We searched the web and selected fifteen free website hosting platforms. Then we dug further and zeroed in on seven best free web hosting by paying attention to many factors including available features, cost, customer support, and upgrade options. We studied all these hosts after signing up and creating our websites on each. This helped us judge metrics such as uptime and average load time.
The best free web hosting service received the full 10 points in each category, while the worst received one. Finally, we totaled each host’s score to produce our definitive top-7 ranking.
When you first think of starting a website, you’d most probably want to start with a free web hosting platform.
Free web hosts are quite popular as they allow you to save money and build a reputation without having to invest anything. But, it’s not as simple as it looks on paper. They’re not always what they appear to be. Some free hosts may not even be right for all sites due to restrictions and limitations they come with.
Finding the right option can be troublesome but worry not as we have done the hard work for you. Let’s know seven of the best free web hosting sites.
Hostinger launched in 2004 and has since reached a user base of over 29 million customers across 178 countries. More than 15,000 new users are signing up every day.
It provides its customers with shared, cloud, and VPS hosting. Its Single shared hosting package includes one website, one email account, and 100GB bandwidth for $0.80 a month. Elsewhere, the company’s cloud-based hosting starts at $7.45 a month.
The basic package features a dedicated IP, 40GB storage, 3GB RAM, and unlimited data. Hostinger offers six VPS hosting options, from as little as $3.95 a month. That gets you 20GB storage, 1,000GB data, and a 2.4GHz CPU.
000WebHost is our number one pick for a lot of reasons. It’s one of the first free hosting platforms and is known for not limiting the number of accounts a user can have.
With over 18,000,000 websites hosted on the platform, 000WebHost is among the top free web hosting tools with a history of more than ten decades. However, it may not be very reliable as it’s known to be offline for 60 minutes a day despite promising a 99.9% uptime.
There’s a limit on the size of files you can upload through the File Manager. They cannot be bigger than 32GB, which may not be enough for most users. However, there’s no such limit when you use FTP to upload files.
Other than this, the platform does not offer backups when you host your site for free. This is a big risk as the hosting provider was under a major attack in 2015 when the data of over 13,000,000 users was leaked.
Moreover, the customer support is also bad as there’s no live chat or email option available. And most importantly, the platform goes down for one hour due to maintenance. This may not be a perfect thing if you’re trying to build an audience since sites need to be up 24/7.
000WebHost is known for free services, but it offers paid features as well, starting as low as $0.80/month. The package comes with a free domain name, 24/7 support from the team, email account, and 30-day money back guarantee.
This one offers a bandwidth of 100 GB, but if that’s not enough, then you can try a more expensive option at $2.15/month. It comes with weekly backups and unlimited bandwidth.
InfinityFree is a new name in the industry with only 200,000 customers to boast of, but it’s fast becoming a go-to option when it comes to free web hosting options.
It is very feature-rich and offers excellent up-time as well that too at a decent speed. It’s so good you may have a hard time believing it is free.
While the website promises unlimited space and bandwidth, you may face some restrictions that appear to differ from user to user. Moreover, it only allows a maximum of 50,000 daily hits. Other than this, there are limitations on the type of files you can upload on the site. Check out the guidelines to be sure.
The company seems to be very stringent as well and may not think twice before suspending or terminating your account if you do not follow the guidelines. This can be very risky since there are no backups offered.
The company offers premium hosting that comes with free SSL certificates, cPanel, free tech support and 24/7 customer support, free migration, and 250 GB of bandwidth. It’s available for as low as $2.99 per month.
If this bandwidth is not enough for you, try the Ultimate package for $5.90. It offers several unlimited features including unlimited bandwidth.
x10Hosting promises to provide users with a free “full web hosting suite” and appears to be doing quite a good job at fulfilling the promise. It is one of the few free hosting providers to offer unlimited storage and bandwidth.
With over ten years in the business, x10Hosting is now considered to be a respectable platform to host sites for free. It offers quite good uptime, and the speed is also good.
