8 Best Free Website Hosting 2023

 

When we test free web hosting solutions, here’s what we focus on:

• Reliability. Finding free hosting can be somewhat compared to the Wild West – there are many options, but many of them only want to deceive you. I’ve personally tested the free hosting services listed below so that you can enjoy a real hosting service with peace of mind.
• Enough storage space and bandwidth for a simple site. You should know that you have enough storage space and that your website will not suffer from downtime due to insufficient bandwidth.
• Installing WordPress and other CMS. Basic website builders are good for some purposes, but your website may need more. The free web host you choose should offer easy installation of more advanced applications, particularly WordPress.
• Free features. A website builder, website templates, email hosting, image gallery, and other additional features allow you to create a website with minimal costs and complexities. Many of the selected hosts provide additional features at no extra cost.

1. Wix – Best Free Hosting Website Builder

Wix is one of the best website builders we rate, and for good reason. It provides more than 900 website templates to choose from, all of which are fully customizable. You can quickly create a professional website with a simple editor with mouse control – no coding skills are required here. In addition, Wix also provides web hosting in conjunction with the builder. In this case, we’ll want to mention Wix’s eternally free plan, although it does have some serious drawbacks. You won’t be able to connect your own domain name, your site will have mandatory ads, and storage and traffic are severely limited. Also, you will not be able to set up online payments. When you upgrade to Wix’s paid plan, you’ll get a lot more exciting features. Combo’s affordable ad-free plan raises the limits and provides a free domain name for a year. If you are serious about creating a website, then this is the best option. It also has a Connect Domain feature that allows you to connect your own domain, but it will still have a Wix ad. Another great advantage is the ability to display the Wix Editor and Dashboard in Russian language, which makes it even more comfortable to use.

Functions

• Free placement of elements on the site – other designers usually limit the creative mood by setting rules and a grid of placement. However, Wix allows you to place text, images, and other elements anywhere, so you can create a truly unique website.
• Wix App Store – There are more than 500 apps available in the Wix app store (the number of which is constantly growing), which will allow you to quickly expand the functionality of your site. Some of them are free to install and use, such as Wix Chat, Etsy Shop, and Google Adsense. Paid and free apps allow you to add an online storefront, marketing tools, a variety of social media widgets, and more.
• Easy SEO Setup – Wix’s SEO Setup Wizard helps you optimize your website for search engines. It creates a simple list of actions that will help your website appear higher in search engines. Aside from this, you can also add other Wix SEO apps to accomplish this task.
• Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) – Wix ADI’s free feature makes website creation even easier. After answering a few questions about the site you’re building, the features you need, and other features, Wix will automatically create a working site in a few minutes. After that, you can leave everything as it is or do more fine-tuning.

2.Hostinger – The Cheapest (and Fastest) Budget Hosting on the Market

Before we start talking about free hosting, you should at least consider Hostinger’s incredibly cheap hosting plans. The minimum price is ₽120 per month, and for that money you’ll get full-fledged hosting with a simple control panel (hPanel), round-the-clock live chat support, and automatic weekly updates. Hostinger will also provide you with high operational efficiency. During my tests, it processed web content faster than many other budget hosts. It turned out to be much more reliable than other services – in two months we practically did not notice any downtime in work. This speed and reliability is much higher than any free host, as well as most other budget hosts. But of course, Hostinger isn’t perfect. Support staff don’t always want to deal with complex issues, and instead send links to online documentation. However, this is a minor issue, especially considering that many free hosts don’t have support at all.

Functions

• Optimized platform for WordPress – Hostinger uses the LiteSpeed web server, which is quite good at speeding. It’s especially good for WordPress sites, and it works with the LiteSpeed caching plugin, which optimizes content for maximum efficiency.
• Strong security – Unlike many free providers, Hostinger takes your security seriously. You’ll be protected from DDoS and other attacks with firewalls and anti-malware solutions like BitNinja, Monarx, Cloudflare, and Imunify360.
• Advantageous Advanced Plans – Hostinger’s paid shared hosting plan costs only a few dollars more and still comes with a free domain name for a year and up to 100 email addresses and subdomains. This means that this is an even better offer compared to the initial Single tariff.
• Extensive Knowledge Base – Hostinger’s support can take a long time to respond, but it has a very detailed database with simple guides and instructions. Even complete beginners will be able to easily understand them.

3.000WebHost – Free Ad-Free Hosting with Good Features

000webhost is a free hosting service from Hostinger. The forever free plan comes with pretty good features, including 300 MB of SSD storage, 3 GB of bandwidth, and 99% uptime. But it doesn’t give you the free domain name, email account, premium support, and LiteSpeed web server available on Hostinger’s entry-level plan. However, 000webhost’s free plan works well for a first or test site — that’s probably what you’re looking for. Also, later, if necessary, you can get more features by upgrading to a paid plan. The paid plan is similar to Hostinger’s budget plans in terms of price and features, in part since the advertised paid plans are offered by Hostinger itself.

