Top 5 Free Hosts of 2011

If you're just starting out making your own website or you're tight on money and can no longer afford hosting for your current site then you might not want to invest in paid hosting. Luckily free hosting is becoming more and more available and with less restrictions.

When looking for free hosting it's important to grade the host on many factors. This includes: platform, web space, bandwidth, advertising, reliability, customer support and most importantly client reviews. Below are five free hosts that offer a lot for nothing!

You may wonder what's in it for a company to even offer free hosting? This is an important question to consider because it judges the reliability of the host. There are many reasons, the first being advertising. Some companies put third-party advertisements on your site and some just have you link back to them as your host. Always check the advertisement policy before signing up for a free host. Some do not allow you to run your own ads.

Many free hosts do not require you to run their ads though and will let you run your own. While these hosting plans seem more desirable you should consider why they aren't doing this. After all, they're providing you with a free service that costs them money. They could be doing this for several reasons. They may want to build up their clientele to sell their site later or alternatively they might wish to gain your loyalty. When you do decide to switch to paid hosting you'll be more likely to chose them!

Lastly, there is something called post-for-hosting. It's when the host has a forum and requires you to post a certain amount every month. This is more a trade of services than actual free hosting but it's definitely an option to consider if you have free time to post.

All of the following hosts have no forced advertisements.

1. ByetHost is a great host to consider. They offer more than 5 GB in webspace and unlimited bandwidth. They use vistapanel, not cPanel, so it's harder to navigate. Customer reviews are generally favorable. However, they don't offer every feature to their free clients. Their business depends on users upgrading. When you register they will give you a subdomain according to your username but they will allow you have 50 add-on domains.
2. AwardSpace is perfect for bloggers just starting out. They offer 250 MB space and 5 GB of bandwidth. They only include 1 MySQL database but that's all you need for a blog. You are also allowed 3 sub domains! The downside is that you can only have 1 email account.
3. x10hosting offers "unlimited" space and bandwidth. However, after you go over a certain amount you will run into problems. That being said they do offer cPanel and a great amount of features like 3 ftp and email accounts, 2 MySql databses and 2 subdomains. When you register you will have to chose a subdomain with them but they allow 2 add-on domains.They are great for medium sized sites looking for free hosting but are not advisable for larger ones.
4. 000webhost offers very reliable free hosting. You will also receive 1500 MB space and 100 GB of bandwidth--which is more than enough. However, their features are also very limited. You can only have 5 e-mail accounts, 1 ftp account, they don't provide stats and you have to use their custom control panel. Their paid customers have cPanel and unlimited features. Once again they are depending on users eventually upgrading.
5. 50webs is well reviewed and offers 500 MB of space and 5 GB of bandwidth. This is perfect for a small site. However, their features are very limited. They don't offer any MySQL databases, allow only 1 FTP account, don't have PHP 4/5/6 Support and don't show site stats. 50webs is ideal for small personal sites that don't rely on PHP. It is not advisable for blogs.