If you are new to hosting and have a limited budget, free hosting can be appealing to you. However, free web hosting is generally not a good idea. It might not ask for money, but it will certainly end up costing you in the long run.
Here are the top ten reasons why free web hosting is a bad choice for your company.
#1: Poor Performance
What's Inside
Fast loading speeds improve the user experience. If your audience has a positive user experience, you can anticipate increased engagement from them and a higher chance that they will generate leads or make purchases. On the other hand, if your website takes a long time to load, visitors will abandon it.
Due to the fact that you are not paying for their services, free web hosting usually cuts corners. Their servers are inefficient and cannot support a modern website with numerous dynamic aspects.
#2: Lack of Credibility
Surprisingly, users continue to fall for the “web hosting for free” schemes circulating online that promise to give you the best facilities without spending a dime in a time when the cost of paid hosting has substantially decreased.
Using a free platform to host your website says a lot about your business and entrepreneurial abilities.
#3: Inexperienced Customer Service
Web hosting places a high priority on customer service. You need to contact the host for support if your website goes down. Unfortunately, free web hosts typically offer poor customer care. You may be able to email them, but it might take a few days before you hear back from them. Your website won’t be accessible during this period.
On the contrary, premium web hosts provide various communication options, including social media, email, phone, live chat, forums, and a ticket system.
#4: Poor Security
You must defend your website against hacker intrusion and attacks. While having a strong password and preserving your files is a good idea, a trustworthy web host can take things to a whole new level.
Free web servers typically offer little to no security against cyber threats. They frequently have security holes that allow hackers to access hosted websites.
The good news is that many trustworthy web hosting companies offer safe and secure hosting. And the cost of all of this is quite cheap.
#5: Spam Advertisement
Even if the web hosting service is free, you may still be required to display advertisements for the hosting provider. Also, you will not receive any compensation for showing the ads. Instead, the hosting provider makes money.
Switching to a paid hosting provider is the only way to get rid of these advertisements.
#6: Website Ownership Issues
Free web host servers are known to suddenly remove their members’ websites. If you invested a lot of time creating your own website, you would find this to be very unpleasant. Imagine spending a week creating and personalizing your website to your exact specifications, only to discover it has been erased the next day without explanation.
Worse yet, many free host terms of service state that while your site is being hosted with them, you do not possess ownership of the site.
#7: Low SEO Ranking
Except for those who are desperate to find something specific, no one actually searches through the 10+ page results. Using a free web hosting provider has a negative effect on the overall page ranking as well as the reputation of your business.
Just as the search engines wouldn’t consider your website seriously, neither would your visitors. Hosting your website on a premium platform puts you at the top of the game and guarantees that you stay there for a long time!
#8: Frequent Downtime
Generally, paid web hosts provide you with a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and free hosts do not. Due to hardware issues or neglect, their servers frequently go down for maintenance.
Additionally, as I already said, contacting customer service for assistance will be problematic.
#9: No Automated Backups
Almost all reliable web hosts provide automatic backups. They’ll regularly make a backup of your primary HTML files and any related databases, providing you with better protection from disaster.
You can feel at ease knowing that the web host made a backup copy in case something bad happens to your site, such as an editor accidentally deleting a crucial file or in the event of a cyber-attack.
Unfortunately, free web hosting services don’t provide automated backups. Even though you can still do it manually, please don’t count on them to do it for you.
#10: Limited Content
The fact that you have limited options for content customization makes using free hosting services a complete headache. Free web hosting typically has minimal storage capacity and ridiculously low bandwidth, which isn’t even enough to keep your website’s most basic files.
Free hosting also restricts the user’s freedom regarding web design because you are only allowed to utilize the platform to develop more than one blog or website. Adding new content, graphics, or better photographs is impossible without purchasing one of their premium plans.
Most free hosting services provide a trial version or freemium packages with an expiration date to push consumers to make a payment afterward.
The Bottom Line: Settle For Affordable Web Hosting
Avoiding free web hosting will save you a lot of time and frustration. And you’ll indeed need to upgrade to a paid service sometime in the future; that’s until you are successful.
The best option for you is to set up affordable web hosting from the beginning. There are plenty of options to choose from, but the best undoubtedly is Kamatera which offers plenty of features, affordable prices, and top-quality service. In order to find out more about the web hosting plans, Kamatera offers, please visit HostAdvice.
