Is free web hosting really free? Does it provide enough functionality to create a good web site? Or is it just a gimmick to entice free subscribers to coff up for the paid hosting? In this short article I, will try to answer some of these questions based on my experience of using many free web hosting services over many years.
The majority of free web hosting providers use it to gain exposure, for themselves and their clients, through the display of banner and popup ads. The amount of provider ad display differs from one provider to another; while some providers are content with the display of a small logo at the bottom of one of your web pages, some providers bombard your site with all sorts of banners and popup windows. I would avoid these at all costs.
Most free web hosting providers offer the free service simply to entice subscribers to take up paid hosting. The problem is that the free web hosting service creates a conflict of interest for the paid hosting; hence providers gradually feel compelled to reduce the free service's usefulness in order to push free subscribers towards paid web hosting.
The functionality offered in free web hosting differs greatly from one provider to another. Most free web hosting providers offer only a minimal set of functions and a limited amount of web space and band width. There are, however, providers that offer a decent set of web hosting functions such as Php, MySql, mail functions, and Java support.
Ultimately, the usefulness of a free service has to be measured in terms of what the user intends to use it for; If you are only after finding some where to house your holiday snaps, or keep some backup files, then you should be easily satisfied with the basic free web hosting service offered by most providers.
On the other hand, if you need to send emails from your website, you need to find a free web hosting provider that offers a free Php mail function. Most free providers reserve this function for the paid subscribers. Some providers require free subscribers to post a minimum number of posts in the provider's forum before subscribers are allowed to use the mail function. There are, however, providers who offer this service free for all (see below).
If your web site processes transactions that require a database of some sort, or you have a blog with running commentary from readers, you need to find a free provider who offers Php and MySql. In this case, look for a provider who offers support for WordPress and the cPanel Fantastico feature which lets you install these things easily and quickly. There are many free web hosting providers who offer Php and MySql, and it should not be hard to locate some of them using your favorite search engine.
If you need to run Java applets/applications, you need to find a free web hosting provider that offers Java support. Free web hosting providers that support Java are a little harder to come by, and you need to dig a little deeper into search engines to locate them, however they do exist.
The storage and band width aspects of web hosting are largely publicized by providers to grab the attention of free subscribers; in my experience, storage and band width, provided by most providers, are usually more than adequate for the average web site. the best free web hosting providers even provide unlimited storage and unlimited band width.
Ftp access is another important aspect to consider when choosing a free web hosting provider. For any reasonable size website, you want to be able to use ftp to upload files as it offers a superior speed and a far better control over the overall process of uploading files to your web site. Most free web hosting providers do offer ftp access. Do not be fooled by providers glorifying browser upload as a super feature; they really just trying to hide the fact that they don't provide Ftp support.
While the majority of free web hosting providers provide a free web based email facilities, some providers offer multi-box Pop or IMap email services. I, generally, don't rely on email provided by free web hosting simply because I know from past experience that free providers usually don't last for very long. So for my main email I rely on my paid domain name provider, who stands a better chance to out last any free provider.
One last very important piece of advice concerning the use of a sub-domain names of your providers domain name. If your web site is important and you intend to last for a long time, don't use a sub-domain name of your provider's domain name. If, one day, your web site becomes very popular, you will not be able to market it if you are not using your own domain name. See Choosing the correct domain name.
The above discussion broadly covers the average straight forward aspects of choosing a free web hosting provider. The more interesting and more important aspects, in my view, are those that relate to search engine optimization (seo), how you can profit from your web site, and how to choose the correct domain name for your web site. I will discuss these in a separate discussion with a more detailed update in a separate article.
