4

Possible Duplicate:
How to find web hosting that meets my requirements?

I would like to know the pros and cons of free webhosting vs paid webhosting. What are the factors due to which we should move on to paid web hosting?

Improve this question
0

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
2

I would say a major factor for me in paying for hosting is that I am a freelancer and use my hosting for hosting my clients sites. With free web hosting, this would be a bad idea, as the sites would be slow, I'd be limited in how many databases I could have, and no customer support. Also, free web hosts are allowed to go paid at anytime. If they do this and you don't notice it, your site could be lost forever with no hope of ever recovering it.

Also, many hosts offer coupons for the first year or so that make it really affordable (Sometimes under $50) and give you a free domain. Do some research on finding a decent paid host that gives you:

  1. Unlimited traffic
  2. Unlimited domains
  3. Unlimited storage and MySQL databases
  4. One click installs of popular software
  5. SSH/SFTP access
  6. A decent control panel (cPanel or something custom)

Word to the wise: I'd avoid GoDaddy for anything hosting related. In my personal experience, they are overpriced and have a bad control panel.

Improve this answer
2
  • 2
    "your site could be lost forever with no hope of ever recovering it." - Or, even worse, your site could be in limbo, still hosted with ads all over it, with no way of getting the free hosting provider to take it down once you switch to another host...
    – danlefree
    Nov 19, 2010 at 19:59
  • 1
    Ah I completely forgot about the ads. Yeah, it's quite common for them to put ads on your free site.
    – Eli Gundry
    Nov 20, 2010 at 19:08
2

Compared to some years ago, hosting is become really cheap. Today you can buy an affordable hosting service for $20 - $50 per year.

Paid hosting usually offer additional reliability compared to free hosting. Also, you don't need to agree with all the limitation free hosting usually impose you such as:

  • ads
  • limited resources
  • no customer support
Improve this answer
2

If you want to run a commercial site or a site otherwise tied to your professional career (e.g. a professional portfolio), then it pays to create a professional website. This means:

  • your own domain
  • (good) paid hosting
  • professional design
  • professional CMS (at least something like Wordpress)

If someone isn't willing to invest a few thousand dollars in their company website or spend $10/month to host their professional portfolio, then what does that say about this person's commitment or valuation of their own business/career? Would you invest $5000 in that person's product or services? I wouldn't; I'd question whether they're serious about their career or if their business is floundering ($120/year should not be a big expenditure for a healthy business).

Heck, these days people buy paid hosting even just for their personal sites. High school students are using paid hosting for their gaming clan websites or their garage bands. So unless you are destitute or not sure if you want/need a website, then there's no reason not to get paid hosting.

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.