One of my favorite sayings is, “Free is my favorite price!”, and in many cases this statement holds true. One area where this statement does not apply is in Web Hosting. There are several free web hosting options that you may be tempted to use to host your site(s) but I must warn you that this may be a decision that you may come to regret in the future.

One question that I would like for you to consider is this. How do hosting companies that offer a free hosting plan pay for their facilities, equipment, maintenance and support staff? If what they are providing is truly a free service then they would not have any money to pay for any of these important areas that are vital to a reputable hosting company.

The answer? Nothing is free and while you may not pay for your hosting account there are a number of other ways that you will end up paying in the long run. Here are just a few examples of how so called free web hosting companies get you to pay for their services.

The first company I came across as I randomly clicked on links in my search was a company that charges $35 to register a domain with them. This is the only way that you receive free hosting with them. Are you serious? Why would you register a domain for $35 with them when you can register a .com domain in dozens of other places for 75% less?!?

The second site that I went to looked like it was built with a ancient WYSIWYG website creator and had more ads on the site than content. I went ahead and clicked on the link to begin set up of my “free” hosting account with them and one of the things that I noticed right away was a link in the header that said “Rules”. I know that all hosting providers will have certain terms and conditions for their hosting accounts but you should have seen the list of things that you cannot do or are restricted doing only so often. Here the one glaring “Rule” that stands out to me.

1. Joomla & WordPress based sites are not permitted due to the frequency of exploits and vulnerabilities in the software and it’s extensions. Well it is too bad because these are two of the most utilized Content Management Systems being used right now.  Break out the html editor and get to coding!  No thanks!

The last and most important difference between a paid and free hosting account is the support.  Out of all the free hosting companies that I visited,  I couldn’t find one that offered live 24/7 chat support.  I know recently I had an issue with one of the hosting accounts that I use and had it resolved within a matter of minutes through their friendly and quick chat support staff.  This was at 3 in the morning.  If I were using a free service I would have had to submit a support ticket and then would have had to wait for a resolution.  I don’t know about you but I hate waiting!

Before I finish I want to say that there may be a few good free web hosting companies out there but I suspect that you would spend far too long searching for the right one.   Pick the wrong one and you may be without a website and all your hard work setting up the site gone when without warning they close down shop.  It happens quite frequently.

This is just a glimpse into why free hosting companies are not the right solution for almost all website hosting needs and I encourage you consider a paid hosting company. There are numerous quality options available to you that will provide you with the resources and support that you need!