It also offers an excellent cPanel with the ability to install over 30 apps with just a click. However, it does have a few issues.
From the front, this one appears to be the solution to all your problems, but like most other options, it also comes with a few limitations. The biggest issue is a lack of email address, which can be a big problem if you intend to have a professional site.
Other than this, the customer support is also not very good as the only way to get help is via a public forum. It may take a while to hear back from experts.
You can opt for a premium package that starts for as low as $6.95/month and comes with 24/7 support, improved performance and 99.9% guaranteed uptime, automatic backups, and a bunch of free SEO tools.
However, if this is not enough, then you may opt for a long-term contract. Signing up for at least 2 years brings the price to $4.95/month with other advantages including a free domain (each year), free dedicated IP address, and free SSL certificates.
If this is expensive and you’re planning for the long-term, you may opt to signup for at least three years. This will bring down the price to $3.95.
With over 15 years of history and 2.5 million users, AwardSpace is quite reliable free web hosting platforms out there. It offers features that very few free hosting providers do. This includes one free email account and 24/7 support.
AwardSpace offers a lot but fails when it comes to space and bandwidth as 1GB of space may not be enough for most users. In addition to this, some of the available features come with limitations. For example, there’s no email forwarding, and you can access emails only on the browser-based version of the tool.
The platform is quite reliable and safe thanks to firewall protection, but it doesn’t offer any backup. Another major issue is some conditions in their contract that give AwardSpace permission to sell your data to third parties. This can be a huge problem for some users.
The company offers a wide range of premium services including shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS Cloud hosting, Semi-dedicated hosting, and SSL certificates.
The cheapest shared hosting program starts for as low as 2.79 Euros and offers some fantastic features including unlimited space with better speed and security. If this is not enough, you may opt for a more expensive package and enjoy a free do
FreeHostia is known for load-balanced servers that allow the company to offer exceptional loading times and uptime.
Its customer service is also quite good, and you will not have to wait for days to hear back from a representative. Another bright spot is the ability to host five domains and enjoy up to three free email accounts. However, despite all this, it’s not a perfect platform as it comes with a few limitations.
Its biggest limitation is the limited disk space. 250 MB is not enough for most users. It is in no way suitable for websites that contain a lot of content, especially visuals as they take a lot of space.
In addition to this, the bandwidth is not very good either. You’ll have to opt for a paid program if your website picks up steam.
Paid packages start for as low as $1/month. You enjoy 30GB of disk space with 1 TB of monthly traffic, in addition to a 99.9% uptime guarantee. However, that’s not the company’s only premium package.
It offers dedicated servers for as low as $65/month with the most expensive option available at $149.95/month. This may sound a lot, but the company offers discounts if you signup long-term plans.
With over 15,000 customers and 10 years in the business, FreeHosting.com is considered quite a big name. This European company offers a bunch of features but can be quite difficult to get into due to its complex policies. You need to meet its stringent requirements to be able to use it.
We suggest that you go through the Terms of Service in detail before you sign up.
FreeHosting.com’s unmetered bandwidth is its biggest strength, but a lack of space (10GB) can be quite a hurdle for some users. Other than this, the Fair Use Policy is also a bit complex as you run the risk of losing your account.
Moreover, the company does not offer subdomains, and the customer service is also quite bad as your only option to get a response is to open a ticket that may take a while to get acknowledged.
Another big problem you may face is slow load time. Some websites hosted on the platform may take about 2 to 3 seconds to load, which is pretty slow. Moreover, uptime is also not guaranteed. In fact, 53% of users will leave a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
You can either buy add-ons for a lifetime or choose a premium package that starts as low as $7.99 and comes with a 30-day money back guarantees.
You will enjoy unlimited disk space and bandwidth, free SSL certificate with subdomains as a paid customer. Other benefits include PHP networking, multiple email accounts, more MySQL databases, ability to back up your data, detailed stats, and faster servers.