Functions

• Zyro Website Builder – With all 000webhost plans, including the free plan, you’ll get access to an easy-to-use website builder that supports Russian language. On average, it will take you about one hour to create and publish a basic site using the user-friendly templates of this service.
• Custom Control Panel – Some free hosts provide a control panel for a separate price, but with 000webhost, you don’t have to worry about that. It provides a free built-in dashboard with flexible settings, allowing you to easily manage your account and website.
• Developer support – the service supports PHP, MySQL, Curl, GD2, Zend, XML, fopen(), PHP Sockets, Ioncube Loader, .htaccess and much more without any restrictions on both paid and free plans.
• WordPress autoinstaller – want to create a WordPress website? You can start creating one in a few minutes – 000webhost’s plans support WP and provide an auto-installer for this platform.

4. IONOS – Paid Features at a Very Low Introductory Price

IONOS is an interesting service that focuses on low upfront price and flexible resources. And it does have very low prices – the IONOS Plus plan costs only ₽60.50 per month when you subscribe for a year. With all of IONOS’ paid hosting plans, you’ll also get ad-free hosting, a free wildcard SSL certificate, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Your site will be protected with daily automatic backups and backups in several data centers, which ensures the security of content. This means that for a very small fee, you will get access to all the premium features that are not available on any free hosting. What’s the catch? The fact is that the excellent price for IONOS is valid only for the first year of hosting, and after renewal, it will increase significantly. In the long run, all of its plans will be more expensive than Hostinger’s.

Functions

• Scalable resources – if you want to increase the loading speed of your site, most providers will have to switch to a different hosting plan for this. IONOS allows you to expand resources for a small fee, which means you don’t have to pay for additional features and unnecessary resources.
• Free domain name – even on the cheapest IONOS plan, the domain name is free for a year. At the end of the first year, you will have to pay full price, but it will only be a small annual fee.
• Personal advisor – all clients are assigned a support employee who will be the first to help you if necessary. An employee will be happy to help you with any question regarding web hosting, which will be very useful for beginners.
• On-the-go hosting management – IONOS provides a free mobile app that allows you to manage your website from anywhere. It has a simple and intuitive application. With it, you can even access the MyWebsite builder and edit the design of your website.

5. FreeHosting – Flexible & Free Web Hosting

FreeHosting stands out for its relatively high resource limits. Unlimited speed and 10 GB of storage are much more than the offerings of other free hosts. Unlike many free hosting providers, FreeHosting does not provide a subdomain (e.g. freehosting.com/yourusername). This has both advantages and disadvantages. Your website will look more professional with your own domain name, but then again, domain names cost money. If you don’t have a domain on another hosting yet, you’ll have to pay to get started. It may be more profitable for you to pay for an introductory plan from Hostinger or IONOS with a free domain name, but if you already have a registered domain name, you can simply connect it to a site on Freehosting.

Functions

• cPanel – the popular cPanel with support for the Russian language is available on a free plan and allows you to change the settings of the interface for working with hosting. You’ll also get access to the Softaculous app installer, which allows you to easily install over 400+ apps.
• Apache/PHP Management – FreeHosting provides all the features of PHP. Also, if necessary, you can configure Apache.
• Paid features available – Notably, FreeHosting allows you to purchase premium features for a one-time fee, such as SSH access, subdomains, SSL certificates, and more. Also, there are absolutely no ads on the free plan.
• Free email – you’ll get one email address on your plan you@yourdomain.com with the option to buy more email addresses if needed.

6. GoogieHost – 100% Cloud-Based Productivity Service

If you’re looking for free shared web hosting with good performance, then GoogieHost might be a good solution. Of course, it’s not a good idea to compare its hosting service with Hostinger and other paid services, but GoogieHost is quite capable of beating most free competitors. GoogieHost uses subdomains, just like many other free hosts. However, if you have your own domain name, you can connect it. This plan is ad-free, and you’ll get access to anti-malware protection and a SitePad website builder. Due to the ability to host only one free site, GoogieHost conducts checks and checks users for system fraud, so it may take some time to confirm a free account. If the system decides that you have multiple accounts, you will be banned from the platform – and you will lose your site.

Functions

• LiteSpeed Web Servers – Like Hostinger, GoogieHost uses LiteSpeed web servers to improve operational efficiency. Thanks to this, WordPress sites will be able to use the LiteSpeed Cache speed enhancement plugin.
• NVMe SSD Storage – GoogieHost provides 10GB NVMe SSD storage, which is more efficient than conventional SSDs and HDDs.
• Free SSL Certificate – To protect your site, you will receive a free SSL certificate. Your visitors’ data will be safe, and search engines will consider your site reliable, which will allow you to rise slightly in search results.
• Cloudflare CDN – With the free plan, you’ll also get access to Cloudflare’s Content Delivery Network (CDN). With it, visitors from other countries will load the site faster, while it provides a certain level of protection against DDoS attacks.

7. AwardSpace – Host Multiple Websites for Free

AwardSpace allows you to run up to four sites on one free account, but three of them can only be subdomains. This will allow you to host subcategories or affiliate sites of the main site. You will also get an automatic firewall that will protect your site from malicious attacks. That’s not a bad deal, but AwardSpace’s free plan doesn’t have an important security attribute — an SSL certificate is only available on paid plans. And with AwardSpace, you’ll only be able to use two CMS options – WordPress and Joomla, which can severely limit your options. Considering the other free hosting services from our review, this can be called a big drawback. However, you’ll get free access to Zacky’s own website builder on both free and paid plans. With it, you will be able to create your website without ads without any costs.

