Frequently Asked Questions

The NearlyFreeSpeech.NET FAQ (*)

General (*)

What's the most important thing to know about your service?

What's the most common mistake people make while signing up for NearlyFreeSpeech.NET?

Why do I have to enter my real name when creating a membership?

Can I beat your pricing if I get my own VPS?

How much does the average site really cost?

Do you provide email hosting services?

Is your service easy to use?

Do you provide DNS hosting services?

How many web sites can I host with a NearlyFreeSpeech.NET membership?

Do you register domain names?

How will I know if my account is about to run out of funds?

Why do you only offer prepaid service?

My web designer says I should use somebody else instead of you. What do you say?

Do you price-match your competitors?

How can you make money at these prices?

What is the minimum deposit?

Will you design my web site for me?

Do you offer collocation, dedicated servers, or VPS services?

What happens if I get slashdotted/reddited?

Typically, not much. Our system includes dynamic load-balancing and scalability so it can adapt quickly to dramatic changes in your traffic levels. (It is possible to create a site that's so inefficient that it can't keep up no matter what we do, but that's pretty rare.)

A major "slashdotting" (or insert the surge site of the week here) of a site hosted on our service will cost you (on average) less than $10, one time. There's no higher-tier pricing to get permanently pushed into, and we won't cancel you for having something to say that people actually want to hear.

This happens to one of our members about once a week, so you can bet we know how to handle it. Or rather, our systems do. Our load-adaptive clustering technology is at its best when handling demand surges, and our pricing is at its best when you'd prefer not to be billed based on a 1% event the other 99% of the time.

Note: Our service is based on science, not magic. It will not make slow sites run quickly, nor will it make sites scale if they aren't built for it. Your site must be able to complete requests at the same rate they come in. If it cannot, for whatever reason, then there is nothing our system (or any other) can do; you're gonna have a bad time. Please take this into account when designing sites intended for high traffic levels.

Are you about to pop up a "chat now with sales!" ad on me?

What if I want to set up a web site but don't have a domain name / don't want to fool with DNS?

Why don't you have a free tier?

What's the difference between bandwidth and storage?

Why doesn't your website look like other hosting provider sites?

Are your domain registration services intended for general-purpose usage?

What if my web site gets attacked?

Is your service only for controversial or extreme websites?

Should I set up my new small business website at NearlyFreeSpeech.NET?

Will you pre-approve my web site content or proposed use of your service?

How much will my site cost to host with you?

What kind of uptime can I expect with NearlyFreeSpeech.NET?

Is this cloud computing?

Where are you located?

Do you offer telephone support?

Someone else uses your service and wants my help with it. How do I help them?

Should I use NearlyFreeSpeech.NET or a VPS?