Free Web Hosts

[Ben Last]

Hi everyone,
I've recently been looking for a free web host and have found there to be hundreds of services available.

Idealy I'm looking for hosting that has no advertising and FTP access.
I primarily want to use the hosting as a base to re-direct to my local machine's webserver when it is online, but may expand it's use with time.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with free hosts and could recommend a specific site/ service.

[Spock]

Unfortunately, my experience with free hosts is that they aren't. They force you to pay by displaying their ads around your website. The better ones try to tailor their ads to your website content. The worst ones don't care, they will add porn ads to children's websites.

IMHO, the best way to maintain full control is to find the least expensive host you can that has all the options you are interested in having. Be careful though, you may find that some of the "cheaper" ones are actually more expensive relative to number of features than others. I feel I've had good return for my money with the host I currently use but I know there are many, many others available.

Again, just my opinion ... hope you find exactly what you want.

[csar508]

What service do you use Spock? Also if you register a domian name, your host will allow that as your URl? Or do you have a URL similiar to my web site which has home.comcast.net before my user ID?

[Spock]

I use iPowerweb as my host. The link I've provided here is a clear link (no affiliate tags) but I did sign up for their affiliate program since I like their service so much. If you want, I can supply that as well but it really doesn't matter to me as I don't run this website to make a profit.

[Added]
Their different packages have been combined into one and, until the end of November I think, they are offering a fantastic offer for new iPowerweb users. I was a little upset I couldn't get the same offer without opening a new account.

[Ben Last]

Hi, thanks for your info Spock.
After some considerable searching and subsequent deliberation I have signed for a free account with http://x10hosting.com.

I've only been signed up for a week or so, there has been some downtime (apparently due to server upgrades), but so far for a free host it seems good. I'll try and remember to update this when I've been using it a bit longer.

[Spock]

Looks like an interesting possibility. Please do keep us up to speed with how things are going for you. Please also come back and give us a link to your new website. That way we can see for ourselves how much room is given over to the ads. The Free Hosting packages look interesting if a little light compared to what I'm getting.

I hope you got at least an Advanced or a Corporate package, as the Static package would not allow you to have a forum though it appears to be ad free. Also, 100MB isn't much for a website once you get going.

[Ben Last]

Hi, I have signed up for the Ad Free package, so I don't have any adverts of any sort.
You can view the service details via this link http://x10hosting.com/hosting.

I believe it is possible to install forum software on the ad-free package, as it provides both MySQL & PHP support - although I haven't tried it (as yet).

I don't have any content as yet, I signed up originally so that I could provide a re-direct to my home web server, which I don't run very often - but it is useful to have a static URL to 'bounce' from as I have a dynamic IP address. If I ever get around to adding some content then I'll post a link.

[Spock]

Looks useful, I will have to show it to my HTML students so they have somewhere else they can go to set up a website.

[Icy]

Hi, I have signed up for the Ad Free package, so I don't have any adverts of any sort.
You can view the service details via this link http://x10hosting.com/hosting.

I believe it is possible to install forum software on the ad-free package, as it provides both MySQL & PHP support - although I haven't tried it (as yet)...

Interesting. I may try this. Thanks for the link!

[Ben Last]

One thing that I forgot to mention is that you must log in to their forum every two weeks, otherwise your hosting account is suspended and later removed, unless you contact them. See the rules: http://forums.x10hosting.com/news-announcements/20551-x10-commandments.html

[Spock]

... you must log in to their forum every two weeks ...

Doesn't seem too bad as requirements go. It is a very good reason to have your site mirrored on your local PC though, even if the mirror isn't on the Internet. That way, if your account disappears, your website won't.

BTW, I just checked the size of my "mirror" copy and it's:
Size: 1.07 GB (1,151,822,048 bytes)
Contains: 18,302 Files, 955 Folders

I don't think it would fit very well.