Microsoft and Google started offering free web hosting meant for small businesses. Both of them are in the beta stage right now. I signed up for both these services and tried them.
Microsoft Office Live Basics
You can sign up for the Microsoft Office Live Basics at http://www.officelive.com. There are 3 options -> Live Basics which is free before and after the beta, Live Collabaration free during beta/29.95 per month post beta, and Live Essentials free during beta/29.95 per month post beta. You can read more about all these products at http://officelive.microsoft.com/products.aspx. I just signed up for the free Live Basics option and that is what I will review here.
I signed into Live Basics using my Microsft passport account. You have an option of choosing a new domain name or transferring a domain. Microsoft does not charge for the domain or for the transfer. Their terms and conditions stated that they will pay for the renewal of the domain. I choose to transfer an existing domain I had hosted by another company. The transfer took about 48 hours and was relatively painless. Your experience may vary depending on which company is hosting your domain. You need to provide a credit card number during registration. Microsoft is asking for this to limit people signing up for multiple sites. They don't charge anything to your credit card. They also limit domains you sign up for -> 1 per credit card.
Here is what comes with Live Basics:
Template based web site design tool - Very easy to use. Cannot access the html or aspx code.
5 personalized e-mail accounts
30 MB of Storage and 10 GB data transfer
Web site traffic analysis and reporting tools
E-mail Support
This is sufficient for small businesses and individuals who need simple to use web design tools. There is no capability of editing the html or aspx. Microsoft states that they might include context sensitive ads after the beta.
Google Apps
You can sign up for Google Apps at http://www.google.com/a. This is meant for small business and sign up is not automatic. Google will send you an e-mail if you are accepted. In order to use google apps, you already need to own a domain. Once you qualify for the beta, google provides you instructions on setting up the CNAME [Canonical Name - this is to send users to your webpages hosted at google] and MX [Mail Exchange - for incoming and outgoing e-mail from/to your domain]. This involves some knowledge of how these parameters are setup by your current domain registrar. The domain registrar I used did not have an interface to modify these parameters. I had to send an e-mail and they didn't get right the first time. Needless to say, it took a while and it wasn't as painless as the Office Live signup experience.
Google Apps provides e-mail, calendar, instant messaging, and web site hosting.
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