Best Free File Hosting Sites and their Premium Packages
If you are searching for free file hosting sites, then your search will terminate here, because I have brought exactly what you need for your file hosting. There are many websites on the Internet which offer their services free for their subscribers. But most of these sites offer minimum resources, such as storage space, bandwidth, downloading speed for files, storage duration etc., for its free members. Some of the sites are awesome which provide best features like premium sites, for their free subscribers. i.e. they provide a considerable web storage space, more bandwidth and the most important, I have brought three best sites for you which allow hotlinking of files.
What is hotlinking?
Hotlinking or directlinking of files allow you to provide a download link of your files on your blog or website. When someone clicks to download the files on your site or blog page, the file is downloaded directly and the visitor is not redirected to the file hosting site. It is necessary for Blogger users as they usually don’t have enough space to store large files. If you are blogging on Blogger, one of these sites is ideal for you. Give a professional look to your blog by adding hotlinks to your files for free.
Should you trust on free hosting?
When you have to store important files online, then you should not trust on free hosts. Because it is not guaranteed that the host will keep providing its services. Your data may be deleted or even your account may be suspended. So selecting free hosting for important files is not recommended. If you are going to provide the download of different files (software, music etc.) on your blog, then you can choose one of these depending on your needs. Select the one, which best suites your needs. Below is the list of four awesome free hosts.
Kiwi6
Kiwi6 is a USA site, based in Texas and is the best file hosting site of present time which allows hotlinking. We can’t expect more than what Kiwi6 gives for free accounts. It can be said that the free services of Kiwi6 are better than many premium sites on the Internet. The free users are given unlimited storage space and bandwidth for MP3 files while 2GB storage space, 100MB maximum file size and 30GB monthly hotlinking is allowed for other file types. You can embed MP3s in your web pages using the tiny Flash MP3 player of Kiwi6. The best idea for bloggers is to create multiple accounts on Kiwi6 and then upload and link files to your blog. When your 30GB monthly hotlinking limit reaches, then your visitors are redirected to the file on Kiwi6 and your visitors can download the file from there. Kiwi6 allows the maximum download speed for the visitor and downloads can be resumed too. Additionally you can make your files either public or private. Currently, the files on Kiwi6 are not deleted on inactivity like other sites. Visitors should delete their useless files themselves in respect of the great services of Kiwi6.
You can also signup for a premium account on Kiwi6. Premium accounts are currently (August 2012) priced as under:
Kiwi6 Silver 60GB storage and 100GB/month hotlinking for $8/month
Kiwi6 Gold 60GB storage and 250GB/month hotlinking for $15/month
Kiwi6 Platinum 60GB storage and 1000GB/month hotlinking for $59/month
The maximum individual file size for all premium accounts is 4GB. Other important features for premium accounts are premium statistics, automatic backups, link analysis and password protected download of files.
Mediafire
Mediafire is yet another US website, based in Houstan, Texas and is the most popular file host of present time. It provides 50GB space and unmetered bandwidth for free users. The maximum individual file size limit is upto 200MBeach, but Mediafire doesn’t allow hotlinking of files on free accounts.
Most bloggers use Mediafire as their host due to its good services. Before choosing Mediafire as your host, keep it in mind that the illegal files (software with serial numbers, movies and music albums soon after their release) are occasionally deleted when they are noticed on Mediafire. According to Mediafire policy, the long term storage of files for free accounts is limited.
Premium accounts in Mediafire are best for professionals. Two premium packages are currently offered by Mediafire which are Pro ($9/month) and Business ($49/month). The features of current (August 2012) premium accounts are listed below:
Pro 250GB storage space, 4GB maximum file size and 25 customized links to folders (https://mediafire.com/youruniquefoldername)
Business 1000GB storage space, 10GB maximum file size, 100 customized links to folders, 5 additional users on the account, unique custom domain (yourname@mediafire.com), and detailed security log.
Following features are come with both premium packages:
Secure backups, detailed download statistics, download of entire folders, priority email support and filedrop uploader.
In Mediafire, files can be made either public or private. You can also password protect your files. Additionally, the site allows maximum download speed for files and download can be resumed.
OpenDrive is yet another file host which offers hotlinking. You have to place a link or banner of OpenDrive on your blog or web page to activate hotlinking. For free users, the site offers 5GB storage, 100MB maximum file size, 1GB/day bandwidth and maximum download speed of 200 KB/s. The good thing about OpenDrive is that you can manage your files types (videos, pictures, documents, audios and other file types) in a very comfortable way. You can embed MP3s and videos in your web pages and can provide direct link to download the files from your blog or website too.
Premium accounts of OpenDrive are also good in features and price. Detail about these accounts is given below:
Home Plan Price: $5/month or $50/year, 100GB storage, 1GB file size, 25GB/day bandwidth, 3 user accounts, file encryption, auto syncing and backups.
Office Plan Price: $15/month or $150/year, 500GB storage, 3GB file size, 100GB/day bandwidth, 5 user accounts, custom branding, file encryption, auto syncing and backups, file versioning
Pro Plan Price: $25/month or $250/year, 1TB storage, 5GB file size, 250GB/day bandwidth, 7 user accounts, custom branding, file encryption, auto syncing and backups, file versioning and online support. All premium accounts have hotlinking and unlimited computer accesses.
Custom Plan The uniqueness of OpenDrive is that it offers you to create your own plan.
FileDen offers 1GB storage, 100MB maximum file size and 5GB/month bandwidth. Hotlinking is allowed on all files. For larger files, FileDen free accounts are not recommended. You can place tiny files on FileDen and link them to your blog which could consume less space and bandwidth, otherwise your large files will consume your limited 5GB monthly bandwidth soon and your downloads will stuck. You can use FileDen for personal storage or for the storage of small sized files.
Premium account at FileDen gives 15GB storage, 1GB maximum file size and 150GB/month bandwidth. Hotlinking is available for all files.
Conclusion:
Kiwi6 is the best free host. You can get 30GB monthly directlinking for your files free. After exhaustion of bandwidth, your visitor will be redirected to Kiwi6 for downloading, like Mediafire. Mediafire is good for cloud storage as it allows 50GB storage for free accounts.
When we talk about the premium plans of the above hosts, Mediafire is best among all as it provides unmetered bandwidth. Kiwi6, OpenDrive and FileDen are offering less bandwidth which is a crucial issue for bloggers and website owners.
I hope this list will work for you while selecting your free or premium host. Best of luck!!