If you are a newbie in the arena of web hosting, then you would naturally start by covering the basics by trying out free web hosting. Web hosting accounts come with a control panel, and in most cases, a newbie will require some time to learn the ins and outs of hosting. If you are planning to set a simple hobby website, then you could most probably choose free hosting as this may not be that important to you. However, if you are looking to do the more serious stuff, then it is essential that you don’t take chances with free hosting. In fact, it should never be considered as an option for you.

If you are taking your “baby steps” by opening a free web hosting account, you will most likely be offered with several packages that these providers offer. In most cases, these companies offer only one free web hosting solution. As a starter, these free web hosting solution come with very limited space and bandwidth. Most free hosting accounts only have about 100MB of space and 1000MB of bandwidth. These are not sufficient to support your needs and requirements, especially if you are planning to have certain HTML files and image files. As traffic to your website starts to pick up, so is your bandwidth requirement. You will also learn later that you will need more space for online storing functions, databases and emails.

There is also the issue of security that you have to contend with when you have free web hosting solution. Since the company is not generating enough revenue from the hosting solution that they provide to you, they can only deliver a limited set of resources. With free hosting, there are no backup and consumer support to talk of. You are only provided with the hosting solution, nothing more. For instance, if your website goes offline, you can only pray to the gods that someone from the hosting provider comes around and fixes the problem.

You need to remove from your list of expectations aspects regarding dependability and reliability for the simple reason that most of these companies that provide free hosting solutions are not responsible for server outages and data losses.