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Free Web Hosting vs. Paid Hosting – Why Paid Is Better?

Whether you are creating a personal blog or a website focused on your business, you can’t run from the fact that you will need web hosting to publish your website on the internet so people can access it.

When we talk about web hosting, there are two options: free web hosting and paid web hosting. Many people get started on their online journey, find free hosting, and are tempted to save money. Going that route often leads to poor services or even scams that expose sensitive information.

So how can you tell which web hosting is right for you? And how do both options compare other than the cost factor? We will answer these questions through this article, hoping that it will help you decide what’s best for you.

Eight Key Considerations When Choosing Your Free Web Hosting or Paid Hosting:

If you don’t know what kind of web hosting service to use for your business, the following are a few things to consider on how to tell free and paid web hosting services apart:

Reliability

Reliability is the essential part of web hosting that differentiates free and paid web hosting. Unsurprisingly, a free web host does not provide a good uptime because of restricted resources. Proper server infrastructure is required to give websites good speed and uptime. So if you choose free web hosting, your website might sometimes face downtime. After all, your business is made from the convenience of your visitors and customers. Slightest incontinence due to a slow website could mean a loss of customers.

Most of the paid web hosting services guarantee 99% uptime which is a need for your business website.

Search Engine Rankings

Every business wants to rank better on search engines, but it is crucial to understand every factor that negatively affects your site’s ranking.

Regardless of performance, free web hosts often supplement their revenue by showing ads to your site without regard to their relevance to your site’s subject. Moreover, spammers use some free web hosts to create dummy websites. These factors are noticed by the search engine, which eventually affects your search engine ranking.

The businesses that choose paid web hosting never encounter these issues. They have better search engine ranking and reputed online visibility.

Bandwidth

Paid web hosting providers like AEserver provide a wide range of UAE-based web hosting plans with varying bandwidth and storage space variations. You can make a suitable selection according to your website requirements. But when you opt for free web hosting, you will get limited bandwidth and storage space.

In the beginning, the free web hosting package looks so tempting, but as your website grows and you need to transfer your files, things will become difficult. With limited resources and support for growth, your website will often encounter issues like slow loading time and downtime.

Customization

With a free web hosting platform, you will get limited customization options because it is meant to be used as an introductory service. If you have a domain under a free web hosting service, the web host’s name is included in your website domain name. Your domain name will look like “mywebsite.webhost.com.” This is not considered an ideal setup for a professional website, but it will suffix as a starting point.

Besides this, some free web hosting platforms offer limited website templates. Web hosts claim to have tons of templates, but most of them would be inaccessible to free accounts.

With paid hosting, you can make your website look professional. You get numerous templates and a more comprehensive range of customization options. You get your own personalized domain name that doesn’t have to include your hostname. You are free to play around with web design elements on your site. You can even add CSS or HTML code to make your site more unique.

Branding

Like the domain name with free web hosting, expect to see your host logo on your website. Essentially, you are sharing space with the free web host; their name will be included in your URL and their logo on your website. This way, maintaining your brand’s unique identity may become a bit challenging.

On the other hand, a paid host lets you have your domain with no further extensions included or forcefully fixed in your URL.

A personalized domain gives your brand more visibility and awareness to your potential customers, which is an advantage of using paid hosting service.

Above all, consistent branding reflects the products and services you offer. Likewise, marketing your business in paid web hosting with ease and clarity is a competitive advantage in the e-commerce market.

Website Speed

Today, website speed is the most crucial element for retaining customers. No one likes waiting for a slow-loading website, as other options are available. As we mentioned earlier, a free web host does not provide enough resources for your website. Due to a lack of resources, your website will load slowly, and 9 out of 10 users don’t like to wait more than 3 seconds for a website to load. You will lose your visitors or customers to a competitor hosted on a professional shared hosting server, VPS, or a dedicated server.

Investing in a paid hosting service will ensure good page loading speed and performance of your website.

Security

The internet is filled with hackers that can harm your online business. This is why security is always a big deal in web hosting. Since online payment and banking have surged, hackers look for websites with security breaches for their online snatching schemes.

A security vulnerability can cause you a huge loss not just to the number and trust of your customers but to the brand you built from your blood, sweat, and tears. Once a hacker gets into your server, he can steal money from all registered bank accounts, including you and your customer and social media accounts.

Some free web hosting offers security and privacy to your website, but it’s always best to read the company description to know what you are getting. And in paid hosting, you get what you paid for.

Customer Support

Different web hosting provides different customer support options. And the differences in support are also different between free and paid web hosting platforms. AEserver, for instance, offers 24/7 customer support. With that said, it’s essential to set realistic expectations about support options if you’re looking into maintaining a hosting web account.

To say customer service is essential in website building. 80% of businesses leave their commitments with web hosting companies because of unprofessional customer support. In the e-commerce field, you want to give your customers convenience in all terms and transactions they make along the way, and web hosting issues won’t help you achieve that.

Though web hosting failures are inevitable and 24/7 customer support is sometimes unachievable, it would help to research and look for companies with reliable customer support. It’s better to stick to a web host that is consistent with its commitments and good web hosting features that would help your business website bolster ahead in the digital market.

Free Is Not Really Free 🙂

Ever wonder how free web hosting provides free service? After all, they also need money to run the company. So what do you think they will earn by offering free hosting packages? The answer is advertising.

If web hosting is not charging you for the hosting account, they will surely place ads on your website to earn. You have very little but mostly no control over the ads on your website. So you probably don’t want to take the risk of a competitor or any inappropriate ad shown on your website.

With increasing customers, you are also building your brand’s reputation, and you surely don’t want to put it at stake with the display of irrelevant ads. This issue will never happen on a paid hosting platform, as you can completely control your website and display what you want.

Take Your Web Hosting Seriously

Free hosting might sound good, but it’s not good long-term; think about it. Your website is your ideas in action, and it needs a reputable web host. You might think that you will save money by choosing free web hosting, but in reality, your minor issues with your website might get bigger with time, and you will find yourself solving these issues rather than focusing on growing your business.

A paid web hosting company is a better option because they are dedicated to providing you with the best service and hosting solutions.

More so, AEserver has a lot more to offer other than excellent customer service and 24/7 support via email and chat. With that, you’ll always be one step ahead in the digital market, thanks to these reliable features for your and your business website.