer guests can visit your site.
- Limited Features: Because you aren’t paying anything, you don’t have access to the all of the features that paying users do. Some features generally include assistance with WordPress and suggestions on how to improve your website.
