Abhishek Kumar
Who doesn’t love a free anything? I’m sure you do. Honestly, I love freebies. Although, not everything free is good for you. Why you ask? I’d like to talk about how people opt for a ‘free’ web-hosting in order to avoid expenses that are unnecessary; a dangerous and unfruitful presumption. Here are a few reasons why you must contemplate before opting for free web-hosting.
Limited Templates
You will have very few options when it comes to templates. Selecting a limited range of templates may not be an issue, but manipulating or making changes to them may not really be an option. Free web hosting providers may not provide you with an efficient content management system that limits the functionality of your website. Not having an efficient CMS just makes things more problematic if you want to add more visual appeal to your site. Basically, you will have to follow the norms given to you by your free web hosting provider.
Unpredictable:
Hypothetically, say you have a business website, a free site that gets a lot of traffic, and ultimately helping you rake in money. If you’re using a free web host, your website is practically owned by your hosting provider. So, there might be a risk of it being taken down. Free web hosting providers may not offer you regular backups. You are responsible for backing up your files and unless you do it yourself, you’re most likely to lose all your data. Another thing to keep in mind is that there is no formal contract, no support since it a free service. Thus, no one is liable to answer you if things go awry. Free web hosting providers could cause you to lose income. They are also stringent on their advertising policy.
Hacker-prone:
Not search-engine-friendly:
Limited file upload:
Free web servers provide a stipulated amount of space for each website it hosts. And when I say stipulated I mean highly unrealistic limits on file uploads, bandwidth, and storage. If you are planning to upload files on a regular basis and manage to reach your limit, you may have to go through an optional paid service to add more storage space to your website. A free hosting provider can give you a platform with too many constraints and you could reach resource limits very soon. This makes things very unsavory for you and your audience. Also, your hosting provider may delete your content whenever they feel like it is in accordance with their terms and conditions.
As you can see, I’ve just highlighted a handful of many problems that you could face if you choose free hosting. I suggest that free web hosting should only be used when you’re trying and testing your online presence(say you’re an aspiring blogger). Once you plan on creating an online presence, purchasing a domain name, and choosing the appropriate hosting package are the essentials.
The wisest decision you can take is to opt for a shared hosting service. Once your website receives more traffic over time, bandwidth is your concern. Upgrading to a higher, more efficient hosting package will not be as problematic as trying to shift from a free to a paid hosting service. Feel free to share your thoughts on this in the comments section below.
