When it comes to web hosting for your site, you don’t always have to reach for your wallet. There are numerous free hosting services available that you can check out.
These free services are ideal for cash-strapped freelancers, and small businesses and startups that operate on a tight budget. You can thus save money while at the same time avail yourself reliable hosting to keep your website up and running all the time.
These free services are ideal for cash-strapped freelancers, and small businesses and startups that operate on a tight budget. You can thus save money while at the same time avail yourself reliable hosting to keep your website up and running all the time.
What are the 20 best free web hosting services?
Now, let’s take a look at these interesting stats on the web hosting industry provided by Websitehostinginsider.com:
- WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) and it powers 27.5% of websites.
- Each day, 50,000 new blogs are launched using the WordPress platform.
- GoDaddy is the top web hosting service with 21% market share.
- Slow websites cause losses of up to half a billion dollars each year. Plus, visitors will abandon a website if it loads slowly.
- There are nearly two billion websites on the internet as of June 2018.
Pros and Cons of Free Web Hosting Services
Before you decide to opt for a free service, take a look at their advantages and drawbacks:
Pros
- As mentioned earlier, the most obvious benefit is cost saving. The cost of paid hosting plans can add up over time. So if your budget is limited, free hosting is the ideal option especially if your website needs are basic.
- You don’t have to enter a contract. If you subscribe to a paid service, you will get tied up on a 1- or 2-year contract. If you are not happy with the quality of service or if your company winds down, you will not be able to terminate this contract midway and will have to pay the subscription amount for the entire period. You can avoid this unfortunate occurrence and consequent loss by opting for a free hosting service.
Cons
- The hosting service can pull their offering any time. They can decide to ask you to pay or even wind down their operations at short notice. If this happens all your hard work in designing your site, putting up the content, and generating success will be put at risk as your site will go offline.
- Another drawback is the free hosting provider may display inconvenient ads on your site. You will have no control over the type, location, and number of ads displayed on your site. In addition, some services impose restrictions on storage limit and performance which could affect your website and business.
Self-hosting can be expensive, while subscribing to a provider is less pricey. If your needs are basic, you can check the key features and attractions of the 20 best free web hosting services and select a suitable provider.
20 Best Free Web Hosting Services
1. Wix
Wix is a website builder software vendor that also offers a free web hosting plan. The free package includes 500MB storage and bandwidth, secure hosting, drag-and-drop editor, mobile site, and unlimited pages. Wix’s web hosting services are reliable, secure, and SEO-optimized. The best part is you can track and manage the performance of your site from a single dashboard.
We have placed Wix as no. 1 on our list because it is a progressive and popular free web hosting provider. Their hosting package includes support, online store functionality, hundreds of attractive templates and more. Another advantage is there will be no third party ads displayed on your site, only Wix promotions. In short, Wix allows you to create a great-looking site and get reliable hosting for it without paying a penny.
Why Select Wix?
- Great support. Get help via phone or email and access a well-stocked knowledge base full of useful training materials.
- Personalize your site. Customize and modify your site with your desired branding elements.
- Handles heavy traffic. No need to worry about increase in the number of visitors as Wix hosting can easily manage intense traffic on your site.
Should you feel you’re ready to opt for its paid plans, the vendor has a comprehensive test-drive offer if you want to check the features first. You can sign up for a Wix free trial here.
2. WordPress
WordPress is the most popular content management system and it powers about 27% all websites. We have included this provider in our list of 20 best free web hosting services because their free for life plan offers a WordPress.com subdomain, community support, and jetpack essential features. The most obvious reason to try this service is their established reputation which guarantees your site will be hosted without hassles or downtime.
Why Select WordPress?
- 3 GB storage space. You get ample storage space for your website.
- Basic design customization. Customize the design of your site according to your taste and needs.
- Dozens of free themes. Select from the wide range of themes to make your site more attractive.
3. Weebly
Weebly offers reliable and free web hosting besides site builder software. You get optimal performance thanks to the provider’s datacenter redundant, cloud-hosted infrastructure. This enables you to provide a delightful online browsing experience to your site visitors. Key features include 500 MB storage, SSL security, Weebly.dom subdomain, lead capture, and search engine optimization.
