Is free website hosting any good? Well, “free” is always good but not always worth it in the long run. Let me explain:
In short, if you want to run a test website, you’re not expecting to get much from it, and you don’t want to invest any money into it at all, then free website hosting might indeed work for you!
In 95% of other cases, you’re going to be better off with a cheap website hosting plan – no more expensive than $2.75 or even $1.99 per month (small businesses or online stores often choose something in this price range).
If you’re in a hurry, here’s a summary of our findings based on the analysis below:
Free website hosting is okay for a hobby project or a proof-of-concept type of project. It’s okay if you want to run a site for a short while, get your data and then shut it off.
For any sort of serious website building project or a site that’s meant to stay online for a long while, you’re better off with an affordable web hosting plan or even a pick from the very best web hosting services out there.
For example, Bluehost is our recommended self-hosted website server. If you check them out through our link, you’ll unlock a special discounted price of $2.75 / mo vs the $3.75 standard entry-level price. You also get a free domain name bundled in.
Alternatively, you might opt for an all-in-one solution. For example, Wix is a good choice for a quick start, covering both hosting and website builder in one place. Although there is a free plan, you can try any premium plan offering 14 days of money-back.
Want to get the full story? We compared 17 best free website hosting options to help you make your decision.
The limitations of free website hosting
In life, you tend to get what you pay for, and web hosting is no exception. If you choose the free hosting route, be prepared for some common issues that come along with it.
Even the best free hosting tends to be fairly unstable, which can result in downtime. Also, providers typically place restrictions on storage space and bandwidth, limiting your site’s growth and traffic capacity. Your personal website or business website may also have slow performance.
That said, there are times you may want to consider free hosting. For a personal project, it may be all you need. The same is true if you’re practicing your web design and web development skills and just want a space to try out new ideas.
Perhaps you’re setting up an area to test new plugins or themes. In that case, the limitations of free hosting shouldn’t be a barrier to what you want to accomplish. Of course, if you simply need a staging site, you may want to use a local development tool, such as Local, and not worry about hosting at all.
However, if you need a live site and don’t want to deal with the drawbacks of free web hosting, there are some affordable alternatives to consider. A cheap host can help you keep your budget low while avoiding poor site availability.
17 Best FREE Website Hosting Services
The good news is that you can test drive free website hosting at no cost to see if it might work for you. If you’ve decided to give it a try, here are 17 options to consider.
1. InfinityFree
InfinityFree is a free web hosting service that boasts a 99.9% uptime guarantee. It offers users:
- An auto-installer with more than 400 different apps, including WordPress
- Free subdomains
- 5 GB disk space
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 400 MySQL databases
- Knowledge base support
You’ll also have access to the Softaculous Script Installer to set up WordPress. This hosting service provider doesn’t offer domain registration, but you can use one you’ve acquired from another registrar.
Once your website is published, your visitors won’t see ads. However, there will be ads in cPanel on the back end. Your site is also limited to 50,000 hits per day.
2. Wix
Wix is a drag-and-drop website builder – similar to tools like Weebly or Squarespace; and yup, you don’t need to be familiar with PHP, like you do with other solutions (e.g. – Joomla).
However, we’re featuring Wix on this list because it’s kind of an all-in-one solution for both a website platform and server space to host that website. Since Wix does come with a free plan, this makes it a free website hosting service as well. This free website builder is a unique way to enjoy awesome site-building features backed by enterprise-grade reliability. On that free plan, you get:
- Wix.com subdomain
- Beautiful templates
- 500 MB disk space
- 500 MB bandwidth
- Global content delivery network
- Free SSL and security monitoring
- Knowledge base and customer support
- Decent load times
Unfortunately, if you’re expecting no ads, you will be disappointed. Just like most of the free web hosting providers, Wix places their own ads on free plan sites. You can only connect a Wix subdomain and would have to move to a paid plan for connecting a custom domain.
The eCommerce functionality is also unavailable in the free version. However, you can still set up things like bookings, events, and forums, and fill in your site with SEO-friendly content with just a few clicks.
3. ByetHost
ByetHost is another free hosting service that you could use. Its plan features:
- Five subdomains
- 1 GB disk space
- 50 GB monthly transfers
- One MySQL database
- 24/7 support via ticket system and knowledge base
ByetHost offers solid support for its free plan, which can be rare. You can access a self-service knowledge base and video tutorials, but a ticketing system is also available.
In addition, you’ll receive usage statistics such as disk space, bandwidth usage, and daily hits. You can find this data in VistaPanel, which is ByetHost’s free hosting control panel. Then, you can use the information to help budget your resources.
4. HyperPHP
HyperPHP is a free hosting and domain service for personal websites. Its plan offers:
- 1 GB disk space
- Free subdomains
- MySQL database
- Free tech support and community forums
HyperPHP offers a few ways to make launching a new website easy. Firstly, a free domain transfer is available. This host also offers an automatic script installer, which you can access through VistaPanel.
5. 000WebHost
000WebHost is a free hosting option from Hostinger. Some of its features include:
- One website
- 300 MB disk space
- 3 GB of bandwidth
- One MySQL database
- Community forum
000WebHost comes with the Zyro website builder, which should make designing your site less intimidating. Like InfinityFree, visitors to your website won’t see ads, but there will be ads in your WordPress dashboard.
