It is well known that web hosting service can be either free or paid, and you are to choose whichever type you like. Of course free hosting is rather attractive as you don't need to spend money on it. But does it correspond all your demands? The main task is to find out the main pros & cons of free web hosting service.
The main advantage of free web hosting is that you can keep your data without paying any fees and in most cases you are granted with quite sufficient space for it. Also there may be quite enough bandwidth allotted for you and you can also make use of ready made templates for your website. But unfortunately there is a number of disadvantages free web hosting may bring so you are to learn them thoroughly.
1. Free web hosting do not imply a separate domain so you are to have a sub one. This means that your website will stay far from the beginning of search engine results list. Probably this is not a big problem in case you run an ordinary personal page. But if you own some kind of business website sub domain won’t do you any good.
2. There is also no e-mail option provided which means that free web hosting probably won't be good for running a business website as you can't keep contact with your clients conveniently.
3. There are always limitations to the quantity of files you can upload so not all of your ideas will be embodied, e.g. you won’t be able to attach your own programs.
4. Free hosts cannot guarantee high uptime so you may discover one day that your website has disappeared because the server is not running.
5. Unfortunately free hosting providers are not considered to be reliable enough as their support system is not helpful at all. Experiencing some difficulties concerning your website managing or having a question to ask you won’t probably get the necessary help because free hosts just don’t have 24/7 support.
6. Advertisments are considered to be important disadvantage of free web hosting. It is rather annoying when different banners and pop-ups appear each time your web page opens. This factor may really break your website and scare away your visitors.
7. When you decide on a free web host you should be ready that your URL will always have the name of your hosting service provider. This may appear to be total disadvantage in case you want to establish some kind of competitive online presence.
8. Dealing with free web hosting service you have little or no possibilities to control your account. Moreover the hosting company may change its terms whenever it likes and sometimes can even disable your account until you go on for paid services.
So unfortunately the conclusion is the following – free web hosts limit your activity and are seldom good for establishing worthy web presence. Of course there are exceptions for every rule but in order not to waste your time and get frustrated then you better learn the information before you start your work. And if you are eager to start up some serious website it is better to choose paid web hosting as it is the best solution for establishing your business online. Nowadays a lot of hosting providers offer you to open paid account which is often rather affordable and is supplemented with all necessary tools and options for hosting your website. The user is allowed to control his/her website and to work with it using the control panel. The important advantage of paid web hosting is that you get your own domain name and can transfer it in case you will decide to work with another hosting provider without losing the traffic. And what is not less valuable paid hosts are providing their users with 24/7 helpful support system so you can always rely on them and contact via e-mail, phone etc. As you see free web hosting has more disadvantages rather than advantages and it is only up to you to decide whether they will influence your work or not. Remember that if you want to create a worthy competitive online presence it is better to avoid free hosting services and charge some monthly fees for enjoying your work.