Why Select Weebly?
- Modern hosting service. Your site is served across the full server infrastructure that powers millions of sites and pageviews each day. Therefore, even if there is a spike in visitor numbers, your Weebly site will be able to accommodate them easily.
- Reliability. Your site loads fast and stays live under all conditions. This gives peace of mind and allows you to focus your time on important work.
- Dependable support. With the free plan you get chat and email support, and you can also contact the community forum members for assistance and guidance.
4. Jimdo
You can use Jimdo to build your website after which the provider will host hour site even if you use their free package. There is no need to pay separately for hosting. The vendor manages the whole process for you, allowing you to focus on developing your site and business and other important tasks. They take care of backups, security upgrades and all the technical details to ensure your website is protected and always available to visitors.
Why Select Jimdo?
- International service. If English is not your native language, opt for Jimdo as they have teams based all over the world to help customers.
- Access to HTML/CSS codes. If you have coding skills, you have the freedom to edit the codes for your template.
- Free forever. You can use the free service forever as there is no time limitation or pressure to change to a paid package.
5. Byethost
Byethost has a free hosting plan that includes features such as control panel, FTP account and file manager, free tech support, MySQL databases and PHP support, unlimited add-on domains, parked domains, and subdomains, no ads, clustered servers, and free community access via forums. This service claims on its website that it is the fastest free host in the world and displays a speed comparison graph to back its claim.
Why Select Byethost?
- Free hosting tutorials. Access these on the official website to boost your knowledge.
- Softaculous script installer. Installs more than 300 popular applications including leading social networks, online shopping carts, photo galleries, blogs, content management systems and more.
- Unlimited disk space and monthly transfer. You don’t have to worry about running out of storage space or bandwidth for your site.
6. Webnode
Webnode enables you to develop and run a website for free. With the free website, you get reliable hosting, professional customer support, and unlimited number of pages for your site. You also get a simple-to-use site builder that allows you to easily create a website by dragging and dropping elements such as photo galleries, blogs and others.
Why Select Webnode?
- Plenty of free tools. Webnode offers hosting, content management, site building, customer care, and hundreds of modern templates for free.
- No ads. The provider does not place annoying ads on your site.
- SEO marketing. Webnode offers support for advanced SEO methods, and automatically generates site maps and clean URLs.
7. AwardSpace
AwardSpace has free features that include 1 GB disk space, 5 GB monthly traffic, 1 MySQL database with 30 MB disk quota, short domains (dx.am), 1 domain and 3 subdomains, and 100% ad free. Plus, the vendor guarantees 99.9% uptime so you can safely trust that your site will be up and running most of the time. However, customer support is limited for the free plan.
Why Select AwardSpace?
- Free site builder. Create your own customized site to boost your business online.
- Email sending. You can create a free email account and send messages to your business partners and collaborators.
- Joomla and WordPress Installer. Effortlessly install popular apps such as Joomla, WordPress and more.
8. Angelfire
Angelfire has as been around since the time the internet was launched for popular use. It has been providing web hosting services since 1996. In addition to hosting, Angelfire offers services such as website tools, domains and email, newsletter management service, and site builder. If you need any help, login to the helpful community on their website to get assistance.
Why Select Angelfire?
- Service you can depend on. This company has been in operation since 1996 so you can rest assured they will provide reliable hosting for a long time.
- Avail site builder. They offer a site builder tool you can use to design your website quickly and easily.
- Reliable support. You can count on prompt support anytime via their help ticket system and they also provide system status updates.
9. Neocities
Neocities is a splendid free hosting service that is a match for any paid solution when it comes to uptime, speed, and reliability. All sites load fast as the vendor has ensured their infrastructure is top notch. Their operations are powered by their own caching CDN in 11 datacenters located around the world to serve customers’ websites. Plus, they provide full support for HTTP/2 and enforce robust SSL protection on all sites.
Why Choose Neocitites?
