Why Try Free Website Hosting

It's actually not always true that free web hosting is definitively inferior to paid hosts - the differences depend mostly on what you need from your host, which is something you should be careful to think about seriously before you commit to a plan. You'll likely find that security, speed and bandwidth are comparable between the two - it's all the extras that will make you want to consider paying, rather than the basic requirements of your user experience. We've put together a quick guide to come of those considerations, to help you make the decision that's right for you and for your website.

Free Website Hosting Storage

If you think you're likely to need a large amount of storage space, you're going to need a paid web hosting plan - but you might be surprised by the amount of space you actually use, as this is something that many people tend to overestimate. Some of the things that take up a lot of space include:

  • Video streaming and other live media that involves lots of moving images
  • Audio files and music streaming, including podcasts and similar
  • Large banks of images, like stock photographs or downloadable graphics

If you're not using any of those things - if your web pages are predominantly text with a usual amount of inline images and perhaps a few downloadable .pdf files - it's actually very unlikely that you'll need the extra space provided by a paid-for web hosting service.

Free Website Hosting Features

If you want to run a forum or an ecommerce site, you're probably going to need paid hosting; those things both involve a high level of user input and security risk, and you'll need to be sure that you're keeping everything as safe and well-managed as it needs to be. Otherwise, though - if your website is most informational, or if you're using it to advertise products that can be found or bought elsewhere - free hosting should be more than sufficient for the kinds of features and applets you'll require.

Free Hosting Support

You're bound to need to contact customer support at some point, so you'll be pleased to hear that the customer support services for free services are usually roughly as good as those for paid services. Most offer several ways to get in touch with them - email, a live chat service, and a form to fill in. it's well worth asking questions to test out how good the customer service is before you properly commit to a host.

Free Hosting Before Paid Hosting

It's a good idea for people new to website hosting to try a free package before investing in a paid one, as this will let them try things out before they risk their money. To do this well, you're going to need to pick a host that offers both; that way, when the time comes you'll be able to upgrade pretty seamlessly. If you're interested in doing things this way, you'll want to think carefully about your domain name as free hosts don't usually let you have one that is entirely customised. It's likely that while you're using a free service you'll have to go by yourdomainname.theirdomainname.com rather than simply by yourdomainname.com - but you can always fix that later on!