What are the disadvantages of free web hosting services? Want to find a satisfactory answer? Let me show you why you should never go for free web hosting services even though it looks very attractive to you.
FREE – the most attractive word in the whole universe.
Who does not love free things?
Even the richest of the richest sometimes fall for it.
No money, no investment..
you just get what you want for free.
But, use your brain and think of it:
Is it even possible?
Would someone give someone anything for completely Free? Won’t there be something that they are looking for in return?
When it comes to free web hosting, the same thing applies.
If you are considering starting a website, never ever go for free hosting. Read the full article till the end to find out why I’m saying this.
Free Web Hosting Services
Since websites have become a powerful tool to earn money online and to represent one’s brand or talent, free web hosting also came into play.
The idea of free hosting became so popular that there are currently more than a hundred companies offering this service.
However, the truth is NOT as it seems to be.
If you are seriously thinking of starting a blog or website, then free web hosting is not the right thing for you. There are many disadvantages to hosting a website for free, especially if you are not doing it for fun.
Still, people just like it because of the fact that it is free.
In most cases, selecting paid web hosting services with cheap pricing tends to be a thousand times better than free web hosting.
But why is paid to host better than free hosting?
What’s the problem with the free ones?
In this article, we will look into why one should never consider free web hosting, the disadvantages of it, and how bad things can turn out to be in the long run.
The Disadvantages of Free Hosting
When it comes to free web hosting services, there are many serious drawbacks. Some of the most irritating ones are given below.
Let’s get started.
1. No Guarantee & You Don’t Own It
Think of all the hard work you did, and losing them in just a second.
How would you feel?
When it comes to free hosting, this is 100% correct.
There is no guarantee with your website and it could be taken down anytime.
Why?
Because it is actually not your site, that is you don’t own it.
Instead, it is the company’s property.
It has been seen that the free web hosting providers usually take down websites without even providing the users with a decent reason.
This happens most of the time and one day, you come back from work to find that your precious website no longer exists.
BOOM!
All the hard work is done for pretty much nothing.
So if you are considering one of them, think again.
2. Advertisements
Many free website hosting providers claim that they do not show any advertisements on websites they host.
Even though they tell it, I can guarantee you, they will do it at some point…
Most of the time, these advertisements tend to be completely irrelevant, wasteful, and pretty much irritating for your website visitors.
It must be also noted that you would have zero control over which ads are displayed and how they are shown on your site.
Ads are also shown in the backend of the website, such as the Cpanel and WordPress dashboard. A website filled with these advertisements is the last thing any reader would want, and think of your site as one of them.
3. Poor Performance & Uptime
Never expect a good performance when you host for free.
It has been seen that actually none of the free website hosting providers rise up to the paid hosting providers on performance.
The servers are pretty bad and do not meet up to the expectations in any way. Most of the time, users are provided with a very slow website, with low uptime.
And, you know what?
Website speed is one of the most important ranking factors and is absolutely necessary to have a seamless user experience.
Your website would be offline most of the time leading to errors and loss of visitors.
Website loading speed is one of the most important factors in determining where your website ranks well on search engines. Read this guide from Cognitive SEO to learn more about why website speed matters a lot.
4. Restrictions
There are many restrictions when it comes to hosting a website free of cost.
In 95% of the cases, the users are not given access to many important features regarding the website.
This includes changing DNS settings, using a custom SSL certificate, and even opening the file manager of the website.
Also, the number of plugins one can install is restricted most of the time.
In some rare cases, users are not given access to read even WordPress plugin descriptions, how awesome…
5. Domains Need to Be Purchased
The domain or the blog address must be purchased by the user when they are in a free plan.
On almost every paid plan, customers get a domain name for free of cost.
Free hosting providers only provide hosting for free, but the domain must be purchased by the user.
So, the user has to spend the money anyway while it is for free in the other cases as we have seen.
Even the cheapest plans come with a free domain in most cases, which is not even the case in these ones.
6. Safety and Security
It has been seen that websites hosted on free plans are more prone to attacks as compared to those hosted on paid ones.
The main reason for this is the lack of an SSL certificate in free hosting services.
SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer and is one of the important factors that determines the rank of a website in search engine results.
It is responsible for transferring data through safe networks and is often seen that websites having SSL certificates tend to rank higher than those without one.
Even though one can get a free SSL certificate from organizations like LetsEncrypt, free hosting solutions simply do not allow installing them…
To read more about SSL certificates and how important they are for a website, refer to this article from SSLRenewal.
