If you’re looking for the right (and free) hosting provider for your website, the first question might go somewhere along the line ‘Is free web hosting any good?’
Well, today, we’re here to answer that for you. Continue reading on to learn more about free web hosting and find out which top 5 services made it to our best free website hosting services list.
Are Free Hosting Sites Good?
A good web presence is essential for all businesses, and to establish this presence, the first step is to have a website, which requires a reliable hosting server.
So, what does “reliable” imply? Does it mean paid hosting is the more reliable option compared to free web hosting?
Not necessarily. Free website hosting is still an excellent and reliable option, especially if your budget is unable to meet the expense of paid hosting. Plus, with free hosting sites, you’re more or less getting the same port speed, network bandwidth, and security as paid hosting.
The differences normally fall on the features such as data transfer, more email accounts, additional disk storage, more scripting support, and more. Although these are important features free web hosting services may lack in, it still does not diminish the usefulness and usability of free hosting sites.
This is because the features (although limited) provided by free hosting sites are sufficient enough if the business structure is small or new. So, the usability of free hosting sites is somewhat subjective. However, in the general sense, free hosting sites are still an excellent free platform, especially for business newbies on a strict budget.
How to Host Website for Free
If you’re looking for a free web host, an online hosting service provider is your best bet. Free hosting service providers are an excellent alternative to paid hosting, which tends to be very expensive (although pricing may vary with each company).
Everyone loves freebies but not every freebie is desirable, and this is the case with free hosting sites. This is mainly because the free sites are not found on an equal level, even though tons of free hosting services can be found online. In fact, a quick search on Google can bring up tons of free web host sites. The only problem is that it makes it hard to differentiate the good from the bad.
So, how do we find the right one? Check out our last section below to see our top pick for the best free website hosting providers. We’ll explain in detail what sets these services apart from other free hosting sites.
Top 5 Free Web Hosting Services
Here are our 5 top picks for the best free web host services currently available. From providers that offer unlimited features to fast speed, we have included on our different providers that provide various features. Let’s have a look!
Awardspace – Best Free Website Hosting Service
Awardspace is a well-known free web hosting service that offers users many exciting features. But, the platform stands out even more due to its complete gig storage offering. They also provide updated versions of MySQL and PHP, which is another neat feature for a free web host service.
Some of Awardspace’s offering includes:
- 5GB bandwidth
- 1GB storage
- 1 site
- No ads
- Domain registration
- Easy to use Joomla and WordPress installer
- Zacky drag & drop website builder
Overall, Awardspace offers users a tight package that is somewhat comparable to that of paid hosting services, considering the whole package is free.
Wix – Best Free Website Hosting User Experience
Wix is another leading website builder, and through their builder, Wix offers its free web hosting service. Wix is highly recommended for any beginner starting an e-commerce store or a blog. The platform provides a highly intuitive UI that enables users to create attractive sites.
Some of Wix’s offering includes:
- 500MB bandwidth
- 500MB storage
- 1 site
- Drag & drop website builder
- Assigned Wix domain
- 24×7 customer support
Although Wix’s free hosting plan falls short in terms of storage, the platform is still a top choice for newbies looking to host sites for free due to its ease of use.
Freehostia – Best Free Hosting Site Speed
The free hosting plan of Freehostia consists of its chocolate plan, which offers users free cloud hosting—making it a lot faster than many other free hosting servers. Freehostia is also known for its effective customer service, another appealing feature from a free provider.
Some of Freehostia’s offering includes:
- 250MB disk space
- 10MB database storage
- Free SSL certificate (self-signed)
- Site builder and free templates
- 3 email accounts
Freehostia’s free chocolate plan does come with very small storage. However, the platform makes a great addition if you’re looking for something small with fast speed.
Atspace
Atspace comes with very identical stats to our pick #1 (Awardspace). The only difference is that Atspace actually offers higher bandwidth. How high? The platform provides unlimited bandwidth backed with 24×7 customer support.
Some of Atspace’s offering includes:
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 1GB storage
- 1 Site
- Domain registration
- No ads
- Online documentation
- Live chat
- Zacky Website builder
- 1 email account
Although the platform’s so-called 24×7 customer underperforms a bit, Atspace still offers a solid list of features, which can be found helpful for building a website for free.
Byethost
If we’re going to talk about unlimited features, this one takes the #1 pick. Byethost is one generous free web host provider for offering exclusive features ranging from sites to bandwidth. It also comes with one of the most expansive email offerings, along with 5 email accounts.
Some of Byethost’s other offering includes:
- Unlimited sites
- Unlimited storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Domain registration
- No ads
- 24×7 customer care
- Self-signed SSL
- Free site builder & templates
Generosity-wise, Byethost is the best free web host one can get. But, Byethost somehow fails to hit the mark in terms of appearance. It lacks professionalism due to its poorly written website. However, if unlimited features are the aim, then there won’t be much of an issue.
