Free web hosting service

A free web hosting service is a web hosting service that is free, usually advertisement-supported and of limited functionality. Free web hosts will either provide a subdomain (yourname.example.com) (e.g. 50megs) or a directory (www.example.com/~yourname) (e.g. GeoCities). In contrast, paid web hosts will usually provide a Second-level domain along with the hosting (www.yourname.com). Some free hosts do allow use of separately-purchased domains. Rarely, a free host may also operate as a domain name registrar, but their registry services are usually more expensive than others.

A few free web hosts have a basic package for free (e.g. Freewebs), and enhanced packages (with more features) for a cost. This allows users to try the service for an initial trial (see how it performs compared to other hosts), and then upgrade when (and if) needed.

Free hosting may have the following limitations:

• Limitation on the size of each hosted file
• Very small bandwidth per month compared to paid hosting
• Prevents hotlinking of files
• Do not allow certain file types (for example MP3, MPEG, ZIP etc.)
• Compulsory placement of the Webhosts' Banner or Popup ads into all web pages
• Do not provide any uptime guarantee

Some free host may provide these extra features:

• A web based control panel
• File transfer via FTP
• Scripting languages: PHP, ASP, Perl etc.
• Relational databases such as MySQL
• Scheduled processes, known as cronjobs
• Free email accounts for the domain or subdomain hosted
• Other features such as guestbooks (e.g. Bravenet)

Methods of giving out Webhosting

A few methods of giving out Free Webhosting to people by Webhosts

Instant Activation

Hosts with Instant Activation usually give very little storage space and bandwidth allowance, and have lots of limitations. The webhosts usually either require the users' web pages to display their banner ads, textlink ads, or popups; or else the users' files to be uploaded through a web-based file manager that display ads to the user uploading files.

Post for Hosting

This method of giving out Free Webhosting is getting popular among Webhosts. One has to register at a Webhosts forum - usually has lots of Banner or Popup Ads - and post there for Free Webhosting. One has to normally "stay active" and meet a certain requirement every month/week to keep their webhosting.

Forum Applications

This method is popular, as the hosts can decide which applications to deny and allow. This is common when a forum has free hosting as an addon service

File hosting on Webhosts

Most free web hosts discourage using their services for file or image hosting only, with no web page, since advertising is displayed on the web page. Because of this, hotlinking is usually disallowed on free hosts. Some free webhosts will also disallow files over a certain size (for example, 5 MB). However, there are free file hosting services which allow large files as well as hotlinking.

Forum-based free hosting

Some free hosts require posting in a forum. Forum-based free hosting requires users to either reach a certain amount of posts before getting a free hosting account, or be an active contributor in the forum. Forum-based free hosting often work on a system of points where posts give points to a user and can be used as credits toward getting a hosting account or more resources.

External links

• Web hosting (Wikiclassifieds), list of providers
• Template:Dmoz
• Free Web Hosting Providers in the Yahoo! Directory
• Free Hosting Directory