Free vs. Paid Web Hosting: Guide for Newbies

0
1372
hosting

Newbies often find it confusing to choose between free and paid hosting providers. The question is: if there are free hosting options, then why would I opt for paid plans?

Clearly, there are some pros and cons of both optionsand it is essential to understand thesecompletely before nailing down any single choice. This post will clarify the features of both options so you can choose the most suitable one for your business.

Features of Free Web Hosting

Free web hosting is cost-effective. It allows you to enjoy the basic privileges for zero cost.You get a predefined domain name and other features such as a wide array of themes, templates, plugins. Free web hosting provides almost all basic features required to get your website up and running. Some of the free web hosting providersare-

With free hosting, you will not be able to make many amendments to the domain name. For instance, the URL will look like http://myFirstSite.blogspot.com, where blogspot.com is the free web host provider. This would leave less choice for you to add your specific domain name.

This includes physical server beingshared by thousands of websites and thereby limiting the bandwidth and disk space. This imposes some restrictions such as only 200 textual web pages and can cater to around 400 monthly site visits. These factors can hurdle your business growth in the long run.

With free web hosting, you could experience unstable behavior and will not be able to perform resource intensive actions.Additionally, with certain free web hosting services, you will deal with poor technical support.

Some of free hosting providers charge hidden fees which include separate fees for backup or to access certain scripts.

Few free web hosting platforms provide 1-year free service with renewal fee for subsequent usage.

Again, a point of concern is the backup, maintenance, and security. Since these are not dedicated, there are no separate or additional security controls added. So you need to live with the existing free services or you can move to a paid plan at any point.

Features of Paid Hosting

Paid hosting provides several benefits such as high performance, faster page loading speeds, better support, least downtime track record, security, timely backup and maintenance. You can get more space, unlimited bandwidth, email accounts, extra add-on scriptsas per choice.

Paid hosting allows you to choose a domain name for your business area with no specific restrictions. Provides effective security, 1-click installation and several hosting options such as dedicated, shared, VPS with multiple themes and templates.

As per hosting reviews like iPage reviews, the cost of paid hosting is around $2-$10/month. You can compare paid host plans to choose the one that meets your business requirements best.

With payed hosts, there will be no unwanted advertisements and the site visitors will not be bombarded with unwanted host Ads. With this option, you also enjoy best customer service.

Conclusion

Clearly both have advantages and disadvantages; however,if you are looking for simple web development you can use free hosting. For business purpose, paid hosting is a more reliable option.