Programmer’s Heaven felt dedicated to dig into the market of free web hosting and got surprised over the results. Free web hosting is available, it works and best of all- it is free!

Free web hosting – the business models

As companies usually want to make a profit, yes, there are non-profit companies or organizations around in some branches – non-profit schools for instance, but they still need to pay wages and other running costs. In order to do so they need income from their operation. The companies that provide free web hosting are doing that with the “freemium” business model or a business model where you get the web hosting for free under condition that you buy something else from them, a domain name for instance. As long as you don’t pay a high premium for the domain name we believe this is are fair model. Some companies are providing the web hosting services for free in return for banner space on your website. This model might work out fine for some site owners. Another model is to offer the web hosting for free, but in order to keep the service for free you have to participate and be active in various forums – stay out is our simple advice, unless you need new “friends”. Some companies are offering free web hosting in conjunction with ordering a website from them. This is fine as long as you need a new website and don’t pay a high premium for it – and don’t forget to check the renewal fees for the web hosting as it is probably not free forever.

Best free web hosting – the preferred business model

The business model we really like when it comes to free web hosting is the model where basic services are provided for free and additional services are charged for, usually as a premium package with monthly payments. Customers can, with this model, test the web hosting provider without receiving a bill and upgrade to the premium services at a later stage, if desired. As web hosting is a very scalable business, with low marginal costs for a new customer, it is easy to assume that web hosting providers adapting to the freemium business model are offering the basic services for free and calculate that a certain percentage will upgrade to a premium account. We wish them the best of luck!

Programmer’s Heaven has not scanned the entire market for free web hosting. The web hosting provider we perceived offered the best free web hosting was $0.00 Webhost (www.000webhost.com).