After the 90’s .com bubble, many web-hosting providers fell short of customers and were forced to try new techniques to lure people in. One technique is providing free, ad-less hosting.

Sounds good so far, almost too good. After all, the bandwidth bill has to be paid some how. There are a number of methods that free ad-less hosts use to rake in the dough.

The most common method is “bandwidth pushing ? – companies put incredibly high restrictions on bandwidth, space, and other features for their free plan. Once a user maxes out a limit, their entire account (including websites, databases, and ftp) are locked and made inaccessible. The host redirects their URL to a page requiring the user to upgrade their account to a paying plan.

Another method is “hosting for posting ? - you make a certain number of posts per week on the company’s forum and they give you free hosting. Revenue is made through forum adverts. The initial idea is that you will bond with the forum community and eventually pay for a plan.

Similar to the first method, hosts will sometimes offer “trial ? packages in which you signup for a free plan with great features. The trick: the host will include a time limit on the plan in the fine print. When the user’s account unexpectedly ends at the end of the trial, they will be forced to pay for plan in order to access their website.

The last method is donation – you get a free, ad-less hosting account. Bandwidth speed is extremely limited, but the features are decent. Every time you login to your account you’re asked to donate to keep them free. These hosts are reported to be most unreliable – servers down for days at a time, security problems, no tech support, etc.

I’ve tested many ad-less free hosting plans, all of them use an above method or a combination of them. Free hosting with no advertisements sounds great on paper, but the reality is that in the end SOMEONE has to pay for it. Bandwidth, servers, and managers – none of it is cheap.

If free hosting is your only option, forced-ads may actually prove to be more reliable in the long run. The market for free ad-supported hosting is huge, so you’ll definitely be able to find the features you want.