- No ads. Neocities will not put ads on your site as they are supported by users and donations. This is a big advantage offered by this free service.
- Developer tools. You get a host of tools such as APIs for creating developer apps, RSS feeds, command line tool, effortless file uploading, and in-browser HTML editor.
- Open source. The vendor publishes the code that runs the site for inspection anytime to earn the patronage and trust of users.
10. Tripod.com
Tripod.com offers a free plan that is ideal for new users as well as for personal sites created for family and friends. This package offers all the basic features of the service including the easy-to-use site builder. Other key features include 20 MB storage, 1 website, 5 themes, 2 plug-ins, and email support. In addition to hosting, the vendor also offers web publishing services.
Why Choose Tripod.com?
- Here to stay. Tripod.com is owned by the reputed internet company Lycos and they have been around the since the 1990s.
- Host of tools. You get additional applications such as the Trellix site builder for WYSIWYG page editing, photo album manager, and blogging tool.
- Email support. If you run into issues, contact their support team via email to get assistance.
11. uCoz
uCoz offers free web hosting along with a built-in CMS. You can use the CMS modules together to create a full-featured site or separately to build a web forum, blog, online shopping site etc. uCoz has been used to create more than a 1.5 million websites and this service is very popular among Russian-speaking users.
Why Select uCoz?
- Ample storage. You get 400 MB storage with the free plan.
- Free API access. This allows developers to customize the feature set and create their own apps and dashboards.
- Multi-language support. Support is offered in English, Russian, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Hungarian, and Romanian through a ticketing system as well as via a community forum.
12. FreeHostingEU
FreeHostingEU provides professional and free hosting service that relies on dependable cluster-based technology. The free package is ideal for small business websites as well as average personal sites. With the free plan, you get 200 MB web space, 5 short domains, 4000 MB of monthly data transfer, free Joomla and WordPress hosting, easy site builder tools, and simple-to-use control panel.
Why Select FreeHostingEU?
- No ads. There will be no annoying text ads, popups, or banners on your site.
- PHP, MySQL support. This allows you to install on your website a range of popular PHP applications such as Mambo, PHP-Nuke, Joomla, SMF forum, YaBB, phpBB, WordPress blog, osCommerce shopping cart and others.
- FREE .eu5.net domain. This is a good alternative to the official European domain name if your sought .EU domain is taken already. Another option is to use www.yourdomain.eu5.net as a free URL address for your site.
13. U Host Full
We have included U Host Full in our list of top 20 free web hosting services because it offers a full set of features including site builder, webmail, free SSH, free support, email forwarding, website traffic stats, import database feature, import website feature, FTP accounts, subdomains and more. The vendor provides PHP, MySQL hosting using clustered technology. They utilize robust and stable servers that use 1 GBPS internet connections.
Why Select U Host Full?
- 99.9% uptime. Your site will be up and running almost all of the time thanks to the impressive 99.9% uptime guarantee.
- Security tools. Protect your website with security measures such as spam filter, virus scanner, hotlink protection, and free backup tool.
- One click auto-installers. Install popular applications such as WordPress, Joomla, Mambo, b2bevolution and more with a single click.
14. Free Web Hosting No Ads
FreeHostingNoAds.net has been offering free hosting services since 2010. Their aim is to provide high-quality hosting for small business sites, blogs, forums, and personal websites for free. You get features such as 200 GB traffic, 20 GB space, free site builder, 3 PHP versions, POP3 email account, and no forced ads.
Why Select Free Web Hosting No Ads?
- Free HTML templates. You can select from and download hundreds of free web templates. Create an attractive website quickly and easily with your chosen template.
- Free subdomains. Build sites with short URLs such as MySite.t15.org.
- Free tools. These include WebMail to access your email online, phpMyAdmin to organize your MySQL database, control panel, site builder with loads of templates, and script installer to install widely used scripts such as Joomla, WordPress, and phpBB.
15. Free Virtual Servers
Free Virtual Severs was launched in 2004 and it has gone on to become one of the UK’s most popular providers of free web hosting with more than 55,000 customers. Besides free web hosting, they offer web design services, online storage, domain registration, and affordable hosting packages. With the free plan you get 100 MB web space, 1 GB bandwidth, 1 email account, and free site builder.
