Free Website Hosting 101

There are lots of reasons to make your own website, and not all of them require paid hosting. You might want to consider free hosting if you're trying out a new idea to see if it will take off, or if you're just wanting to make a personal site rather than a commercial one, or if your website's only function is to host a few pages of text somewhere that other people can read them.

If you're debating the use of free hosting, this article hopes to explain some of the pitfalls and some of the benefits - as well as help you figure out which of the many options and variables you should be considering.

Does Truly Free Web Hosting Really Exist?

While free hosting isn't perfect - you might have to put up with intrusive ads, you won't necessarily have a lot of space or bandwidth and you're unlikely to be able to use a truly custom domain name and URL - it definitely exists, and there are plenty of ways to minimise the drawbacks. It's not right for all websites, but if you're running something that doesn't require a large output of resources you can save a little money this way - particularly if you bear in mind that you might need to upgrade to a paid server at another time.

Managing The Drawbacks Of Free Web Hosting

There are hosts who will allow you to have some control over the ads they show on your site, though you won't be able to eradicate them. You'll also find some that allow you to earn 'points' toward removing ads, or toward having a domain name of your own. It's also possible to encourage your visitors to use an ad blocking application, though some hosts may penalise you for saying this on a site hosted on your space.

It's not perfect, but it's a good way to get started when you don't necessarily have a lot of money to spend or need a large amount of space.

Choosing The Right Websites For Free Hosting

Not all websites are a good choice for free hosts, particularly if you're likely to be using a lot of bandwidth or getting more than a few dozen hits to your page a day. It's important that you're aware of the limitations of free hosting and also a shared servers, which pretty much all free hosts use, and know that if your website takes off you'll need to move it to paid hosting. You'll also find that some free hosts, in the interest of maintaining security and stability on the shared servers they host sites on, won't allow you to use JavaScript, PHP or various other scripts and languages. If the use of these things is important to you, make sure you check these rules in advance.

Choosing The Right Free Hosts For Your Website

It's generally best to look at a few different free hosts before you choose one in particular, and for you to try and compare the features offered by them before making your decision. There are plenty of options available, and what you need to do is decide which factors are most important to you and ensure you look for something that fits them.