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FREE & Low Cost Web Hosting & Domain Names
BGGE Web Design Most Recommended Services
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Free hosting plans are often frowned upon because of forced ads, custom domain name, advertising & content restrictions, and the overall lack of support, reliablity & security.
Instead, free hosting plans should be viewed as a "Starter Plan" with an opportunity to try the product without cost or obligation. And as your needs grow --- upgrade. For the beginner web designer, they are excellent "scratch pads" to develop your web designing skills because of today's user-friendly website builders. |
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| For some small business owners, a Free Starter Plan contains all the features they will ever need for an online web presence. For others, a Low Cost Starter Plan is the more prudent choice because it already contains the basic web hosting features including |
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From the Desk of BJ Gray, Webmaster
I have compared scores of hosting plans and actually tried more than 10++ before finding CityMax to host BG&G Enterprises . Some were free, some were not. In terms of ease of use, diverse template selections, dynamic website features & tools, reliablity, security & upgradeablity, I highly recommend both CityMax & Bravenet Hosting.
I have been with CityMax since October, 2002, and during that time BGGE has grown into a mega site. With four major channels and more than 125 pages, CityMax has met most of my website needs, especially its integrated shopping cart feature. During the years, I have seen them add new features or make improvements to the existing ones. And yet, the cost of my hosting plan subscription has never increased. In fact, they reduced my basic rate in 2003 when they started promoting "business websites under $20.00".
I also like and use Bravenet Hosting for its domain service and MySQL database, which CityMax currently does not offer. However, I have be able to easily integrate my database-driven pages and some of Bravenet 's free tools into my CityMax pages.
Below I have created a side by side comparison of the hosting plans & domain name services that I have recommended in my design business and links to other low cost hosting sites that I feel will serve the needs of both novice and veteran entreprenuers.
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Web Hosting Starter Packages Comparison
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FREE
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Low Cost
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Hosting Site
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Basic Cost / Month
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$0.00
Ad Supported
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$0.00
No Ads
40 day login Required
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$19.98 / mo
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$11.95 1
$8.96 / 3 mos.
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| Upgrade Cost / Month |
$4.99 - $12.002
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$14.96 - $26.962
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Pennies / Feature2
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$19.95 - $39.952
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Set-Up Fees
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n / a
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$19.00 Waived
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n / a
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$25.00 Waived
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| Guarantee |
30-day
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Try Before You Buy
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1) 10-day FREE Trial
2) 30-day Money Back
3) 90-day Make Money
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30-day
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| Domain Only Offer |
$ 8.95 / Year |
$ 14.95 / Year |
$11.99 / Year
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$ 9.95 / Year |
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Allow Top Level Domain Name
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No3
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No3
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Yes
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FREE with Website
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Personalized Business Email*
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Unlimited3
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53
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5
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200
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Data Transfer (Monthly Bandwidth)
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1.5GB
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20GB
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Unlimited
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200GB
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Disk Space (# of web pages)
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50MB /
Unspecified
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25GB /
15 pages
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Unlimited /
500 pages
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5GB /
5 pages
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| FTP Account |
1 / Unlimited4
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14
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No
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1
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| Website Builders (Visual & HTML) |
Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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| Customizable Design Templates |
Selected
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Yes
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1500+
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380+
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| Support Other Design Software Programs (Most FTP software - MS FrontPage®, Adobe GoLive®, Adobe Dreamweaver®, MS Publisher, ASP & Coldfusion) |
Yes4
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Yes4
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No
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Yes
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| Web Enhancements (Guestbooks, Hit Counters, Newsletter, Photo Album, etc.) |
27+
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Yes
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30+
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Yes
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| ECommerce (Shopping cart with Payment Processing Integration, Order & Inventory, Management, , etc.) |
No
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Yes4
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500 Product Catalog5
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Merchant Solutions 
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| Advanced Scripting & Database Tools (like PHP, Perl scripting, MySQL, phpBB, PHP-Nuke, etc.) |
Yes4
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Yes4
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No
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Yes
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24/7 Online Support
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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| Marketing Discounts (Yahoo, Overture, Google Adwords, etc.) |
No
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Yes4
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Yes
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Yes
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Bravenet FREE Hosting & Domains
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ecomPlanet
Get Started for FREE!
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CityMax - All In One Website Builder
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Yahoo! Web Hosting 
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1 Promotion ends 12/31/2008.
2 Discounts available for quarterly & yearly payment plans.
3 Requires hosting upgrade and/or domain registration or transfer.
4 Activated on upgrade.
5 Also includes Ebay & Paypal Integration, upgradeable.
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QUICK LINKS
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