10 Reasons Why Choosing a Free Web Hosting is Bad For You
Usually, when setting up a website for the first time, the free option can be very tempting. After all, we all want to save some money. But whatever you do, don’t ever fall for the quack remedy of these free web hosting providers.
Free hosting providers might get your site online without you spending any money. They even give you a free domain, but these offers are never worth the drawbacks. While free web hosting sounds pleasant, it might come back to haunt you later.
Not all free hosting providers have every one of the problems mentioned below. But they surely have at least a few of them.
If you are one of the users thinking about getting free web hosting, then stop now and read these ten reasons why free web hosting is always a bad idea.
Poor Support
You will get 24/7 support via email or live chat when you pay for good hosting.
Not having support from your web hosting service is very frustrating. Especially when your website goes down when you’re dealing with free web hosting, you will have to set up your site on your own, and if there are any errors and bugs, you will also need to figure it out on your own.
With free web hosting, you’re going to suffer long wait times or sometimes not be able to reach support at all. For instance, if you need any help, you can send them an email, but it takes several days before you get any response. In the meantime, if your website is down, it will remain offline until your host solves the issue.
Everything about free web hosting services is limited, including customer support paramount for web hosting.
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Slow Speed
Since multiple websites are hosted on the same server with free hosting providers, your site can face an extremely long loading time. Research explains that 40% of users leave a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Ultimately it will discourage the visitors from visiting your site.
Furthermore, Free web hosts generally offer slower upload and download speeds than paid hosts. It will not only affect user experience but is also bad for SEO. In 2010 google announced speed as a ranking factor, which means that fast loading websites will rank better in SERP.
So, if you use a free web hosting service, you can expect longer lead times and lower search rankings.
Forced Advertisements
Choosing free web hosting is not a good idea because of irrelevant ads. It’s a common denominator with free web hosts that you may be forced to display ads on behalf of your hosting company. And the worst part? You don’t even earn revenue from displaying ads, but the hosting company generates revenue.
Nobody likes ads, especially when the ad doesn’t relate to your business. Ads are typically site-wide; they make your website slow and give a bad user experience. You can only get rid of these ads by upgrading to a paid hosting service.
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Security Vulnerability
Free web hosting services are more vulnerable to attacks. Also, many of these services are notorious for distributing malware. This could be due to their poor security or doing it for some benefits. Either way, it will hurt your website’s reputation and SEO ranking.
The number of hacked websites is growing day by day. It’s your responsibility to protect your site from cyber attacks. While there is no substitution for implementing security best practices, a reputable web host can also help.
Limited Resources and Features
Not only storage space, but you will find limited other resources and features with free web hosts. A paid host usually has unlimited resources, a backend control panel, and a platform as a service loaded with features such as a one-click installation, database management, email setup, subdomain setup, traffic monitor, etc.
Many free web hosting services don’t allow you to install wordpress. Even if they do, their servers are not capable of handling wordpress. You may face many problems, and it will ruin your wordpress experience. Instead, you can choose Managed wordpress hosting for great features, resources and performance.
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SEO Impact
Google doesn’t treat professional websites as equal to free websites. This is because free websites are of such low quality that Google assumes they are not great. And the disadvantage of low search engine ranking is that they often become a target for spammers. It is also hard to rank your website for keywords using a free web host.
Another reason for low search engine ranking is that your domain isn’t simple. You will get a free domain name when you sign up for free web hosting. Your domain name will look like “mysite.freebhost.com”, which is hardly professional!. A URL that contains only your business name will look more professional. Google and other search engines consider your URL to rank your website.
More Downtimes
A free web host does not provide a guaranteed uptime. Their servers often go offline due to hardware failure, maintenance or simple neglect. And as mentioned before, you will have a hard time reaching their support for help.
As it is a free service, many people are likely to be interested in it, including malicious users. It’s easy for them to distribute malware, send spam, and run DDoS attacks using a free service provider. As a result, one user can cause the whole server to be inaccessible and have long downtimes.
Difficulty in Transferring
Even if you decide to move your website away from a free web hosting provider, prepare for a load of hassle. Because transferring your website from a free web host is a nightmare. These providers make it complicated for you to transfer away from their services. They do this for the purpose that you will pay for their paid service in return for keeping your sanity.
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No Backups
In free web hosting, there is no concept of regular backups. They don’t back up your data. And if something goes wrong, you can do nothing to restore your website.
Every reputable web host offers automatic backup; they create a backup of your HTML files and database, offering a high level of protection against disaster.
Your Site May Shut Down Anytime
The most concerning issue with free web hosts is that your site may disappear at any time. If the free web host finds itself in trouble, it may shut down its services.
Since free web hosting services don’t have enough revenue and resources, they are often forced to shut down without giving notice to their customers. And if the service goes down, it will take your site with it.
Buy Premium Hosting From the Outset
As you can see, free web hosting just gives you headaches. We just mentioned the common disadvantages of a free web host. Besides these, there are plenty of more disadvantages you can come across. You don’t own your website content, no branded emails, no responsive designs, no support for mobile devices, no statistics or analysis, low credibility among users, no site-building tools and many more. Save yourself from the hassle, consider your long term goals and buy paid hosting.
The above factors should be considered before signing up for web hosting. If you intend to keep your website for the long term, reliable hosting and a branded domain will be needed.
Suppose you’re looking to host your website but don’t know where to start. We can help you through the process with our UAE based hosting service. Start marketing your online business today!
