Free Hosting vs Offshore Hosting. FAQs.

Free Hosting vs Offshore Hosting, can you have both?

When you’re comparing Free Hosting vs Offshore Hosting it’s really like comparing apples and oranges. There are some places that offer Free Hosting for blogs. There are other places that will offer Free Hosting for the first 30 days, 3 months etc.

Whereas Offshore Hosting is a totally different Web Hosting animal. You see, Offshore Hosting is when you can get your website hosted in a country outside of your own. 

Many in the US opt for Offshore Hosting as a way to protect their freedom of speech and expression from attacks by those who oppose their opinions and point of view. 

These nefarious actors on the internet will use frivolous DMCA takedown notices for example. Some might even resort to DDoS attacks on their domains. 

When you get Offshore Hosting you can add an extra layer of protection from frivolous DMCA take down notices since most Offshore Web Hosting providers will ignore them because they are not under US jurisdiction. 

The term “Offshore” in Web Hosting typically refers to DMCA and Copyright havens. These are countries such as Iceland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Russia, Moldova, Hong Kong etc., where local copyright laws are more relaxed and Web Hosting Providers are under no legal obligations to act on such things like DMCA takedown requests.

However, that’s no guarantee that copyrighted or stolen content will be protected. In the modern, interconnected world, you’ll never find a truly “Offshore” hosting provider that will knowingly protect internationally understood illegal activities. 

You certainly aren’t going to get “Offshore Hosting” for free, since the trouble of receiving, then acting upon countless legal requests can run up administrative costs. 

Not to mention, unwanted scrutiny from their home country’s law enforcement authorities, if this becomes a real international issue.

However, there may be a way to actually get both Free Hosting to some extent as well as Offshore Hosting. 

In this post, I will go over your options for Free Hosting as well as Offshore Hosting including frequently asked questions on where you may be able to get Free Offshore Hosting.

Don’t local, especially US based Hosting companies, have or lease data centers in other countries?

Actually yes, many of the bigger web hosting companies include geo-redundant hosting through data centers across multiple countries, which they include in most of their plans, whether they are free or paid, like WordPress.com for example.

If US based Hosting companies have servers outside the US, why can’t they provide “Offshore” protections?

Because US base hosting companies are still registered businesses in the United States and also use US base servers. 

Therefore, they are also under US jurisdiction and susceptible to DMCA legislation and are bound to act accordingly to the laws of the US. 

Especially when users are served with DMCA take down notices.

Why is there Free Hosting but no free Offshore Hosting?

Here are a few expressions that may explain why there is Free Hosting, but no free Offshore Hosting:

• “There is no free lunch”. Right? 
• “If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing for money, right?” Gordon Gecko, Wall Street 1987. 
• To put more of a modern spin on these two age old truths, “If you can’t figure out what the product is, then the product is you.”

But to put it in more detail, Web Hosting costs money, whether it’s local Web Hosting or “Offshore Web Hosting. Web servers aren’t free to buy or operate. 

If a Web Provider is offering “free” hosting, then there is always a catch. 

They are either harvesting and selling your data and content or they’re embedding ads in your website to cover their costs. 

They could even be offering some kind of limited time period of “Free Hosting” in the hopes that you’ll upgrade to a paid plan with more features once it expires. There could also be a combination of the above.

So why, under the same conditions, wouldn’t “Offshore Hosting” be free? There are a couple possible reasons:

1) It might cost “Offshore” web hosting companies more than local US based web hosting companies because of additional taxes, higher wages, energy and equipment costs etc. 

2) “Offshore Hosting” is sometimes sold as a “premium” service.

Chances are that Offshore Providers data centers and infrastructure is simply better than your local US based hosting provider. Take the Europeans for example. Some of the fastest internet in the world is located in Bulgaria and Romania.

Some European countries not only have superior hardware, but they also have strict privacy protection policies and are among the first who adopted Bitcoin as a payment method, like Iceland.

