When comparing free hosting and paid hosting plans, it’s tempting to choose the free route. Why pay for something when you can get it for free?
Free hosting may seem like a smart idea, but it can actually backfire by driving away visitors, making your brand look less professional and leaving you without support during crucial times. Paid hosting may come with a monthly fee, but it also delivers better reliability, responsive customer service and room to grow.
Let’s dig deeper into the differences between free hosting and paid hosting and why you’re better off with a paid plan.
Free Hosting: Pros and Cons
You can find a number of free hosting options online, and while they may look promising, remember that every company has to make money somehow. Therefore, the hosting that’s free to you is still generating income for the provider. Instead of you paying a monthly fee, the hosting provider gets money from the following:
- Advertisements
- Shared branding
- Less customer support available
- More downtime
- Limited pages
- Limited bandwidth
- Lack of features
The only time free hosting makes sense is when you have a small startup business and limited funds. Having free hosting can give you the jumpstart you need to get your business up and running. As your business grows, you can then upgrade to a paid plan.
Paid Hosting: Pros and Cons
Paid hosting requires a monthly payment in order for your website to receive hosting. While this may not sound as good as “free,” it’s far more beneficial in the long run. Customers expect reliable, user-friendly websites as opposed to sites bogged down by advertisements and slow load times.
For a small monthly fee, you can expect the following benefits from a paid hosting plan:
- 24/7 customer support
- Better bandwidth reliability
- Unique branding options
- Improved security
- Room to scale
- Wide range of useful features
Good Hosting Doesn’t Have to Be Expensive
It’s clear that paid hosting options are the way to go, but you’re probably wondering how much these plans cost. Luckily, paid hosting is extremely affordable and typically starts at just $3 a month.
If you have a simple website that only requires basic security and consistent performance, a low-end hosting plan will be sufficient. The more you need from your hosting provider, the more you’ll pay, but the prices are still reasonable.
Magna Technology offers affordable hosting plans for businesses of all sizes. Contact us today to learn more about our plans and which ones will fit your needs.
