Choosing a FREE Host

While picking a FREE host, you can experiment a little more than when you choose a PAID host. It is free, so if you don't like one, you can just try another one. It is still important though, to check out the web hosting company before you try them. Even though you can just move to another host, it can be rather annoying to have to reupload your website and rebuild your databases. Below are some important points you should check before you actually pick one. These are not necessarily listed any order, as your concerns and priorities will vary. No matter what host you choose, remember to read the company's TOS carefully so you know exactly what you are getting into.

• Advertising

  Most free web hosts impose advertising on your website. This is done to cover the costs of providing your site the free web space and associated services. Some hosts require you to place a banner on your pages, others display a window that pops up everytime a page on your site loads, while still others impose an advertising frame on your site. Beware of FREE hosts that do not put ads on your site. Without a viable means to recover the costs of running their server, they will soon be out of business.

• Amount of web space

  Does it have enough space for your needs? Your needs will vary, depending on how many pictures your pages use, whether you need sound files, video clips, etc.

• Bandwidth allotment

  Many free web hosts impose a limit on the amount of traffic your website can use per day and per month. This means that if the pages (and graphic images) on your site is loaded by visitors beyond a certain number of times per day (or per month), the web host will disable your web site (or perhaps send you a bill). It is difficult to recommend a specific minimum amount of bandwidth, since it depends on how you design your site, your target audience, and the number of visitors you're able to attract to your site. In general, 100MB traffic per month is too little for anything other than your personal home page and 1-3GB traffic per month is usually adequate for a simple site just starting out.

• Language Support

  If you are planning on running a CMS or your site is dynamic, you will need either PHP or CGI-BIN access. You also need to know the environment that your scripts will be running in. Is it so restrictive that your scripts will not run properly?

  Also, most CMS's require a database of some sort. Will the web host provide access to MSSQL/MySQL?

• File type and size limitations

  Read the Terms of Service carefully. Some free hosts impose a maximum size on each of the files you upload. Other companies restrict the file types you can upload to HTML and GIF/JPG files.

• FTP access

  Some free hosting providers only allow you to design your page with their online builder. While this is useful for beginners, more expienced users may find this to be annoying at the least. FTP access is mandatory, except for the most trivial site.

• Reliability and speed of access

  A site that is frequently down will lose a lot of visitors. If someone finds your site on the search engine, and he tries to access it but find that it is down, he'll simply go down the list to find another site. Slow access is also very frustrating for visitors (and for you too, when you upload your site). How do you know if a host is reliable or fast? If you can't get feedback from anyone, one way is to try it out yourself over a period of time, both during peak as well as non-peak hours. After all, it is free, so you can always experiment with it.