Free hosting from 000WebHost doesn’t even require a credit card to set up, and you can use it as long as you like. Also, if you outgrow your free plan, you can easily upgrade to a cheap plan from Hostinger. Hostinger plans start at $1.99 / month for your first billing cycle.
6. Google Cloud Hosting
Google Cloud Hosting isn’t technically free. However, it does offer a one-year free trial that includes:
- One website
- Unlimited storage
- Extensive support documentation
While Google Cloud Hosting is tailored towards large businesses, anyone can use it. To get started, all you need is a Google account.
The free trial lasts for 12 months, or until you’ve used up the $300 credit it includes. After this, you only pay for the resources you use. Google offers a price calculator to help you estimate your costs.
7. AwardSpace
AwardSpace offers a variety of hosting services. It’s best known for its free plan, which includes:
- One website
- Three subdomains
- 1 GB disk space
- 5 GB bandwidth
- MySQL database
- 24/7 live chat
Awardspace includes one-click content management system (CMS) installation as well as the Zacky website builder. Also, the 24/7 live chat is available to free plan users if you have questions.
Once launched, your own website will be ad-free. Plus, you can place ads to monetize it. AwardSpace provides you with the ability to monitor your bandwidth usage as well, which may help you budget your resources.
8. Freehostia
Freehostia offers paid and free hosting. The free plan, called ‘Chocolate’, provides:
- Five websites
- 250 MB disk space
- 6 GB bandwidth
- One MySQL database
- FAQ and ticket support system
Freehostia’s cluster platform aims to offer more reliability from its free hosting. Hopefully, this results in less downtime for your website.
You’ll have access to a website builder complete with templates. If you run into issues, you can have an answer to your support ticket in one hour, even with the free plan.
9. FreeWebHostingArea
FreeWebHostingArea is a volunteer-maintained free hosting service. It offers:
- 1.5 GB disk space
- Unmetered traffic
- MySQL databases
- Free email support
10. W3Schools Spaces
Features of the free plan:
- Free templates
- Allow 500 requests/month
- Allow 100MB data and storage/month
- Free SSL
11. Glitch
Features of the free plan:
- Provide 4000 requests/hour
- The server processes 512MN of RAM
- Storage capacity 512MB
- Unlimited static sites
- Support import/export Github function.
12. Fleek
Features of the free plan:
- Support to edit domains
- Provide services https
- 3GB of storage
- Unlimited websites
- Automatically deploy on Git
- 250 minutes to build and 50GB of bandwidth
- Free SSL
13. Netlify
Features of the free plan:
- Automatically built from Git
- Deployed on the global edge network
- Bandwidth: 100GB/Month
- Number of websites: Unlimited
- Restorable to any version
- Provides a free CLI.
14. Render
Features of the free plan:
- 100GB/month for bandwidth and storage
- Lightning-fast CDN
- Can custom domain with full SSL functionality
- Automatically deploy on Git
15. Surge
Features of the free plan:
- Provides 404.html page functionality
- Unlimited websites and APIs
- Can custom domain
- Easy to deploy via CLI
- Unlimited websites.
16. Vercel
Features of the free plan:
- Improve website performance with Edge Network
- Unlimited websites and APIs
- Can custom domain with full SSL functionality
- Provides Serverless Functions
- 100GB bandwidth/month
- Automatically optimize images (1000 images for the free version)
17. Firebase
Features of the free plan:
- 10 GB of storage
- 360MB Bandwidth/day
- You can edit your website’s domain name
- Allows multiple pages to be added to the same project
- SSL support.
FAQs – Free Web Hosting
1. Is free web hosting reliable?
Answer : No, free web hosting isn’t reliable. Most free web hosting has absurdly limited resources and you’re also likely to run into multiple issues. This includes poor performance, complicated interface, compromised security, and ads on your website. Not to mention questionable terms of service.
2. Can I get free hosting and a domain?
Answer : Free hosting and domain is rarely possible, none of the providers here has such a deal. However, many hosts offer free subdomain hosting. You can choose a desired name for your site, but it will look something like this: desiredname.freehosting.com.
3. Can I use free hosting for selling online?
Answer : Yes, as long as you can host WordPress and install WooCommerce on your paid plan, it’s possible to sell online using free hosting. Yet, it’s extremely likely to cause many problems and potentially ruin the seller/buyer relationship. If your online store is always down or very slow, the buyers will simply go to more professional sites.
4. Can I host my own website?
Answer : Yes, you can host your own website if you have the tech skills and 100% uninterrupted network. It will require significant skills, technical know-how, resources, and time among other things. Plus, many Internet service providers also forbid personal hosting.
5. Does it matter where you host your website?
Answer : Yes. With a bad hosting provider, your website may be plagued with slow loading times, a lack of proper security, and extensive downtime. It’s really important to choose a web host with a discerning eye.
Conclusion
While your free web hosting platform might not be perfect, it can be a viable option in some scenarios. However, finding a quality provider that delivers on its promises is no easy task.
In this article, we shared our opinions on the 17 best free website hosting options available. You have nothing to lose by giving one a try. Our top pick in the category of best free web hosting is AwardSpace for its 24/7 live chat support and easy WordPress installation.
However, for any type of serious project, we recommend using at least a cheap paid shared hosting service. In our collection of cheap web hosting sites, you’ll find services that cost just a few dollars per month.
As we mentioned earlier in this post, you can get quality, affordable website hosting for $2.75 or even $1.99 per month