Free Web Hosting That You Can Count On

There are plenty of companies that are offering free web hosting services. One may think that they are all the same and that it is just a matter of choosing one. But this is far from the truth.

To get the best free web hosting deal you need to focus on these important factors;

1. How important is what they are offering free to you?
2. Is there an opportunity to upgrade if necessary?
3. What kind of support are you being offered?

This review of the seven best and the most popular free web hosting companies will consider these three factors along with the extras each company has to offer. It is also important to consider the “must haves” and the “nice to haves” in a free web hosting service.

The Must Haves For Free Web Hosting

These specifications are critically important for a website to function live on the web fully and to meet the visitors’ requirements. These are:

• Free domain hosting
• Uptime
• Disk Space
• Bandwidth
• Support
• Backup

The Nice to Haves

These are going to be all the extras that each of the web hosting companies are going to offer. Some of the examples are:

• No Ads
• Email
• Additional website hosting
• Free Cpanel
• Site Security
• Installers
• Web builders

1. 000Webhost

This hosting company offers a fairly comprehensive free hosting service compared to many of the others. This company is totally upfront with what they have to offer for free and take pride in the fact that there are no hidden costs. They believe that their free hosting program out shines some of the paid versions.

These are some of the features and specifications that 000webhost is offering you:

• Free website builder
• 99,9% uptime
• Free domain hosting
• WordPress hosting
• Hosting for 2 websites
• Free PHP, MySQL Hosting
• 1GB GB disk space per website
• 10 GB Bandwidth
• FTP Accounts
• Free SSL certificates
• CMS Installer
• Own Ads allowed
• Email forwarder
• Backups

The Must Haves

Up Time

No matter how good your site is, if it’s not live on the web, then it will not serve any purpose. The uptime here is 99% which is the top average for all good hosting sites including those with the paid versions.

Disk Space

The disk space is the amount of space you are being allotted on the host’s server where your files for your website will be stored. If the amount you are given is too small, it will limit your website’s site. This free hosting service allows for a very impressive 1,000 mb disk space.

Bandwidth

The bandwidth is going to have a direct impact on how your site can handle the traffic to your site. 000Webhost is giving you 10GB of bandwidth, which is usually more than enough for the average website owner. The average website demands about 5GB of bandwidth.

Domains

Not only are you getting free hosting for one domain but you are getting it for two. This allows you to have two full-sized websites up and running and being hosted for free.

Backups

There is the provision of monthly backups for the free hosting accounts. For those starting up a website, this is usually enough.

Support

Perhaps the most significant downside for this free hosting package is their support via community forum only. However, everything else being offered on the site is extremely user-friendly.

The Nice to Haves

Here are some highlights of the extra features that come with 000webhost.

One Click Installer

One of the most important aspects of a free hosting provider is the ease of use with their services. This hosting company has ensured that each free feature is user-friendly. They have focused on essential features like those wanting to have WordPress sites. To be able to achieve this it is done through the one-click auto installer.

FTP

Another important feature is the FTP which is the file transfer protocol system. This allows for easy file management. Remote connections can easily be made to any FTP client.

No Ads

Many website owners want to be able to monetize their sites but this can be difficult if the free hosting version they are using utilizes ads in their features. 000Web Hosting does not do this. Their free platform is ad-free and there is the opportunity for those using it to monetize their site the way they want to.

Site Security

Site security is becoming a big concern for site owners and visitors. This hosting company is one of the first to offer SSL security as part of their free offerings. Every site is protected with an SSL certificate. Not only does this provide extra security, but search engines recognize it, which can help improve search engine rankings.

Website Builder

Most new website owners don’t start with the knowledge of how to design and build their website. 000Web Host has made this easy with a drag and drop website builder. There is no coding to learn. The builder provides a variety of easy to use tools that will let the beginner develop a website to their liking.

When It’s Time For An Upgrade

Although the free version here at 000webhost has everything that a new site owner needs to get started, there may come a time where the free version is outgrown. When this happens this hosting company offers two potential upgrades with some additional important must haves and features.

The premium version empowers you with:

• Larger disk space, bandwidth, number of websites that can be hosted.
• A script auto installer
• Weekly/daily data backups
• Increased uptime guarantee
• 24/7 dedicated live support
• Email features
• Free website migration
• Inbuilt caching
• Custom control panel

Summary:

Using the three important metrics that make for a good free hosting site;

How important is what they are offering free to you?

000Webhost really does excel in the importance of the 6 important must haves when it comes to website hosting. Then all of the other nice to have features play an important role in enhancing the site’s functionality, which is a big bonus.

Is there an opportunity to upgrade if necessary?

Although the free offerings are extensive the ability to be able to upgrade at two different levels is another important aspect about this site.

What kind of support are you being offered?

