If you are planning to make or design a website for your business, personal, or blogging, You might think that free domain and hosting is also an option, but this can be the biggest mistake. This blog post will discuss the pros and cons of a free domain and free hosting and whether it suits your needs.
First, we will not refer to or provide information about a free domain and hosting providers. We are only about to provide information about it, for whom this is beneficial, and who needs to avoid it.
What is free domain
A free domain is provided by some providers and gives TLD(Top Level Domains), and some give SLD (Second level Domains). Remember that if you are getting service for free, then there is a motive behind providing you a free domain, and maybe sometimes not.
For whom the free domain is beneficial
If you are a begineer then you can prefer a free domain for testing purpose only, I always suggest to purchase domains from verified domain providers.
For whom the free domain is not beneficial
If you are a small business or anything else, I never suggest you get a free domain. You must purchase and use the domain because it’s your brand name registered by you to represent your brand online.
What is the motive behind providing you with a free domain?
It can’t be true because there is one possibility that the provider provides you with a free domain when you purchase hosting for a good time. Some providers provide a domain free of cost, but this is only one possibility; there is no motive.
But if some providers provide free domains without making purchasing with them, their motive can be mentioned below:
What is the motive behind providing you with a free domain?
- A domain is provided for the trial period; after that, you have to pay money to use the domain.
- The provider provides you with SLD (Second level domains) to advertise their brand or use their brand name inside your domain.
- Some providers provide a TLD (Top level domains) for some time until you grow the brand name, and after that, you must pay them a high amount, or you can lose the domain.
- Some domain providers provide you with a free domain for 1 year, but you will get locked to that provider because they only want you to renew your domain with that provider. You will not be able to transfer the domain to another provider.
Pros & Cons of free domain
Pros: 
- Its free to use.
- Good for testing purpose and beginners.
Cons:
- You will get SLD from some domain providers to advertise their brand.
- You will dont have full access to the domain name means you can control everything on the domains; in some scenarios, DNS and Nameservers also which is a very important parts of domains.
- Pay after the free trial.
- Pay a high amount if your domain grows, or you can lose the domain.
- Unable to transfer.
Final words for free domains
I always prefer to only use purchased domains from verified domain sellers because your domain name is your brand identity dont put the security of your brand in unknown hands. There is always something behind the free services. So always prefer to use the purchased domain until you are not using it for testing purposes.
What is Free Hosting
Some providers provide free hosting to give you access to hosting for free of cost. Most of the free service providers will offer you shared hosting or less than it. It depends on hosting providers what they offer you for free and their main motives.
For whom the free hosting is beneficial
This is also the same as a free domain scenario. If you are testing any code or script or learning, this will be a good option for you.
For whom the free hosting is not beneficial
If you are planning the website for your business purpose, even if it’s a small business, or if there is a possibility of a high amount of traffic going to visit your website, then free hosting is not beneficial for you.
What is the motive behind providing you with a free hosting?
The hosting provider can’t provide you with free hosting because hosting is a little bit of have fewer options for providing free of cost, and there is always a main motive behind providing hosting free of cost. Below are the mentioned possibilities:
- The free hosting provider can show advertisements from third-party ad networks, or they can show ads to promote their products on your created website using free hosting from them.
- They can do any beneficial modification on your website without your permission.
- Some hosting providers only allow you to use the subdomain so they can promote their hosting service.
- Free trial for a limited time, so you will have to pay them to use their service after the free trial period ends.
- Offers low disk space and bandwidth, so if you exceed the limits, you will have to pay for an upgrade.
- Fewer features, softwares, or versions. If this is not supported for your work, you will have to go with a paid plan.
- No customer support or less customer support.
- Less uptime compared to paid hosting.
Pros & Cons of free hosting
Pros :
- Its free to use.
- Good for testing purpose and beginners.
Cons:
- The hosting provider can show advertisements on your hosted website.
- The provider can make changes to your website without your permission.
- Only allowed to use a subdomain of their brand name. (Not all free hosting providers)
- High pricing after the trial period or the resources are exceeded.
- Low disk space.
- Less bandwidth.
- Fewer features.
- No customer support.
- Less uptime
Final words for free domains
You can use free hosting if you want to test a website or app-building experience. Still, suppose you want to make your brand value better. In that case, you must go with paid hosting. Free hosting is only for those who dont have money to invest before experience, And I also suggest always going with a good hosting provider that offers better plans at is lower price and must be trusted. There are lots of hosting providers who offer great plans for better prices.
Conclusion
Free domain and free hosting are good options for beginners who want to test a website or web app. However, remember that this can become a trap because we already mentioned possibilities and the main motives behind providing you with a free domain and free hosting in this article. I always suggest you purchase a domain and hosting. It will not affect the high cost to your pocket.