Free Web Hosts - Free Web Hosting Showcase

Are they really "FREE"? Who is paying for it?

I've listed some free web hosts some free web hosting directories in this page. However, I need to warn you. Someone have to pay for it and although you are paying nothing in terms of money, you are still paying in other ways, which are always more costly! If you don't believe what I say, read on.

1. When your visitors come to your site, your free host will show them their ugly advertisement. You pay the price by showing advertisement in your site. You didn't get paid for the ads. And the ads do suck away your visitors, or annoyed them to click away from your site. You didn't receive money from the ads and at the same time your just chace your visitor away.

2. You are given very limited disk space and bandwidth. And even if they say you are given that amount of disk space, their terms of agreement state that they can suspend your account without giving you a reason. There are a lot of people who host with a free web host and when they started to get good traffic, their free host suspended their account, saying that they use too much of their server resources. They have to take the time and hassle to transfer their site. They might be smart enough to pay for one now. Or they can search again for a free one, and repeat the history.

3. Many free web host implement 'Yahoo Geocities' style of hourly bandwidth limit. What that means is that bandwidth is not measured monthly but hourly! If you exceed the bandwidth limit in that hour, all the visitors who visit your website will see the "This Website is Temporary Suspended, Please Come Back Later" notice. I hope you don't mind. Also if you doesn't exceed the bandwidth limit in that hour, the bandwidth you 'have not used' doesn't roll to the next hour.

4. Many free web hosts are giving free web hosting because they want to sell text links advertisement to others. And it is not abnormal to see Gambling or Viagra links at the top or bottom of your page. What do others think about your site when they see those links?

5. There are many web hosts which offer free hosting so that they can build up a large members and then start charging them. If they refuse to pay, their account will be closed (i.e. Virtualave). Or they will be put into "limited resources" account that have limited disk space and bandwidth. (i.e. FortuneCity, NetFirms and Yahoo Geocities).

The story will be totally different if you are willing to pay for your own hosting bill. Hosting doesn't need to be expensive! For example, a good host like  BlueHost cost only $3.95 per month and you will get NONE of the above disadvantages plus unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth.

Free Web Hosting Directories

All the Free Space
Free online file storage directory of more than 40 virtual disk space, file storage & sharing providers with detailed descriptions.

Free-Hosting.com.ru
The complete guide to free web hosting providers with reviews of offered services, including free PHP hosting, free ASP hosting, free Domain hosting, No Ads free hosting providers and more.

Free Web Hosting Reviews
Free web hosting: bannerless, PHP and large space hosting, free domain hosting, cheap hosting.

Free Web Domain Hosting
Comprehensive guide to free web hosting: Free domain hosting, Free PHP/MySQL hosting, Free ASP hosting and more.

Free PHP Hosting
Reviews of free PHP web hosts, including detailed chart of MySQL and PHP scripting environment details, and links to sample hosted websites.

Free Web Space Finder
Searchable database of more than 400 free web space providers. Simple search and advanced search with comprehensive set of searchable parameters are available.

Free Webspace
Searchable database directory of over 1,200 free webspace hosts with reviews and ratings, updated daily.

FreeWebSpace.net
The largest searchable guide to free web space providers.

Free Web Hosts

Get 12MB of free web space with .Biz.ly free domain name, free web page builder, many free web templates & scripts.

Digitalzones free website hosting
Free web hosting of domains and web pages with 100mb free web space.

Free Web Hosting, PHP, mySQL and more...
150 MB web space, 1 GB monthly transfer. $20 one lifetime registration fee.

Free Web Hosts Showcase (Outdated!)

 Netfirms
Netfirms is by far the best free web host who goes near to a paid hosting. They offer free domain hosting (yourname.com). If you don't want a domain name, your address will be like yourname.netfirms.com. The plan comes with 25 MB of disk space, 1 GB of bandwidth and 1 web-based email. Your account will be setup immediately and you can transfer files to your website via FTP. You can also publish your site through FrontPage Editor as they have FrontPage extension installed. You will also have a personal CGI-BIN directory. Perl scripts and SSI are allowed. In exchange for this free feature rich service, you will have a standard 468 x 60 size banner ads on top of every pages in your site.
 
 Yahoo! Geocities
Yahoo! Geocities offer the a highest 3 GB bandwidth as a free web host. The free hosting also come with 15 MB of storage and a free Yahoo! Mail. Your site address will look like www.geocities.com/yourname. There provide PageBuilder and PageWizards to let you create your site easily. There are also file manager and advance editor to let you managed your files with your browser. FTP has been reserved for paid customers. For free hosting, you need to upload your files through your browser. CGI, PERL and SSI are not supported. They serve a special 'ads-square' on all your pages and occasionally, there are pop-ups. There are no file size limit.
 
 FreeServers
FreeServers free hosting offers 12 MB of disk storage but with a 256 KB file size limit. They currently have over 2.3 millions members. They also provide a site builder to let you create your site with your browser. FTP is not allowed and you have to upload your files through the file manager in their website. CGI, PERL and SSI are also not available. Your site address will look like yourname.freeservers.com. They will display banner ads, pop-up advertising and send special offers emails to you in exchange of the free service. You can choose your banner type and customize it how you like: pop-up, inline, tower ads, etc.
 
 AngelFire
AngelFire provides 20 MB of disk space. Exact bandwidth is not stated. They have building tools, page design templates and 10,000+ free images. Your web site also come with FrontPage Extension installed. Banner ads will be embedded automatically with pages ending with .htm and .html. Your site address will look like www.angelfire.com/group/yourname where group is a predefine list to let you choose from. FTP is fully supported but CGI, PERL and SSI are not available.
 
 HyperMart
HyperMart is one of the very little free hosts which allowed CGI (with PERL) and SSI. They will also host your domain for free! For those without a domain name, you will have address yourname.hypermart.net. The free package come with 50 MB of disk space and 500 MB of bandwidth. They have a site-builder provided. FrontPage Extension is installed. They serve pop-up ads as default. To avoid pop-ups, you can choose to serve banner ads on top of every page in your site. You can upload your files with FTP. HyperMart has acquired VirtualAve.net, a popular free web host years ago. Both of them are popular because they allowed scripting with their free package.
 
 FortuneCity
FortuneCity provide 25 MB of storage and 3 GB of data transfer. Your address will look like members.fortunecity.com/yourname. There are no free tools to use (no file manager, no site builder) and you can only upload your files through FTP. They will serve banner and pop-up ads on your site. You have no email account. CGI, Perl and SSI are not allowed. FortuneCity is good in the sense that they provide high bandwidth (3 GB) and FTP access.

 


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