Why free web hosting may not be a bad thing
There is paid web hosting and there is free web hosting. Most
people tend to steer clear of free web hosting as they tend to
believe that "there is no free lunch". Free web hosting must
have its catches?
Well, that really depends on your purposes and your position.
Why purpose? If your web hosting is for your website which is
for commercial purposes, such as an ecommerce web-store, you
need absolute reliability and uptime. Every second of downtime
is lost revenue. While some free web hosting providers guarantee
uptime, you cannot hold it against them if their services do not
meet expectations and cause your business to lose hundreds of
dollars of revenue. Why? Because most free web hosts will have a
clause in their terms that state that they do not guarantee
uptime at all because they are a free service. Now, most free
hosts will not even guarantee any uptime and those free web
hosting services are provided on a best effort basis. You cannot
risk hosting your crucial business website on such a free
hosting plan. However, for most individuals who are
experimenting with building websites, free web hosting is the
ideal choice as there is no monetary commitment and no lost for
both parties. Everyone deserves a chance to learn and what
better way to learn than to do it? Free web hosting plans from
free hosts are the ideal platform for aspiring webmasters to
start their web-building careers. Of course these free hosts may
require something in return: visiting sponsors, displaying ads
on hosted pages, reading emails, and lately, participating in
online communities of the free web-host. This last option may
not be a bad thing as online communities allow the users to
interact and learn from each other. There is also a last
category of users who just want free web hosting for a personal
site which they do not find the need to be up all the time and
do not see the need to pay for it and do not see the need to do
anything for it. There are some free web hosts out there who
offer free hosting for nothing - just a simple sign up.
Therefore, a clear purpose for using free web hosting is
important. If the purpose is critical and there is no tolerance
for problems, then free webhosting is not suitable. Other than
that, free web hosting is not a bad thing.
Why position? Web hosting plans are relatively affordable these
days (some plans as low as $1 a month) that almost any working
person can afford it for their websites. Therefore, paying for
web hosting should not be a problem for those who have an
income, or some savings to spend on developing their websites
further. Also, any working adult should be able to afford using
a Paypal account that most web hosts will accept as a form of
payment. On the other hand, students and young people do not
have much to spend, much less a Paypal or Credit Card with which
to pay for hosting. For this group of people, free web hosting
plans are the obvious alternatives if they wish to set up
websites without paying anything for them.
To conclude, free web hosting may not be a bad thing for
selected groups of people who have a specific purpose. For
students and people looking to learn about developing websites,
free web hosting is a good thing.