What is a free domain?

I’m sure you have already heard about free web hosting. Free web hosting sites such as Yahoo! GeoCities offers you free web space (although it is just a few MBs) for hosting your html files. You never pay a fee for this type of web hosting, but instead, Yahoo! displays advertisements in your pages.

Free domain names behave the same way as free web hosting. But there is a fundamental difference. When it comes to free web hosting, the host can display advertisements in the web pages as the host has control over the web space given to you.  When it comes to free domain names, there isn’t a mechanism like that in place, as no host owns or has control over a domain name other than ICANN. In addition to that, ICANN requires a fee for domain name registrations (some US cents). So, the bottom line is that there is always a fee involved in domain name registration. Then how do they offer free domain names?

This is an interesting question indeed. Domain names never come free on their own. Free domain names are always attached to some other product or package such as a hosting plan. If you buy the hosting plan, then the domain registration will be free of charge. This is exactly how the free domains are offered.

Who offers free domains?

Almost all the major web hosting companies offer free domain names when you buy a hosting package from them. Usually they will give you the first year registration of the domain name for free and from the second year onwards you will have to pay the regular fee.

In addition to multiple domain hosting, offering free domain names has become one of the most attractive offers as they do not cost the web hosting company more than a couple of cents. In case if you are offered free domain names, then read the web hosting contract carefully before making the purchase. Some hosting service providers will terminate the free domain name once you stop the hosting agreement with them. Therefore, it is always better to spend some $10 for getting a separate domain name rather than being dependent on number of conditions.

What are the conditions to get a free domain name?

There are many conditions for getting a free domain name. In the end, you will realize that the domains are not really free at all. First of all, to qualify for a free domain, you need to buy something from the people who offer free domains. In addition to that, your free domain will be terminated whenever you terminate the hosting agreement that you have with the hosting service provider. In some cases, you are allowed to keep the domain name although you terminated the hosting agreement, but you will have to pay some extra money for keeping the free domain names. This extra amount is usually higher than the price that is paid for getting a new domain.

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