The only area where 000webshost may score low is that there is no support in the free version.

Overall 000Webhost has to take our first position for being the best free web hosting service.

Website: 000webhost.com

2. FreeHosting.com

FreeHosting is very clear about what they do offer, as well as what they do not offer. This gives the users of their free hosting services a clear understanding of what they have to work with.

These are some the features and specifications that FreeHosting is offering you:

• 10 GB storage
• Unmetered bandwidth
• 1 website
• 1 email account
• 1 MySQL database
• Cpanel
• Site builder
• App Installer
• Unlimited FTP accounts
• .htaccess support

The Must Haves

Uptime

Free Hosting has not indicated their uptime. Again, it can be assumed that they would be equal to their competitors and somewhere between 99% and 99.9%. Although they do say you site will be online 24 hours a day.

Disk Space

The strong feature of Free Hosting is their significant allowance of 10 GB of disk space. This is well beyond what the average site would require at least until they were well established. With this amount of disk space, the web owner will not likely have to upgrade any time soon based on the volume of their content.

Bandwidth

Is unmetered which means that there is no emphasis or limit put on the amount data that goes back and forth between the site and the server.

Domains

Free Hosting is going to allow for the hosting of one domain at no cost under their free plan.

Backup

This hosting site has not given any clear indication as to what they provide for backup.

Support

Free Hosting does not indicate that they provide any type of support for those using their free hosting services.

The Nice to Haves

Free Hosting offers some nice to have features that are not only for convenience but also for those who want to advance beyond the basics of a website start up.

Site Builder

The site builder offered by free hosting is basic but user friendly. There is no design knowledge needed or coding skills. It basically is comprised of over 170 templates that can be chosen from, and then content added as required.

Apps Installer

This is a unique feature that many free hosting sites are not offering. It is a totally automatic feature with over 400+ applications that can be chosen from.

Email

Some may consider that this should be a must have, but there are other options for setting up outside email accounts so it doesn’t need to be put into the must have category. It really is a nice to have feature based on convenience.

When It’s Time for an Upgrade

Free Hosting is offering some substantial upgrades once the user of the free hosting service has outgrown its offerings. The highlights of the upgrade are:

• Additional mailbox
• Additional My SQL database
• Network for Scripts
• Subdomain
• Domain Alias
• Shell Access
• SSL
• PHP
• Crontab
• MultiPHP
• DNS Zone Editor
• Crontab

Summary

Using the three important metrics;

How important is what they are offering free to you?

All of the must haves are accounted for, and when it comes to the extra features there may not be as many as some of the other free hosting sites. But, there are some unique ones like the apps installer. Also, the convenience of one email.

Is there an opportunity to upgrade if necessary?

One difference with this company is that the upgrades are not offered in packages. Each upgrade is offered with individual pricing. Some clients like this because they will only be paying for what they will use.

What kind of support are you being offered?

The downside is no support for the free version of hosting here at Free Hosting. But, there is excellent hosting in the upgraded version.

Free Hosting has everything that the new web owner wants and needs for hosting their website free. It has earned the 3rd sport in our rankings for best free web hosting.

Website: freehosting.com/free-hosting.html

3. FreeHostia

Freehostia uses a different platform for their hosting services including the free versions. They are relying on load balanced cluster technology which they are promoting as being fifteen times faster than a standard hosting server.

These are some of the features and specifications that Freehostia is offering you:

• 250 MB Disk Space
• 6 GB Bandwidth
• 5 Domains
• 3 Email accounts
• 1 MySQL database
• 99.9% uptime
• Free website templates

The Must Haves

Uptime

Even with this new technology this hosting company is committing to 99.9% uptime.

Disk Space

This free hosting site is offering 250 MB of disk space. This is about double what the average web site uses which is about 150MB. An average web page usually demands about 1 to 2 MB.

Bandwidth

Freehostia offers 6 GB which isn’t a lot compared to the others. Some experts indicate that the majority of websites won’t use anymore that 5GB of bandwidth a month.

Domains

Freehostia is offering their free hosting in what they call the Chocolate package. They don’t specifically say how many domains they will host for free but they do say domains as well as subdomains.

Back Ups

The free hosting package indicates that the hosting has the capacity for backups but specifically indicates how often this is done.

Support

Freehostia offer a full support program that is quite impressive for a free hosting offer.

Nice to Haves

The list of the nice to have features that Freehostia offers is long and impressive. Perhaps the basic web owner at least in the beginning will not use to its fullest extent. But, they are still nice to have so the option is there.

User-Friendly Control Panel

Not every free hosting company offers a control panel but this company does and they have focused on making it user-friendly. More importantly, the control panel has been designed to be multi-lingual, meaning many more people can use and understand it.

