Having a blog or website has never been so easy and cheap. Nowadays, it is possible to create a page on the internet and put it on the air in a few hours by utilizing various tools and services available in the market. Being democratic, the internet allows you to publish a website or blog for free (or spend very little).
Among the free options are some website-building platforms (such as Wix and WordPress ), security certificates (such as Let’s Encrypt), and hosting, which are available to anyone who wants to publish a website on the internet. But is everything free, counts worth?
In this article, we will talk about web hosting. After all, do we have to pay for hosting when we have the option to use free hosting? The answer is: it depends. Free hosting has limitations and so is not suitable for all websites.
Follow our article and know the main reasons to opt for paid hosting for your site or blog.
Stability
Companies that charge for hosting usually invest more in infrastructure. Because of this, they have more robust and new servers and a technical team dedicated to the maintenance of equipment. The result is more stable hosting, where customer sites stay in the air for longer.
On the other hand, free hosting servers tend to perform poorly, compromising their stability. The proof is that a free hosting company will hardly guarantee its customers an uptime of 99.9%. Some providers offer only 99% of uptime.
It seems a slight difference, but this 0.9% corresponds to almost six and a half hours out of the air every 30 days. If you own a business that depends on the site, downtime means a loss of revenue and credibility.
Safety
Paid hosting is also often safer from hacking attacks and intrusions. This does not mean that the website will never be attacked (not even escaped by Google), but that it will be more prepared to fight it before it impacts the websites.
Secondly, good paid hosting will hardly disappear overnight, as it can happen with free plans. Of course, there are serious free hosting providers. However, dozens of small businesses start with this free template and soon close their doors because they cannot sustain themselves financially, leaving clients’ websites down.
Flexibility to grow
You can count on free hosting if you have a small website or blog with a few visits. However, as your page grows, at some point, you’ll reach resource limits, such as disk space or traffic, and you’ll need to migrate urgently to a paid plan.
In paid hosting, there is a more significant amount of resources available, and your site has more flexibility to grow. You will not have to worry about space or bandwidth for a long time, even on a shared plan, and you may never need to migrate your website hosting.
Additional Resources
Good hosting is not just disk space and traffic but additional features such as email, SSL, and backup. The paid plan is the best option for those who use these features since many of them are already included in the program.
On the other hand, if you host your website on a free service and hire the email apart, for example, you will have invested practically the exact amount you would have in paid hosting, which already comes with the included email. The same applies to databases, SSL certificates, and site numbers. The free plans are pretty limited in these aspects, while the paid plans offer varied resources to the need of your site.
Support
Support is one of the main differences between hosting models. If you opt for the free option, you will have low priority on the license, which can be a big problem if your site is down, for example.
There are also other situations where you may need technical support, such as site publishing, email setup, backup recovery, etc. In other words, unless you’re an expert and lucky, you’ll need to have the company’s support.
When you hire paid hosting, you have unrestricted access to technical support, often available on various channels, such as chat, phone, and email. In addition, support hours are more comprehensive and, in many cases, 24/7 (24 hours a day, seven days a week). In summary, the chances of being served quickly are more significant in a paid service.
Conclusion
As we can see, there are many differences between free and paid hosting. Although, in some cases, the free option is sufficient, most of the time, paid hosting is the best option. It offers excellent stability, security, and flexibility and is more comprehensive in services and technical support.
Are you interested in hosting your site? Get in touch with us!
