A free web hosting is a web hosting service that is free of any charge but usually advertisement-supported. Several free hosting services are available on the internet. There are different rules in setting up a hosting account. Customers are allowed to get their own domain name by some hosts. Typically, there is a primary domain, and they will supply you sub-domain or a directory and some might allow customers to modify the page by running your own scripts. But it is not allowed in some other cases. The common limitation amongst all the free web hosting services is the limited disk storage offered. Bandwidth is also at the minimal. And their advertisements should be posted in your site.
Usually free web hosting providers do not give support for customers. They do not have
adherence in giving technical support since free web hosting does not necessitate monthly charge. Free web hosting also does not guarantee uptime. Unlike paid web hosting, users are not guaranteed uptime of at least 99% by the free web hosting providers. This deal could not be reliable especially for business specific websites for further publicity and advertisement. Added to it is the poor internet connectivity. Taking into account, that there is a vast number of sites that needs to compete with, in the same free web hosting provider.
The majority of free web hosting does not provide users domain names. Users have limited rights in using their user defined CGI scripts in free web hosting. Several free web hosting has their built in scripts for email or counter forms, guestbook, etc. In this scenario, it is advisable to avail paid web hosting especially when users would want to modify the site with their script. For those customers are in need of a large hard disk space, limited feature of free web hosting could raise an issue. Therefore there is a need to first verify these specific limitations before deciding on which type of web hosting should you start your business with. So you can also enhance your website when there is a need in the future.
For those people whose technical know-how on web hosting is at an entry-level, it is best to first experience running their websites in a free web hosting than to avail directly on web hosting that has a monthly cost. Or if the situation suggests that a temporary host and storage is basically needed, then a free web hosting is strongly advisable.
However, if the business requirements could not be sufficed with a free web hosting, such that there’s a need for large mailbox accounts, hard disk space, have to host several websites, or a large and complex transactions are required such as electronic commerce solutions, with a significantly large number of clients accessing the web site, a free hosting might not be sufficient and you should find a bigger and actual web hosting provider for your site.
