NearlyFreeSpeech.NET
Encyclopedia
NearlyFreeSpeech.NET is a web hosting service
that provides low-cost services for low-use websites. It is unique in that it offers SSH
access to all its users, whereas most services charge a premium for this access.
intended to convey commitment to freedom of speech
by hosting sites for a cost that can be as low as 2 cents
, a pricing structure that is also intended as a play on words.
and storage pricing structure based on a complex formula to calculate fees: the cost of
GB on an account where 
GB have already been consumed.
Because of this pricing formula, Nearlyfreespeech.net's service is cost-effective for low-bandwidth sites and expensive for high-bandwidth sites. Bandwidth fees purportedly decrease as more bandwidth is consumed on an account, yet the service remains expensive for sites with high-bandwidth usage.
Nearlyfreespeech.net charges for other services such as domain registration, MySQL
, email
forwarding, DNS, domain contact management (to provide anonymity for users), support, and a fee of US$0.01 per day sites that use scripting.
Web hosting service
A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet...
that provides low-cost services for low-use websites. It is unique in that it offers SSH
Secure Shell
Secure Shell is a network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that it connects via a secure channel over an insecure network: a server and a client...
access to all its users, whereas most services charge a premium for this access.
Company name
NearlyFreeSpeech is meant as a double entendreDouble entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
intended to convey commitment to freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
by hosting sites for a cost that can be as low as 2 cents
My two cents (idiom)
"My two cents" and its longer version "put my two cents in" is an American idiomatic expression, taken from the original English idiom expression: to put in "my two pennies worth" or "my tuppence worth." It is used to preface the tentative stating of one’s opinion...
, a pricing structure that is also intended as a play on words.
Pricing structure
Nearlyfreespeech.net has a "pay as you go" bandwidthBandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
and storage pricing structure based on a complex formula to calculate fees: the cost of
GB on an account where GB have already been consumed.Because of this pricing formula, Nearlyfreespeech.net's service is cost-effective for low-bandwidth sites and expensive for high-bandwidth sites. Bandwidth fees purportedly decrease as more bandwidth is consumed on an account, yet the service remains expensive for sites with high-bandwidth usage.
Nearlyfreespeech.net charges for other services such as domain registration, MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
forwarding, DNS, domain contact management (to provide anonymity for users), support, and a fee of US$0.01 per day sites that use scripting.
Services and Features
- Variable bandwidth and storage fees: instead of buying "resource buckets", users pay for the resources their websites use. Fees are deducted from users' accounts in one-cent increments although funds are deposited in advance. Unused deposited funds are fully refundable at any time.
- SSHSecure ShellSecure Shell is a network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that it connects via a secure channel over an insecure network: a server and a client...
access for uploading and managing content, along with SFTPSSH file transfer protocolIn computing, the SSH File Transfer Protocol is a network protocol that provides file access, file transfer, and file management functionality over any reliable data stream...
, FTP, and SCPSecure copySecure Copy or SCP is a means of securely transferring computer files between a local and a remote host or between two remote hosts. It is based on the Secure Shell protocol....
support. - Unlimited number of sites per account and unlimited MySQLMySQLMySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
databaseDatabaseA database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s (extra 0.02USD per day fee required for MySQL). - Full server logs with automatic rotation and compression.
- Unique in the industry privacy policy.
- Sites are hosted on a clusterCluster (computing)A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely thus in many respects forming a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks...
, as opposed to a single serverWeb serverWeb server can refer to either the hardware or the software that helps to deliver content that can be accessed through the Internet....
. As a result, sites are not suspended for excess CPU usage resulting from increases in web traffic. - No service contract time commitment is required or even available.
Criticisms
- Transport layer securityTransport Layer SecurityTransport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...
and static IP addressIP addressAn Internet Protocol address is a numerical label assigned to each device participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing...
es are not possible. This is due to a company policy in response to IPv4 address exhaustion. Although an IPv4IPv4Internet Protocol version 4 is the fourth revision in the development of the Internet Protocol and the first version of the protocol to be widely deployed. Together with IPv6, it is at the core of standards-based internetworking methods of the Internet...
address can be shared by multiple sites, current web standards require a unique IP address for each HTTPSHttpsHypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with SSL/TLS protocol to provide encrypted communication and secure identification of a network web server...
site. (Also see Virtual hostingVirtual hostingVirtual hosting is a method for hosting multiple domain names on a server using a single IP address. This allows one server to share its resources, such as memory and processor cycles, in order to use its resources more efficiently....
) - ColocationColocation centreA colocation centre or colocation center , is a type of data centre where equipment space and bandwidth are available for rental to retail customers...
and dedicated hostingDedicated hosting serviceA dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting in which the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone. This is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations have full control over the server, including choice of operating...
are not possible. All customer sites are run on a network of "distributed, fault tolerant, load balancing shared servers." - Although .htaccess.htaccessA .htaccess file is a directory-level configuration file supported by several web servers, that allows for decentralized management of web server configuration....
files are allowed and most standard functions work as expected, it can not be used to block IP addresses, so it must be done separately. - Persistent processes are not allowed, although triggering a script with an HTTP request from an external server is a suitable workaround for tasks such as scheduled backups.
- Automatic HTTP compressionHttp compressionHTTP compression is a capability that can be built into web servers and web clients to make better use of available bandwidth , and provide faster transmission speeds between both...
is not supported, though in some cases a workaround is to rename HTML files to PHP and insert at the top of each, potentially using .htaccess (php_value auto_prepend_file "yourheader.php").