Free Web Hosts

Free web hosting

You have two general options if you don't need or can't afford a professional web hosting service. One is to post your site on your Internet service provider's (ISP) servers. The other is to use a professional hosting service that provides some limited free web hosting. If your goal is to create a blog, skip this section and read the section below on blog hosting.

Reviewers point out several disadvantages to free web hosting. Some let you use any web design software; others require you to use their templates. Support may be minimal or non-existent. Servers may be overcrowded, which causes pages to load slowly. Also, features are usually limited. For example, some free hosts do not support FrontPage server extensions. Many limit the types of file types you can post. This is especially true of sound files. On the other hand, unless you are operating a business, you have little to lose by trying a free web host.

Nearly all national and local ISPs will host small websites as part of your service. ISPs frequently change their policies, and some require you to log in to learn the current details of their programs. The national ISPs with publicly stated policies are offering the following amounts of space: Comcast (25 MB per user name), Verizon High Speed Internet (10 MB), EarthLink (10 MB), and Cox (70 MB).

MSN Premium doesn't specify general web hosting, but it does include Windows Live Space, a proprietary blog service. Qwest doesn't specify how much space it will provide, but it is the only national service we checked that allows subscribers to buy a domain name and use it. Most ISPs impose a domain name that starts with their own name, such as 'http://home.comcast.net/~yournamehere.' Search engines are less likely to index ISP-hosted sites, and they are less impressive than private domain names for professional use. That may not matter to you if you simply want to create a family or hobby website.

ISP hosts are ideal for learning how to manage a website, family-oriented sites, and un-sponsored enthusiast sites. If you aren't conducting business, don't need a lot of space or pages, or only wish to direct people you know to your site, an ISP site is all you need. Remember that your site will be removed if you switch service providers.

An advantage to having your ISP host your site is that few ISPs place advertising on their customer's pages. Most third-party free services are supported by advertising. If you go with a third-party free hosting service, each of your pages may contain banner ads, pop-up or pop-behind ads, Google ads or text ads. You may have to agree to receive spam or accept other undesirable terms. Remember that no hosting service is likely to provide space and bandwidth to strangers without getting some compensation.

The catch with 50Webs.com isn't expressed in user reviews. It may only be that the company will frequently market upgraded services and plans to you. 50Webs.com does not place ads on customer pages. The free web-hosting service earns the highest average ratings from users at Free-Webhosts.com. All the 50Webs customers who posted reviews on that site rate it positively, which is beyond belief for any service. Yet, we found satisfied customers everywhere we looked. McAfee SiteAdvisor says 50Webs.com dispenses no malware.

A free 50Webs.com account includes 60 MB of disk space, unlimited bandwidth, one e-mail address, and 24/7 customer support. 50Webs has an integrated HTML editor. You can use a URL with 50webs in the name, or you can pay $15 per year for a domain name. 50webs.com's average uptime is 99.98% according to VistaInter.com.