On the surface, free web hosting may seem too good to pass up. After all, it’s free! Many free web hosts offer adequate storage space and bandwidth for personal and small business needs. However, most do not offer much support for programming (php, perl, ASP) or databases (mySQL or MS SQL). Because the service is free, they usually do not offer any technical support. If you are using Frontpage to author your website, you must ensure that Frontpage Server Extensions are enabled so that you can upload your site properly. Most free hosting plans do not give you access to a control panel where you can monitor your site and easily edit site settings. Some do not allow ftp upload and force you to upload 5 or even 1 file at a time! Probably the biggest drawback to free hosting is that the hosts often put big advertising banners at the top, side, or bottom of your site. Sometimes the advertising comes in the form of small buttons and text links. But usually, the host will put large banners in the most visible areas of the pages. Sometimes a secondary window with advertising will pop out in front of or behind your pages. Free hosting is good for small personal sites or getting your feet wet with web design.

Paying as little as $3/month will get rid of the tacky advertising and give you much more flexibility in how you build and edit you website. You can also have your own domain (www.yourdomain.com) instead of the cumbersome and lengthy www.freehostingprovider/yourwebsite.com. You will also have more storage space and programming support to grow your website. These benefits greatly outweigh the expense of a few dollars a month. To browse for hosting under $5/month click here.