Free FTP Hosting - Is It for You?

There's an old adage which states that "You get what you pay for".

In most areas of life, and business, this holds true. Not necessarily so, however, in the ftp hosting industry. Often, you pay too much, and don't get what you pay for.

Several years ago, there was no such thing as a webhosting industry. Nearly all websites were hosted by local ISP's. The average monthly cost for hosting a website was $20.00 per month. Often, if you called the ISP with a technical question, they would tell you to buy a book or take a class.

Fast forward to 2009 and we now see the emergence of a new type of web host - the cheap webhosting provider. These are companies which offer hosting for less than $5.00 per month and even some offer free ftp hosting.

Generally, free ftp hosting providers are newer companies. There's a reason for this. It's extremely difficult for the older companies to lower their prices when they already have a large customer base which pays higher prices. They'd be slashing their gross, and most companies just can't afford that.

So how do free ftp hosting providers offer such a low price to begin with?

Part of it is that servers, hard drive space and bandwidth are much, much less expensive than they were several years ago. Free ftp hosting providers capitalize on this.

Another part is that free ftp hosting providers use a different business model than the older providers. Webhosting is a very competitive business. Until recently, web hosts attempted to compete by providing the most tools and features. The problem with this model is that not everyone needs everything. Most web hosts provide free backup services to all of their clients. Backups are costly, and not everyone needs or wants them, but everyone pays for them because they're built into the cost of the package.

A free ftp hosting provider, on the other hand, might give you the basic features that everyone uses, but offer weekly backups as an available add on feature, putting the cost of backing up websites on only those customers who want that service.

This all sounds great, I know, but what about service? Will I get competent and fast customer support from a company which charges me $0.00 per month?

The answer, surprisingly, is usually yes.

Obviously, not all free ftp hosting providers will give you great service. But not all expensive webhosting providers will give good service either.

But, with a free ftp hosting provider, the key for the providers success is customer retention. A savvy web host will endeavor to please his existing clients by providing the best support possible.

For one of the best free ftp hosting providers, go to free ftp hosting today.