free or paid hosting when it comes to websites

[Blue]

I will sometimes go though the neocities subreddit, as sometimes there is something interesting there, but more often than not I see people asking for advice on something, be it coding, how to use certain things, general questions about the site itself or about what you can host there file wise, and a lot of the times people will go out of their way to tell them to just pay for hosting over using the free option.

When it comes to having a personal site, especially when the hobby of it is still relatively new, I find the concept of using paid services this early into something that you don't know how long it would actually last. Not to mention that you don't really know the financial situation of the people you're telling this to do, meaning that paid option might not be something they can even consider.

For me, neocities is the best option because it's free, their terms of service align with what I create, which will be important if I make my fic archive at some point and as this is a hobby that is still very new to me (less than a year of having an actual build site) I cannot guarantee that it will be something that will be present a year from now, or two years. I have always been relatively consistent with my hobbies and never really fell out of them, but I never take that for granted.

Obviously, paid hosts give you more freedom, more options, more everything and are probably always going to be a better option altogether, but just throwing that at someone who's just starting out might not be the greatest idea. I think that hosts like neocities that have some things free and then offer more by direct support are a nice option, especially with how overall cheap it is, all things considered, and even with the non-supporter role and some more insight in coding to make things like using mp3 fles work on your site you can get quite far with just that.

I think having a free host when starting out is the best possible option, especially now that there are more than one possible host, and after a while, if the hobby is still something a person wants to continue after a while (however that while is, I personally think 3-4 years is what it would take me to consider a paid option) one could consider paid hosting.

What are your thoughts on this? There are probably several people here who use paid hosting, what would you consider your experience there like? And do you think that you don't even need a paid host, and you just want to keep everything that is a hobby free?

[cult_status18]

I paid for Neocites very early on into my use of it because I fell in love with the indie web and the idea that I could support It felt good to me I don't even need to pay for neocities but I still do it anyways I've only been doing this for about 5 months now but I knew from the start that it wasn't going to be just a hobbie but at the same time I would hate for someone to be told to use a paid service because they might sitwch to something like wix or go daddy (ewwww) I would hate it for something like that to happen like they might never discover the indie web if that happens that would be terrible and they would never learn as much as they would on neocites and the free option already gives you so much to work with I think its stupid to tell people to use a paid service if they don't want to pay they don't have too its special to have neocites and have a free option no one is gatekeep and everyone can get involved and learn how to program no matter what you wont get that for any other host so always say free

[Paprika]

I personally support people to stay on free for a while before considering paying because there's so much people making stuff and giving up after a while. Any money spent on something abandoned would be a bit wasted. If it sticks and you like it, then go on, pay if you want !

I see the free version of Neocities as a very good thing. There's a lot you can do with basic. I pay for NeoCities because I like what they offer, I like the fact it's a simple site giving me a basic editor and that let me do anything by myself without hitting me with ads or bad service stuff or hijacking my content in a "if you want to update your page more than twice a day, pay 80€ per month for our beginner tier !"

I use Neocities, I enjoy it so I pay. I didn't pay immediately because I wasn't sure of what I'd do and if it would last. It's mostly some kind of "thank you" for providing such a website. I know servers aren't free so their price is really nice in comparison. But in the end it's up to people if they want or even can afford to pay. Only pay for things you are actively using ! Always !

[Slix]

I started with a free host (Apple's iWeb and MobileMe) and a free forum host, and after about a year of doing the site, I moved to a paid host. I agree with the sentiments posted here already: if you are just starting out, getting the free option is almost always best. It shows you some things that are possible without breaking the bank, and you don't have to commit too much if you end up not enjoying it as much as you thought you might at the start. Adding to this, I think most people assume they need a top of the line paid host, but you can run a lot of users and things off of the lower tiers most of the time, as long as the host is good in general.

[Gizmo]

I agree that it's preferable to start out with a free host, buying a custom domain / hosting is fairly pricey, and I think it's best to wait until you actually need the features paid hosting provides before spending money, especially if you're not 100% sure you're going to stick with it. Personally, what Neocities offers is more than enough for my site, though I'd like to pay once I'm more financially secure to help support such an awesome project.