Wednesday, May 26, 2010

GoDaddy vs Free Web Hosting

When shopping for a cheap web hosting provider, there are many options available. Millions of people turn to GoDaddy for one of their economical packages that include numerous features. On the other hand, there are also many who utilize free web hosting services at no charge, especially for smaller projects. Both of these are viable options. However, before making a selection, there are a few things to consider.

GoDaddy has an Economy plan for only $5.99 for 3 months that features many of the same site building tools found in their larger service plans.

GoDaddy Economy Plan

10 GB Disk Space
300 GB Data Transfer
No Set Up Fee
50 FTP Users
100 Email Accounts
Advanced Email Features
$1.99 Domain Registration
Over $150 in Advertising Credits
Language Support for FrontPage Extensions, PHP4, PHP5
Free Add on Applications for Blogs (6), CMS, Project Management (10), Wikis, Forums (3), and More
Os Commerce, Zen Cart Pinnacle Cart
Database Backup/Restore
File Manager
Site Statistics
Best of Breed Firewalls, Servers, and Routers

On the other hand, free web hosting is advantageous because it is free. Plus, it has limited, but often sufficient disk space and data transfer for smaller projects. However, there are numerous downsides to utilizing free hosting.

The main disadvantage of free hosting is that the hosting company usually places undesired advertisements in the form of banners on your website. The reason for this is because the free web host must still make money somehow. However, these ads can be a distraction and may cause a site to appear less than professional.

In addition, the control panel for free web hosting is often limited. Many companies even place restrictions against easy access to commonly used scripting applications, in their efforts to encourage their users to upgrade to a paid plan.

Finally, clients of free web hosting services have no guarantee of server uptime, nor do they receive sufficient technical support of any kind. If a problem arises, it is likely you will have to pay someone to help you through it.

However, GoDaddy guarantees a 99.9% uptime of reliable service and offer free technical support via phone, email, and their online support community. Plus, you receive all the great features listed above for security, site design, site management, email, and more. When comparing everything you get with GoDaddy web hosting to free web hosting, it becomes apparent that they offer a great deal more for the very small amount of only $5.99 / 3 months. Visit GoDaddy on the web for additional details and to save 10% off your entire order.