Functions

• Instant account activation – AwardSpace has a very simple registration process. You will be able to activate your account in just a few clicks, after which you can start creating a website. You can also get started faster by signing in with your Facebook or Google account.
• 50 Gbps network – despite the relatively low monthly limit of 5 GB, you, like paid users, will get access to a 50 Gbps network. This allows for a more efficient network operation compared to most other free hosts.
• Simple Control Panel – If cPanel seems a bit complicated to you, then AwardSpace is ready to offer you its own control panel, which may be easier for you to work with. It has a customizable main panel, and you will be able to pin most of the functions you use in a place that is convenient for you.
• Anti-spam and anti-malware protection – you will receive one email address along with the domain and always free protection against viruses and spam.

8. Kamatera – Incredibly Flexible Cloud Infrastructure with Free Trial

Do you doubt that free and almost free hosting will allow you to create the project you have conceived? A free trial might be more suitable for you, with which you can test out more comprehensive plans without having to pay upfront. Kamatera’s free trial is one of the best on the market. You can test one of the cloud VPS hosting plans for free for 30 days and see if it suits you. Both cloud and VPS hosting plans provide a minimum of 5 TB of traffic and 20 GB of SSD storage, which will allow you to host sites with high traffic. This host also provides a wide range of services, such as managed hosting, daily backups, and application hosting. That being said, when you sign up for Kamatera, you’ll get access to a free website builder, templates, and even a pre-installed server launcher. To run the server, you will need knowledge at the sysadmin level, or you can pay extra for management support.

Functions

• Worldwide servers – You’ll be able to choose from servers in the US and Europe, as well as Israel, Canada, and Hong Kong.
• Highly flexible plans – With Kamatera, you can choose exactly what you want, from OS to storage. You will be able to choose from 20 to 16,000 GB of storage, 1-524 GB of RAM and 1-4 public IPs.
• 99.95% uptime guarantee – Kamatera promises to do everything possible to keep your website running. And if problems do arise, you will be compensated for the damage.
• Advanced Security Features – Protect your site from attacks with DDoS protection, antivirus, and a cloud firewall, but again, you need to know how to set up and maintain a virtual server, and many of these services cost extra money.

Free hosting services can be used, but don’t forget about the limitations

Good free hosting does exist, but for a small surcharge you can get a much better level of services. Free hosts are suitable for personal projects or prototypes, but if you want to provide your audience with reliable access to the site, I recommend choosing a high-quality budget host. Still not convinced? I’ll put in my two cents: If you really need a free solution, I recommend Wix. It’s currently one of the best website builders on the market that, thanks to its flexibility and user-friendliness, will help you create something unique. The forever free plan has its limitations, but as you progress, you can easily upgrade to the paid version. If you’re looking for the cheapest long-term solution, I recommend Hostinger. The minimum price is lower than most competitors even after renewing for a second year, making Hostinger one of the most budget-friendly solutions on the market. But best of all, it provides quality work at the level of more expensive competitors. If you’re looking for a temporary free solution, go for 000webhost. It has a completely satisfactory free plan, from which you can quickly upgrade to the paid version later. You’ll also get access to other free bonuses, including a custom control panel, a website builder, and a WordPress autoinstaller.

FAQ

What is the best free host?

I recommend Wix. On the forever free plan, you’ll get access to a huge collection of templates and all the tools for creating and editing a website – you’ll be limited only by traffic and storage. Despite the mandatory advertising, you will use a reliable service that is better than most free hosting. More information about Wix is available in my in-depth review above. That said, if you’re serious about your website, free hosting probably won’t work. The last thing you want is a site that doesn’t work all the time or takes forever to load. These days, Hostinger’s plans start at ₽120 per month, so there’s really no need to compromise on low-quality hosting.

Is it safe to use free hosting?

Some free hosts offer very basic security features, but in most cases, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan just to get an SSL certificate. If you plan to store any sensitive data on the site, free hosting is not the best choice. Hostinger offers a high level of security, including a free SSL certificate, and it’s very cheap — more information is available in my review above

Is it worth paying for hosting?

While it’s possible to get basic web hosting for free, the paid version doesn’t compare to it in terms of functionality. A paid hosting plan will offer much better performance and reliability, and you won’t have to deal with constant downtime or annoying ads. You can also connect your own domain name instead of settling for an awkward subdomain (most hosts give away a domain name for free for the first year of subscription). To get started, check out Hostinger’s best almost free hosting.

Does the location of the site be hosted matter?

Yes. If you have a bad hosting provider, your website will always have load time issues, poor security, and long downtimes. It is very important to choose the right web host. If all of this sounds new to you, Wix’s free and beginner-friendly plan with a web builder. All plans (both free and paid) have access to a website builder, which is one of the easiest to use. And you can also test it for free before registering and creating a website.