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Is there a catch in free hosting?

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doogie88

New Member
Is there a catch to free hosting? Or just the one with ads?
Or is the whole point to hope they need to upgrade to a better plan in the future? I've never really experienced free hosting before, and just assumed they all had ads on them until I took a closer look.

What are the cons of this? More likely to disappear on you?
 
doogie88 said:
Is there a catch to free hosting?
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In most cases, yes. You either have to display ads or post on a forum. In almost all cases, there's also limitations on what you can host. Only certain file types, for example.

doogie88 said:
Or is the whole point to hope they need to upgrade to a better plan in the future?
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In most cases, this is a "yes" also, including with me. I hope that by providing clients with free hosting, they'll eventually upgrade to a paid plan after their site outgrows the free hosting and they have had a chance to experience the services and support that I provide.

doogie88 said:
What are the cons of this?
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Some offer more features, but less space. Or vice versa. Some offer more bandwidth, but crappy support. Any vice versa. Or any combination of about 50 things. It really all just depends on who you decide to go with.

doogie88 said:
More likely to disappear on you?
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Once again, this depends on who you go with. If you don't want a fly-by-night. Choose somebody who has been around for more than a few years. Also choose somebody who runs their own servers. Choose somebody with a proven track record.
 
You have to be just as clear when requesting offers too. It's impossible for a host to make an offer that best suits your needs if you don't give as much information on what you're looking for as possible.

Usually information like content types, expected sizes, bandwidth expectations.

Free hosting doesn't have to be any worse than paid hosting, the only difference to me is that you are paying with ads or posts instead of money.
 
Seraphim said:
Usually information like content types, expected sizes, bandwidth expectations. ((Matters))

Free hosting doesn't have to be any worse than paid hosting, the only difference to me is that you are paying with ads or posts instead of money.
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Okay, here's the ruthless truth - Free Hosting is ... wait for it ... worse than Paid Hosting! That's because Paid Hosts have direct cash to burn. Free Hosts have to rely on indirect benefits.

Now, the key phrase is that line above - if you figure out that you don't actually need 30 Gigs, great! You might do okay in Free Hosting. Might. Basically a whole extra class of penalties descends on paid hosts if they screw up, so newcomers start Free to learn if they think they might not make it forever. "Nothing spent, nothing owed".

But with a few very careful choices, you can buy the 5 years you need before you get "serious" to get a paid host.
 
TaoPhoenix said:
Okay, here's the ruthless truth - Free Hosting is ... wait for it ... worse than Paid Hosting! That's because Paid Hosts have direct cash to burn. Free Hosts have to rely on indirect benefits.
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A properly managed free host can actually have cash to burn too though. At least one of my clients actually is making more in ad revenue than I would get if they were using the same resources as a paid client. It's all in how your clients use your service if your free hosting is actually more cost effective for the host than their paid hosting.

And I treat my paid and free clients as close to the same as possible, the only difference being that the paid hosts don't get the extra attention involved in the ad installation process.

But paid is nice because it implies a sense of stability- you pay your monthly dues, and your host knows they can expect X amount a month income to cover their own bills. Free hosting isn't nearly as reliable as your host may have to go several months at a time between ad payouts. If they aren't budgeting well or if they don't have a secondary income such as paid clients or a day job, it won't end well.
 
If you have no money and just need a place for your blog. Then I say free hosting is pretty good and not really a rip off. I mean what is there to rip off in free. Now on the other hand if you want to start a business and just want to save on hosting and just go with free hosting. Then that is where it is a rip off. Because every time someone visit your site and the site is down then that is one less client that could of been yours, In business i have notice that if a client has to wait longer then 5 seconds to look at a site then they are gone.
 
hostrangers said:
If you have no money and just need a place for your blog. Then I say free hosting is pretty good and not really a rip off. I mean what is there to rip off in free. Now on the other hand if you want to start a business and just want to save on hosting and just go with free hosting. Then that is where it is a rip off. Because every time someone visit your site and the site is down then that is one less client that could of been yours, In business i have notice that if a client has to wait longer then 5 seconds to look at a site then they are gone.
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If you are really running a blog on a free host, then you need to make sure you do backup everyday.
Or else you will be end up by shouting "WTF!? My Blog is down! I don't have any backup of my blog!"
 
Just because it is "free" , doesn't make it good. If you want seamless integration, uptime and support, you have to pay for it.
You can start out with a relatively cheap VPS, go from there. The worst part of the "free" deals is that you are gonna lose data, and to me that is unacceptable.
 
YES
How can a quality provider provide free hosting? They can't unless they force you to post in their forums which helps their seo or force ads on your site "publicity". As you can see it is both marketing.

The free providers who do not require posting or forced ads won't be able to maintain as high of quality service and probably won't be offering very good support "if any". Unless you get lucky and find someone who is loaded with cash and does it as a hobby. I would keep the above in mind. Also don't complain if something happens because the reality is, IT's FREE.
 
zoomactive said:
How can a quality provider provide free hosting? They can't unless they force you to post in their forums which helps their seo or force ads on your site "publicity". As you can see it is both marketing.
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What the ----? I offer free hosting and I would consider myself to be a "quality provider". I don't require any forum postings either.
 
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