The first decision that you will need to make is what operating system you would like your web site hosted upon: Windows or Linux. (There is a third choice but as it is rarely used or requested, I will not discuss it here.) Most people are familiar with Windows even if they are Mac users. You may have heard of Linux or Unix before but never used it or known of anyone but “big business” to use these operating systems. Some hosting companies support both types of servers but one will definitely be favored over the other. This can usually be determined by the amount of features and add-ons that they offer for their favored operating system.

Personally, I prefer Linux over Windows primarily because of all the free applications available. In my opinion, add-on applications and the control panel used to manage your web site(s) are usually easier to use on the Windows operating system. So if you are a newbie and not interested in all of the free extra features, go with Windows. On the other hand, if you want to implement a lot of extra features like discussion boards, blogs, chat, classifieds, content management systems, customer relationship management packages, image galleries, and lots more, then go with Linux operating systems. They also tend to be less expensive.

Once you have decided which operating system you wish to have your web site hosted, you need to compare storage space, bandwidth limits and features. My favorite Linux host is Host Gator. See the chart below for their current offerings:

Linux Hosting Packages

Windows Hosting Packages

See also Microsoft’s list of ASP.NET service providers for the latest list.

Free hosting

One of the best ways to keep costs down is to use a free hosting service. Most free hosting services do not provide you with a domain name. You use the service provider’s name with your choice of web site name added before theirs or in a folder listed after theirs, eg., http://company.comcast.net or http://www.comcast.net/~company. This probably would be okay if you were building a personal web site, but for a company this would be very unprofessional and probably would not do well in the search engines either.

There are also free hosting providers who will let you use your own domain name. This sometimes requires a one-time setup fee. Most of these providers will have bandwidth restrictions and a smaller amount of storage space for your files. This limits what you can put on your web site and how many people can visit your site either at the same time or over a period of time — sometimes a combination of these. There a few who don’t have these limitations but they may lack the more advanced features like database and scripting support. You may also have limited access to your site. Some only let you publish your files through a proprietary interface or through their site-building tools.

Top 10 Free Hosting Providers