Why Select Free Virtual Servers?
- Own domain name. Use a full-fledged hosting account with your own domain name.
- Access to Weebly site builder. Choose from 24 predesigned themes and customize elements for your needs. Create a site that functions on desktop and mobile.
- Free cPanel. With this control panel, you can track your account usage, upload images to your website, and manage your FTP account, multiple domains, and email addresses and more.
16. 000webhost.com
000webhost.com has been in the hosting industry for 10 years and they offer a ton of useful free features including cPanel control panel, 1 GB disk space, 10 GB bandwidth, simple-to-use site builder, auto installer (Joomla, WordPress and more), full PHP and MySQL database support, and last but not the least, instant activation with no fees.
Why Select 000webhost.com?
- 99% uptime guarantee. You can rest assured your site can be accessed almost all the time.
- No ads. No need to worry about pesky ads on your site.
- Free tools and features. These include web file manager, FTP support, instant backups, 2 allowed websites, and cron jobs.
17. x10Hosting.com
x10Hosting.com offers loads of free features such as support for MySQL, email, FTP, and the widely used cPanel control panel. You also get more than 200 auto install scripts and a free site builder. In short, you get all the tools necessary to create a great site and build your business online. For assistance, you can contact the community of more than 750,000 members who are ever ready to answer your queries and guide you in the right direction.
Why Select x10Hosting.com?
- Vast experience. This provider more than 10 years experience in delivering stable and reliable hosting services.
- Unmetered bandwidth and disk space. This is a unique feature that sets apart this service from most of its competitors.
- High performance. The optimized cloud platform ensures your site doesn’t slow down if the number of visitors is high.
18. 5GBFree.com
5GBFree.com provides basic features suitable for newbies to web hosting and those who wish to host a site for a temporary time period. This provider has more than five years industry experience so you are in safe hands. Plus, their free hosting services are powered by Cisco infrastructure and efficient servers housed in a sophisticated datacenter in the US. With the free package, you get 20 GB bandwidth, 5 GB hosting space, FTP account, and a subdomain name.
Why Select 5GBFree.com?
- Your site is secure. 5GBFree.com’s servers are located in a Tier 4 data center with hi-tech security platforms, and redundant power and cooling.
- Forum support. You can contact the user forum to get help to resolve issues.
- No ads. No need to worry about inconvenient ads on your site.
19. Freehostia.com
Freehostia.com offers a free hosting plan called Chocolate which offers features such as 6 GB monthly traffic, 250 MB disk space, no setup fees, 24/7 customer support, 1-click free scripts installer and more. This package is ideal for personal and small business websites. You can experience and evaluate the service without paying a penny. Make use of the free plan for as long as you wish and if you need to upgrade to a paid package, you can do it instantly with a single click.
Why Select Freehostia.com?
- Reliable support. Features include 1-hour ticket/email response, integrated ticketing system, extensive online documentation, and video tutorials.
- Site management tools. These include multilingual control panel, file manager, FTP manager, website manager, password protected directories and more.
- Email features. Your email client is made more robust with tools such as SPF protection, anti-virus protection, spam filters, advanced email manager and more.
20. FreeWebHostingArea.com
Free Web Hosting Area has been around since 2005 so you can safely trust them. Your account will be active forever but your site must get at least a single visit each month. This provider allows users from all countries as long as the site content is legal. Free hosting generally has a bad reputation because of drawbacks such as bad support, poor features, slow servers, and disastrous uptime. But Free Web Hosting Area is different and provides reliable and high-quality services because they utilize fast multi-CPU dedicated servers with plenty of RAM and fast SSD disks. If you want more features, the basic paid plan costs just $1/month.
Why Select Free Web Hosting Area?
- Daily/weekly backups on external source. Your files will be secured and safe in case of emergencies like server crash.
- Unmetered traffic. You can accommodate a large number of visitors on your site.
- Control panel. Access your account and manage the features effortlessly.