Web Hosting Provider | Reliability | Uptime | Load time | Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. Hostinger | 9/10 | 99.97% | 384 MS | 4.6/5 |
2. 000WebHost | 8/10 | 99.16% | 424 MS | 4.0/5 |
3. InfinityFree | 8/10 | 98.19% | 306 MS | 3.8/5 |
4. x10Hosting | 7/10 | 97.81% | 410 MS | 3.5/5 |
5. AwardSpace | 7/10 | 99.17% | 1111 MS | 3.1/5 |
6. FreeHostia | 6/10 | 99.21% | 1168 MS | 2.7/5 |
7. FreeHosting | 6/10 | 93.61% | 1596 MS | 2.4/5 |
Unlike other projects of this nature, we signed up for a free hosting service from each of the providers on this list.
We also analyzed their terms of service to root out any hidden or unfair clauses. We used each service until we knew it inside and out. We noted how easy it was to sign up, navigate the back-end system, and install WordPress. We also set up test websites, monitoring server uptime and the time it took for pages to load.
Finally, we rated each free web hosting provider on a scale of one to ten for uptime, load time, features, support, and reliability. We totaled up each service’s score and ranked them accordingly.
It’s essential that you do a bit of research even if you plan to start a website for free. Here are a few things to consider before selecting a free hosting platform:
This is the most crucial factor. What’s the point of having a website if it doesn’t load at all or takes too long to load?
Most free hosting platforms are known for horrible uptime and slow performance. It’s quite understandable why this happens. They want you to buy paid hosting and dedicate a larger part of their resources towards paid programs.
Plus, it’s a difficult situation when thousands of sites are hosted on one server. Resources get divided among a big pool of users, and everyone gets only a small share.
This may sound like a long shot, but there are chances of companies going out of business for one reason or the other. Of course, this can happen even if you opt for a paid hosting program, but with most paid hosting, you will get a chance to transfer your site to another hosting provider or download a backup. Such luxury is usually not available in the case of free hosting and you may end up losing all your data.
Moreover, there’s also the risk of the hosting provider terminating your account over breach of service or other such causes. Many companies are known to do so without warning.
Cyber crimes are common, and everything that you put online is at risk. Most free hosting providers do not offer the right kind of security which does put not only your site, but also your data at risk.
The provider may not take responsibility if your website gets hacked and in case it’s the provider that’s under attack, you may have no option at your disposal but to take the hit.
Despite all the pluses, free hosting is not a very good option if you are serious about building an online presence or having your website. Think of five things you will need to have a successful site:
Little to no free hosting servers offer such high performance as most only seem to be making tall claims.
Most free hosting providers offer no security tools, and some even do not provide SSL certificates, which are a necessity if you wish to find success on the web.
Free hosting sites are infamous for offering poor customer support. You may have no way out if you ever get stuck.
You will need WordPress, payment gateways, etc., to host an ecommerce site or a professional platform. This may not be possible when you host your site on a free host due to the limitations and a lack of features.
These are some of the reasons why it may be a good option to give free platforms a miss. While it may look enticing to start with a free hosting package and then move to a paid version, it may not always be a good idea since most free hosting providers may not allow you to migrate to a different platform.
There is only one alternative to free hosting and that is paid hosting. Do not let the term confuse you. Paid hosting does not have to be expensive. You can find several best cheap hosts.
They go for as low as $10 per month. You can choose from a variety of providers such as Hostinger, Bluehost or GreenGeeks. Check out our list of best cheap web hosting platforms and pick one.
Most of the companies even offer free web domains and come with excellent features including SEO tools, security measures, high performance, website builders, in-depth stats, and excellent customer support.
Free hosting sounds like a good idea only until you use it. Once you get your site up and running, you will have to face several challenges with the poor loading speed and limited uptime being the most glaring issues. You may even not be able to host-specific sites on free platforms due to stringent terms and conditions.
It is better to start with a paid platform. They’re not all very expensive, and most of them offer money-back guarantees.
We hope this guide helps you come to an informed decision. What do you think of our top-7 ranking? Do you have any experience with any of the providers featured in this review? Let us know!