Icelandic hosting is great not only because of their strong privacy protections, Free Speech legislation and DMCA ignored hosting, but because their networks are outside of the US, they are much more stable and reliable, plus these companies have excellent English speaking staff that are quick to respond to any hosting issues. 

Try that with GoDaddy.

With European Offshore Hosting Providers even the salespeople know enough to get things done, whereas in the US you never know what kind of technical aptitude that the people on the other end of the line have that are supposed to help you.

There are good and bad Hosting Providers in the US as well as Offshore, of course, but generally speaking, “Offshore Providers” at least in Iceland are more professional than in the US. 

That is of course if their support staff isn’t outsourced to a 3rd World country where English levels, knowledge and communication skills are subpar.

Where can I get Free Hosting?

There’s a few places where you can get free hosting for your website. These are:

• WordPress.com.
• Blogger.com
• Googlesites.com

These platforms will let you set up a free website. 

However, they do have limitations; some of them have already been noted in this post. 

In addition to the limitations noted above, other limitations can include:

• Severely limits your ability to deploy display advertising from third-party networks on your website.
• Limits on your URL. For example, your suffix to your URL could end in “WordPress.com”, “Googlesites.com” and/or “Blogger.com”.
• You are limited on the themes as well as functionality that you can include on your website.

However, what if I were to tell you that you can not only get free web hosting for your website, but Free Offshore Web Hosting for your website?

Orangewebsite.com not only offers DMCA ignored Offshore Web Hosting, but they also offer a 30-day money back guarantee. 

So technically, you can try out and see if Offshore Web Hosting for your website is a good fit for free. All without any obligations. 

Besides, you’ll find that their prices and plans are quite competitive with local US based Web Hosting Providers plans and prices. 

In fact, not only are their prices surprisingly low, but all the extras you get by simply having Offshore Hosting are included at no extra cost.

Why is Offshore Hosting expensive? But, is it?

It’s a myth that “Offshore Hosting” is expensive. Because it’s not or at least it doesn’t have to be. Check out this post on the subject, “Why is Offshore Hosting expensive? Offshore Hosting FAQs.”

Offshore web hosting is generally when your website is hosted outside your home country. But it’s more important where “Offshore” you host your website, than just going “Offshore”. 

For example, hosting your website “Offshore” in a developing country, even in eastern Europe, though an attractive option given sometimes to their lower prices may result in putting your customers at risk.

In fact, many in developing countries often look to first-world countries for their “Offshore” hosting needs. Why? Simply because of better security, advanced confidentiality, and a wider range of other features.

Therefore, the best places for “Offshore Hosting” tend to be in Europe but outside the “5 eyes”. 

Countries like Iceland, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Hosting within these countries means your website will run faster and perform better. 

They regularly update their servers, keep backups of websites, and have all of the most up-to-date software to keep your website running like clockwork, 24/7.

Plus, you get access to fast support with excellent English speaking staff. If something goes wrong with your website you’ll be able to call your “Offshore Host” and straighten it out right away. 

Your host will understand any questions you have and be able to explain the process in a simple, straightforward way without sounding condescending, which is a real benefit when something goes wrong. 

You’re also paying for better security. Iceland has strong laws concerning data privacy and Freedom of Speech. 

Free Hosting vs Offshore Hosting, conclusions.

As you can see, the expression “There is no free lunch.” is just as applicable to Web Hosting whether that’s Local US based Web Hosting or Offshore Hosting, as it is to anything else in life. 

However, that does not mean you can’t get Free Hosting. But Free Hosting does come with a price. 

That price, in terms of limitations, actually might be more expensive than if you were to simply get a paid web hosting plan. 

In addition, you’ll find that Offshore Web Hosting pricing and plans are not only competitive to Local US-based Hosting and sometimes even cheaper, but you’ll get a whole range of other benefits that only Offshore Web Hosting Providers can provide.