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Free Web Hosting Articles
Can you really get FREE web hosting?
Yes, there are hundreds of free hosts, as far as not having to pay
any money. Generally they either cost you in time, hosting
restrictions, or modifying your web pages by adding popups or
other adverts. When looking for free web hosting (especially on
search engines), you should beware that there are also a large
number of commercial web hosts that claim to offer free hosting,
but those have a catch, such as paying an excessive amount for a
domain name or other service, and therefore aren't really free.
How do the free web hosts make money?
The free hosts often make money in other ways, such as putting
banners, popups, or popunders on your site. Some free hosting
companies do not put ads on your site, but require you as the
webmaster to click on banners in their control panel or signup
process, or just display banners in the file manager in hopes you
will click them. Some lure visitors with free hosting in hopes you
will upgrade and pay for advanced features. A few send you
occasional emails with ads, or may even sell your email address.
Are free web hosts reliable?
Generally no, although there may be a few exceptions. If the host
is making money from banner ads or other revenue sources directly
from the free hosting, then they likely will stay in business,
provided someone doesn't abuse their hosting with spam, hacking,
etc., as often happens to new free web hosting companies with
liberal signup policies. If the host accepts just anyone,
especially with an automated instant activation and it offers
features such as PHP or CGI, then some users invariably try to
find ways to abuse it which can cause the host to have a lot of
downtime or the server to be slow. It is best if you choose a very
selective free host which only accepts quality sites (assuming you
have one).
Uses for free webspace
Free web hosting is not recommended for businesses unless you can
get domain hosting from an ad-free host that is very selective,
such as DistantHost (http://signup.distanthost.com/) or Fairmount
(http://www.fairmount.nu/). Other reasons for using free hosting
would be to learn the basics of website hosting, have a personal
website with pictures of your family or whatever, a doorway page
to another website of yours, or to try scripts you have written on
different hosting environments.
How to find the right free web hosting
The best place to search for free webhosting is on a free webspace
directory website (i.e. a site which specializes in listing only
free web hosting providers). There are some which add new free
hosts pretty much every week (and if it is updated often, has
usually had to delete about as many). There are also many which
almost never update their site, and a huge percent of their links
and info are outdated. Unfortunately that includes most of the
directories that were the best several years ago. The problem is
free hosts change so often, and most fold up in less than a year
(often even after only a day or two), that it is hard to keep such
a directory up-to-date. The most recommended directory is Free
Webspace (http://www.free-webhosts.com/), which has a detailed
list of over 900 free web hosting providers with user reviews,
ratings, forums, and searchable database. It is updated daily, and
the advanced free web hosting search has 42 options, helping you
to find the free hosting package with all the features you need,
such as CGI, PHP, MySQL, ASP, SSI, and FrontPage extensions.
For a smaller, more selective list of the best free hosts,
there is also:
100 Best Free Webspace (http://www.100-Best-Free-Webspace.com/)
Free Hosting (http://www.Absolutely-Free-Hosting.com/)
Free Webspace (http://www.free-webspace.org/)
Other (usually less useful) resources include subcategories of
freebies sites, search engines and directories, and forums. Your
ISP might also supply you with free webhosting.
Hints for finding the best free web hosting
Generally it is best not to choose a free hosting package with
more features than you need, and also check to see if the company
somehow receives revenue from the free hosting itself to keep it
in business. As already mentioned, it is best to try to get
accepted to a more selective free host if possible. Look at other
sites hosted there to see what kind of ads are on your site, and
the server speed (keep in mind newer hosts will be faster at
first). Read the Terms of Service (TOS) and host features to make
sure it has enough bandwidth for your site, large webspace and
file size limit, and any scripting options you might need. Read
free webspace reviews and ratings by other users on free hosting
directories. If you don't have your own domain name, you might
want to use a free URL forwarding service so you can change your
site's host if needed.
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