7. No Backups
Frequent backups are a huge advantage when one is on a paid plan.
But this is not available when it comes to free website hosting.
Backups are very necessary when running a website, no matter who hosts it.
Think of losing all your important content accidentally pressing the delete button, or when someone manages to hack your website and you need an older version of the site.
Backups can become handy in cases like these.
Not having backups can turn out to be a huge blunder.
In case you want to restore your website, there is no way other than to install a backup.
Paid hosting solutions offer automatic daily, weekly, and monthly backups based on the plans.
Not even a single one of the free hosting companies offer a backup solution.
8. No Customer Support
Another disadvantage if you are hosting a website free of cost.
When you are on a paid plan, you are a customer of that company, and they are responsible for supporting you when needed.
However, do not expect someone to help you when you are using a free website hosting service.
Even though many users think that they can manage it without any support, one can come across some serious problems at some point.
Having support from someone can become quite handy in situations like this.
Someone would always be available to have your back on paid plans, and you would definitely miss this in the other case.
9. Bandwidth and Storage Limit
This is yet another reason not to consider hosting a website free of cost.
The bandwidth and storage limits are often low when compared to paid hosting plans.
There is always a cap on how many visitors one website can have a day or month (just 1000 visitors a month in many cases).
Also, one is not provided with enough storage space to have just a dozen posts on the website including a few images.
The storage space available usually ranges from 100MB to 1000MB which is pretty low.
10. Fake Ones and Lies
Yet another reason to stay away from free hosting plans.
What they tell they give is not what they give.
It has been found that 8 out of 10 free hosting providers lie to their customers on what services they offer.
Only expect half of what is seen in that list to be really available to use.
It is also hard to come across free website hosting services that actually work.
Users must be aware of the fake ones trying to steal personal information.
11. Additional drawbacks
Some other drawbacks of using free website hosting are given below:
- CPanel not available in most cases
- Root files are restricted from editing
- Lacks video tutorials and knowledgebase
- Misuse of personal information
- Bad server locations
- Unremovable watermarks and brand logos in most cases
- WordPress CMS not available sometimes
- Poor design and performance
Options Other Than Free Hosting
By now, we have seen a lot of drawbacks when going for free website hosting providers.
Instead of wasting time and money, it is better to consider other alternatives.
If you are on a tight budget, you are better off with cheap hosting plans 95% of the time.
In almost all cases, it is good to go with cheap hosting solutions instead of falling for the ‘free’ trap.
With just $2.75 per month or as low as $ 0.99 per month, it is possible to host a website.
Since these hosting providers are cheap does not mean that they offer cheap quality services.
Hostinger and BlueHost are some of the best web hosting companies offering high-quality services at a cheap price.
If you are looking for more such web hosting companies, read this article.
Free hosting and who should use it
Even though there are many disadvantages of hosting a website for free, it can sometimes become quite useful.
Not only do they help to save some money but also help to save some time.
Free hosting can be used in situations like:
- If you want to test a plugin or theme
- If you are building a website for the first time
- If you are doing it for fun
- If you are really tight on budget
Some popular free hosting providers
It is hard to come by good free hosting services, especially considering the fact that there are many imposters pretending as if they are the best.
Therefore, it is very important to choose only real ones.
If you still have not changed your mind and want to go with the free option, here is a list of some popular free hosting providers:
- 000Webhostapp
- Infinity Free Host
- Award Space
- Freehostia
- Freehosting.com
- Byet Host
- Googie Host
- Accuweb Hosting
Even though all of the companies mentioned above are very popular, I would suggest you only use 000webhostapp as they have some sensible features and is a child company of Hostinger.
If you feel like something is wrong, there is always a chance to upgrade to paid plans from Hostinger within just a click.
Final Thoughts
Wow, that was a long journey…
By now we have seen a lot of problems with hosting a website for free and why cheap hosting plans tend to be better than them.
Why should one not consider free hosting?
The answer to that question is very simple.
Because they simply do not work.
Something that is given for free would never possess the value of things that are paid.
This is also true when it comes to choosing a web hosting service.
Therefore, if you are serious about your business, it is never a good idea to be on a free hosting plan.
Instead, you can choose some alternatives there are a lot of low-cost hosting options available in the market that simply do better than free ones.
There are many factors that lie underneath those free hosting platforms which are hard to see and understand.
Time is precious.
It is always recommended to stay away from them and not waste your precious time and effort.
Hope you enjoyed the article every bit.
Thanks for reading and have a good day ahead!
