Profuse hosting not only offers a single free hosting plan, but has three different plans to choose from. This is a first that I have seen for any free hosting site. All three plans have something different to offer. Before we get into what is different about the plans, lets cover what they have in common.

All plans offer either PostgreSQL or MySQL database, which is different, most hosting companies offer only one type of database. This is usually MySQL. Each plan also allows for PHP 4.3.11, and Perl 5.8.4. Python is also included on all plans. All have PHPMyAdmin, cPanel, and are hosted on a Linux server. That is where the similarities end.

Free Hosting With NO ADS

This plan is the first free plan that Profuse offers. With it you are going to get less features. This package will give you 200 MB of space and five gigabytes of transfer a month. You also get on FTP account, email account, and database. This plan also offers FrontPage extensions which most host are moving away from.

Free Hosting With Ads

The free hosting with ads is very similar to the first free plan, but you get some additional bonuses. You get ten times as much disk space. This will allow you up to two gigs of space, which is more then most sites will ever use. You also get twenty times the bandwidth, which would allow you 100 gigs of transfer. With this package you also have unlimited FTP accounts, email accounts, and even unlimited databases. You also get five sub domains, five parked domains, and five add on domains upon request. Some additional features you have are a free site builder and auto script install that do not come with the other hosting plan.

Post For Host

This free hosting plan is the first I have seen of it’s type. You receive free hosting based on how many posts you have in their forums. These post have to meet a minimum requirement, some of these requirements are that you can not spam the forums to get the 15 post a month, for each post to count you have to have at least 50 words in the post, and the post can not be copy and pasted. These seem reasonable request, but there are two other requirements that seem different. If you mention any products in your post, you must also link to the product. If you don’t link to that product then your post will not be counted. The other rule that is different is that you have to spell check, and not use short hand (ie cuz, b4, ur) when posting. If you misspell any word, or use short hand that post will not be counted either. If you meet the 15 post per month requirement, then you will get a hybrid of the first two plans. You will get the same two gigs of space that you would if your site had ads. For bandwidth you will receive 30 gigs. This is less then half of the bandwidth you get with the ads, but six times as much as you would without the ads. Just like the free hosting with ads, you will receive unlimited FTP accounts, email accounts, and databases. You also get the five sub domains, and parked domains. You do not have the option for any add on domains. You also get the site builder and auto script install feature.

The post for host plan is great for those who want the extra features, but don’t want ads on their site. While ads can be designed into a site, it allows designers not to stress over how the site will effect the look of the site. Over all I think that the variety of free hosting plans that Profuse offer are great. They allow you to choose what type of plan you would like, based on your needs, unlike some free hosting sites. The other thing that I like about Profuse is that on their front page they link to other sites that are using their free hosting. These sites seem to be using ever plan that they offer. This is helpful when looking for hosting sites, especially ones that are ad based. This gives you an idea of what type of ads are going to be place on your site.