Will free hosting completely displace paid hosting?
So here's a question for you: is it possible that free hosting will ever completely displace paid hosting as the solution most personal and small-business users turn to? Is it possible that 10 years from now, a large majority of hosting accounts will either be on free shared hosting servers or dedicated servers?
Yes and no.
The Web hosting industry has lost its edge. If you could find a reliable, free, ad-free, shared hosting service (these do exist, in fact), why would you not choose it over paid, shared hosting? There is no difference between two services such as this today - and there may not be in the future.
Here's why. Where is the innovation in this industry? Where are the solutions tailored to the real needs of small businesses? I think we've all seen our fair share of "extreme" disk space and bandwidth allocations and $50 PPC vouchers - now, can we please see something new and beneficial?
So what reasons do exist to choose a paid, shared hosting plan over a quality, ad-free, free, shared hosting plan? For one, you usually get phone support - but we know how dreadful this can be. Many hosts don't run professional call centers - instead, a few techs with the least seniority answer phones when they can. Or, even worse, phone support is viewed as a "bonus" - even for paid customers. There are a few paid hosts that do phone support really well, however - so count this as reason one to choose a paid host.
What other reasons are there? None that I can think of. The shared hosting industry is stagnant - there have been no new, real innovations in the past five years. With the exception of updated control panels, we have nothing to show for the past few years.
So will free hosting displace paid hosting? Possibly - if paid, shared hosting providers can't get their acts together and start introducing useful features again, they should start praying for mercy.
D B
Daniel Briere just sold two hosting companies and is looking for something exciting in the Web hosting industry again. He has been in the Web hosting industry since August 2004.
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Paid web hosting is here to stay. Here is why.
First, innovation is good, however innovation for the sake of innovation is senseless. I was running a large hosting company and we were pushing innovations all the time such as CRM for example, just to realize that the market is not adopting those with the speed we generate them. That's why my take is that the lack of innovation in the web hosting is mainly because of lack of demand and slow adoptionn, not that the web hosting companies are not willing or not capable of providing it. Let me give you another example. There is a technology called "Unified Messaging". Since mid 90-ies this technology is ready and waiting for adoption. Unfortunately the consumers are refusing to understand it and to adopt it in its entirety. We see some elements of it adopted but not the whole thing.
Second, lack of innovation does not equal death of an industry. Many industries last long time without major innovations.
Finally, the quality technical support will be the guarantee for the paid hosting to survive. Yes, free web hosting space will be available, but many consumers and businesses will prefer to pay moderate monthly fee in exchange for a hand holding in the complex web hosting environment. Professional technical support and a quality commercial grade call center is the key for survival of the independent web hosting company. For the same reason it is unlikely this business to be overtaken by a giant organization such as Microsoft, Google and alikes. These guys can do many things, but they can not do one thing - quality and inexpensive customer support. Try calling Microsoft for technical help if you need a proof and good luck.
