| What is Free Hosting?
Free Hosting is a service provided by several
hosting providers, which allows users to create a basic personal
web site for free. This site will offer some of the features
of a commercial website, but also be hampered by more limitations.
Contrary to virtual hosting, which allows users to use their
own, individual domain name, ie. www.yourname.com, Free Hosting
provides users with a domain name based on the name of the
host, ie. http://yourname.freehost.com, or www.freehost.com/yourname.
What are the Advantages of Free Hosting?
The most significant advantage Free Hosting
possesses over Virtual Hosting, is that it is available at
the best price of all - absolutely free! In addition, the
Free Hosting provider assumes responsibility for web administration
and server maintenance, which means that the hosting beginner
can create a functional site despite having no technical expertise
whatsoever. In addition, the setup process for Free Hosting
accounts is generally very simple, and often complemented
by a setup tutorial. Free Hosting accounts are not barren
of options either, and typically offer FTP capability, as
well as a range of pre-installed CGI scripts. These options
allow you to give your free website the look and feel of a
professional, commercial site, without taking a penny out
of your pocket.
What are the Disadvantages of Free
Hosting?
In a perfect world, Free Hosting would
offer a full range of added value options, unlimited file
transfer, and the broadest bandwidth available on the web,
only we don't live in a perfect world. Despite numerous advantages,
or perhaps as a result of them, Free Hosting does have several
flaws which will make more serious webmasters reach for their
checkbooks or credit cards to pay the extra money for a Virtual
Hosting package. Free Hosting packages do now offer the same
options, or support services provided by Virtual Hosting packages,
which means that your website will not contain features like
a database, shopping cart, or 24 hour phone support. In addition,
Free Hosting does come at a price, which is typically paid
for by advertising promoting the hosting provider. Nevertheless,
it is a small price to pay for the beginner looking to create
a small personal homepage, and for this reason alone, the
overwhelming majority of personal web pages on the web today
are served by Free Hosting providers.
So if you are looking to test the waters
of the Web Hosting industry, and are either unable or unwilling
to put up the cash for a Virtual Hosting account, Free Hosting
is the perfect solution. Despite a number of limitations,
Free Hosting still allows you to make your presence on the
web for absolutely nothing, and is a great place for beginner
webmasters to get valuable experience with absolutely no risk
involved. For information on Free Hosting providers, search
our HostSearch listings at http://www.hostsearch.com/free_zone.asp |
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