Every since I started web hosting things, I have been hearing of free hosting and its pros and cons etc. Never heard of free domain name. There are some companies which sell the web hosting packages in a way that the cost of domain name is in-build in these and at the face of it, its said that the domain name is free. Has any body some real experience of a company providing free domain name ie a domain name without condition of paying for it or paying for hosting related with it.
Like you say yourself, it’s not actually “free” anyway. The host still charges you for it.
I never let a host own a domain name. I always go with an actual registrar. Otherwise, then the hosting provider would own it. If you decide to move to another hosting provider, you might not be able to take it with you.
If you register it yourself through a registrar, it’s yours–you own it.
I seem to recall that some domains are free. .tk domains for example.
Nothing wrong with using one of those for a hobby.
Other than that, I agree with Force Flow.
Another exception where you might actually get a free domain is if you’re using a subdomain that the host owns, instead of a fully qualified domain name. Such as: mwaraitch.example.org. The host would own example.org, but you can visit your site by gonig to mwaraitch.example.org as long as you stay with the host.
But, the caveats I listed in my earlier post still stand.
The domain certainly isn’t free, ithat’s just a way of holding you hostage to keep hosting with that company. I’d much rather spend the $9 per year and have the ultimate control.
Some web hosting companies use free domain name as marketing trick in order to tire you as client. So if you are accepting free domain name offers you need to make sure what is being offered and who will be the actual owner of the domain name.
Most hosts will give you a domain with the hosting plan. Just make sure you have full ownership of the domain which is what I went for. Full ownership makes everything so much easier and secures your domain name after it expires or when you move on.
The domain is registered with the registry / registrar anyway. However, your point of control of the domain and its ownership is valid. One just has to make sure he gets appropriate access. Due to ignorant of the domain owners, the hosting companies go ahead to register the domain names even in their own names. It also has to do with the way hosting panels and domain panels are managed by a particular hosting company. If , as a host you have some hosting account creation, billing / support software installed and manage things from that, the limitation of that application also matters.
So from the discussion above it seems that at present .tk domains are probably the only ones offering a free domain name in classic sense.
you may also check co.cc .if you use your domain for personal purpose then co.cc is totally free. they also give you dns control. so you can host it with any hosting provider. but they will charge, if you use your domain for business purpose.
I wouldn’t do that if they pay me given Google have had banned cc domains
fastreplies
I hope today or tomorrow, every free domain will be banned due to spamming. so you can’t use free domain for long term. suppose anyone started to learning web development. then he need a test domain and test hosting. Initially he can use free domain and hosting. but few days later he can easily realize why he hasn’t use free domain and hosting.
- Rejuan
I’m not sure I understand what you’re trying to say and how your post is relate to what I said?
fastreplies
I’m not sure I understand what you’re trying to say and how your post is relate to what I said?
actually it was off-topic. i should have been more careful about this matter.
-Rejuan
So we get 2 of the domain names, free in real sense i.e .tk and .co.cc
There are some reservation over use of .co.cc in the context of google, however, not sure, if google would matter for the one using free domain name.
And once you leave this host, your domain cost is much higher than other registrar. You have to understand this.
Actually I have not understood it.
Of course it will. The domain is free if you have hosting and if you don’t have hosting, it will cost regular price. Of course domains are cheap now but if you want it free, you have to keep hosting.