A few weeks ago, I ran a poll that indicated that a lot of people felt that Web hosting should be free or you shouldn't do it. But do you think that's true for a business? Even a large corporation? Should IBM and Apple be running their sites on free hosting services? Why or why not?
Should a business use free Web hosting?
I see no reason at all why IBM or Apple or even a small business would use free web hosting. I use a hosting company that has incredible service and features, and I pay about $50 a year.
What would be the advantage to a business of any size to use free web hosting to sacrifice quality and save $50 a year?
No Way! Free hosting services are always free because something has been sacrificed to make it so. Either they can’t guarantee 99.99% uptime, they’re run ads on your website, or something else. Like Bob said, hosting really isn’t that expensive and shouldn’t be scrimped on for the sake of saving a few dollars at the end of the year.
Why not? With a couple of caveats.
As long as the company meets the Term of Service and user agreements, why not? I am thinking of small businesses, or businesses new to the web. They want to get their feet wet, not buy a server or three. If their site doesn’t pay off, the sour taste will go away fairly quickly, and the next designer or consultant will have an easier sell to get them to try the web again.
Anyone, company, corporate, or individual, that starts getting traffic and business, needs to keep on top of resources. Too much traffic for the free host? Too much disk space occupied? Response time degrading for your visitors (or other shared server sites)? Then transitioning to a different hosting arrangement makes sense, at that time.
On the other hand, many site owners are unaware of the vast number of hosting services that provide vastly improved service, performance, and rich catalogs of supplied scripts. Some paid hosts offer great service for moderate to very inexpensive money.
If a new customer wants me to host, that is great, I can resell shared service space. If they have hosting, free or paid, fine, I use that. Until I run into a block — their service doesn’t support CGI scripts, javascript, selling, they are frequently down, etc., then I suggest looking for another hosting solution.
Which brings me back to the question — should companies use free web hosting? Yes, if they fit in the niche the free service supports, and they don’t care (yet) about how much control they want over their web site. I believe the larger sites will migrate to paid hosting as the need arises.
Like the previous three commenters mention, there are drawbacks to free hosting. If you care about being up and online (that often means your email, too) you should be willing to pay a little bit. Some of my customers are fine with the occasional outage or delay. But some aren’t. All of my customers pay for hosting. If they can afford my rates, they can afford hosting. A good rule of thumb is that they should expect hosting to cost about 5% of their project total. The bigger and more important the project, the more the hosting will run.
Any business than needs a website can afford to pay $5-10/month for the low end hosting. If they can’t, they probably need to reconsider whether they’re serious about a web presence.
I think this topic is rediculous. Everyone wants something for nothing. Hosting is a business. The next thing you know your web site should be free as long as you’re not making money off of it. It takes time, people, and money to host web sites.
Of course it should cost. There are all kinds of great hosting companies out there with extremely affordable rates. Pick the one that works best for you. If you find one that’s free, then good for you. And yes bigger companies pay bigger bills becuase they have bigger needs. Stop crying about 5.95/month. If 6 bucks is breaking you then maybe you shouldn’t have a website yet, becuase you’ve got to spend much more money to let people know the site exist. And if you’re a business owner or aspire to be then maybe you should look for a better job, becuase that’s a very small investment to make into your business. Those who are successful ask what it takes to get it done. Yes we look for good deals, but not free. You get what you pay for is a good rule to follow. As far as those who make money should pay; that’s just as stupid as saying those who make money are the only ones who should pay the lease or mortgage on a home, apartment, or retail space. Or if you own a business, but aren’t making money you don’t have to pay your phone bill, internet service, or any other expense unless you’re making money. It’s rediculous. There’s Billions of dollars being done online. It’s its own industry. Why should it be free to tap into? Look at hosting in comparison to leasing office or retail space. You can now open a multi-million dollar retail company with very little overhead. You no longer need to pay $1000+/month, electric, and water; but you complain about a payment that’s less than your phone bill. If you make one sale a month that should cover your hosting. Come on people! How silly does this get. Who will be willing to maintain those servers for free? Maybe they should give free servers to everyone and let those who can figure it out. Those who can’t figure it out pay someone to help them or let it go.
Maybe the clothes on your back should be free too. Or food. No wait houses should be free. Why should any one pay for anything while we’re at it. What ever it is you do should be free. You keep doing it, but it should be free. Keep going to work, but don’t get paid for it. I hope the majority of the people who say it should be free are jobless or homeless, becuase they appearently don’t care about getting paid for what they do. This is too silly. Have we really gotten that cheap and unrealistic today. Ask yourself how would you feel if everything was free. If every one had to still work but it was all free. Now what do you do about the ones who do less work than you but get the same reward. How do you feel about the one who works harder than you but get the same as you. Is it fair? We see it everyday. There’s someone you work harder than but they get the promotion, a better pay check or just the same as you. And you see the one who works harder than everyone who you know deserves more, but gets passed by all the time. This is the same. We are all created equal, but have the right to be unequal. If you work hard and stay steady you’ll excell eventually. If you don’t work hard and stay steady you stay where you are. Stop just wanting it for free. Respect yourself and earn it. If nothing changes then nothing changes. I really hope you understand that few last statements. They are good quotes from some very successful people. I hope I didn’t hurt too many feeling. Well you I do, but it’s in love. Earn your own respect. God bless you and love you where ever you are!
If you are willing to sacrifice, than free maybe okay. It’s not for most people though. Let’s keep in mind – if you are hosting a domain, you will pay something. Many “free” hosts require you to purchase your domain from them, or you pay the same fee as if you did. Free sites such as Geocities which really are free offers nothing for any business. If a business truly wants to skimp there – they are better off using the space their ISP most likely gives them. At least there are usually no ads.
However, as with every one else’s thoughts, if you want anything of real quality hosting, it is best to pay $10/month. Large corps like AOL, or IBM rely on their own resources for hosting. This is the smart thing for them since they not only need hosting, but rely on sensitive and confidential information they do not want 3rd parties – such as a host to have access to. However, these large super sized business are paying for the connections – so to slap another web server is just hooking another NIC cable up.
So, if you want a real presence on the Internet of any sort, yes – pay. If you are okay with just a handful of pages, or want something that is not targeting a large demand – than the answer might be go with free hosting. I know personally, it is not for me especially if you do a little research to find a host to meet your needs.
I think the marketplace for hosting needs to be as diverse as the customer base. Some want free – with the sacrifices – others are willing to pay (even non-profits) for websites. This is also relevant so that you can control the advertising that may appear. A church group would probably not want a $9.99 Sex ad on their site, and a commercial shopping site wouldn’t want to risk customers going elsewhere to buy products by the ads that the hosting company has placed there.
It really comes down to the marketplace and appropriateness of content along with enabling diverse opportunities for the web community. As a result, I didn’t find that even one of the options was relevant in this area.
Can’t vote. My choice would be “NO”.
Because free hosting services all put Google AdSense advertisement up to pay for the hosting. Result can easily be your competitors ad comes up on top of your webpages.
Don pedro
PS. Other problems too.
In essence, free hosting is necessary. People like me would have never discovered this stuff if we couldn’t practice with free hosting. Businesses could discover the web in the same manner, small and local businesses. Although, I wouldn’t recommend it.
To “roni”,
I agree 100%. Free hostin is marvelous as lon as you don’t worry about all those banners. But “you get what you pay for”. Every website can’t do with the same hosting or tools, every website is different.
donpedro