One-Click Free Applications Installer

What may appear as simple tasks when building and maintaining a website can sometimes be a challenge. For many of these Freehostia has provided the solution with the one-click free applications installer which allows for easy installation of blogs, content management and even an e-shop portal.

When It’s Time for an Upgrade

Freehostia has not one plan to upgrade to, but four! Some of the highlights are:

Watercircle Plan

• 10 Hosted domains
• 2GB Disk space
• 50GB monthly traffic
• 100 e-mail accounts

Super Natural Plan

For those that are going to have a huge website, you won’t have to leave Freehostia because they can’t be accommodated. It maxes out everything that is offered in the other plans. For example, it allows:

• Unlimited hosted domains
• Unlimited disk space
• Unlimited monthly traffic
• Unlimited e-mail accounts

Summary

The 3 most important metrics overviewed.

How important is what they are offering free to you?

Most of what is being offered for free even in the nice to haves is significant because it allows a new website to grow while exposing the site owner to many of the features that can be used to scale up a website. This way they become familiar with these features and know how to work with them if and when the need arises to upgrade.

Is there an opportunity to upgrade if necessary?

Freehostia offers several upgrade packages. Each of them increases what the package below them has to offer and adds a few extras. This type of tier upgrades allows for good affordability, as the cost of hosting only increases as the website grows.

What kind of support are you being offered?

Support is listed in one of the must haves but is something that is lacking in many of free hosting plans. The exception to this is at Freehostia which offers full support and various types of support, starting from the free plan all the way through to each of the paid plans.

Freehostia is ideal for both the beginner and the novice web owner who wants to rely on having their needs met through free hosting.

This site has earned the fourth position in our rating.

Website: freehostia.com/free-cloud-hosting

4. AwardSpace

AwardSpace wants to stay competitive with the other quality hosting companies so they too have a free hosting program. They have focused on keeping it simplified and user-friendly. Plus, they have also focused on making the move to paid versions affordable.

These are some of the features and specifications that Freehostia is offering you:

• 1 domain
• 3 subdomains
• Email
• File manager
• WordPress & Joomla installer
• Ad-free
• Website builder
• 1 GB disk space
• 5 GB monthly traffic
• 1 MySQL database
• 99.9% uptime
• 24/7 customer support

The Must Haves

Uptime

Award Space is prepared to offer free hosting that is going to allow for uptime of 99.9% of the time. This is important, as a website that is not accessible is of no value.

Disk Space

The 1 GB of disk space being offered in the free version of hosting at Award Space is lower compared to others but is enough to support a decent sized and average website.

Bandwidth

AwardSpace is on par with the bandwidth capabilities that they are offering for free users which is 5GB. It is lower than some of the others but most find it efficient.

Domains

The free hosting program here allows for one domain. You can also have three subdomains. Most of those starting into a web presence want to start with one site and get it established. Having the option to have some additional subdomains allows for greater site expansion without having to start new sites.

Back Ups

Award Space does not indicate whether or not they provide backups or if they do how often it is.

Support

This is one of the few free hosting sites that also includes full support for their free hosting users.

Nice To Haves

Award Space is a free hosting provider that has added many free features. Not only ones that can be convenient but also ones that can be important. Especially for those who are more advanced at building and developing websites. Some of these are:

Subdomains

Many web owners want to have extensions to their sites and the easiest way to do this is with subdomains. AwardSpace will allow for 3 sub domains.

Virus Protection

This is something that many new website owners don’t give much thought to, and for some, it’s a concern when using free hosting services. Award Space has added this to their free services

Some of the other additional features are:

• 1 FTP account
• Advanced control panel
• Spam Protection
• Web mail
• Auto responder
• 1 MySQL Database

When It’s Time for an Upgrade

The upgrade being offered by AwardSpace are available in different packages.

The Basic Package:

• Two websites
• A max of 15,000 site visits
• Unlimited disk space
• 24/7 support
• Data back up
• Site Builder
• 99.9% uptime
• 30-day money back guarantee

Web Pro Plus:

• Offers all the same as the basic plus
• One free domain for life
• Five websites
• 50,000 monthly visits

Max Pac Plus:

• Offers all the same as the web pro plus also
• Two free domains for life
• Unlimited websites
• 150,000 monthly visits

In addition to these packages, Awardspace also offers paid plans for Word Press sites that are basically the same as the other paid version plans.

Summary

3 metrics that matter overviewed.

How important is what they are offering free to you?

This free hosting site has covered all the important aspects of having a site on the web. It is a solid platform for those that want an average site. The extra features allow the web owner to customize their site to a great degree while still enjoying a free hosting platform

Is there an opportunity to upgrade if necessary?

There are plenty of options for upgrading, and it a good approach to have separate paid plans for Word Press sites as these are a favorite of many

What kind of support are you being offered?

This company is offering 24/7 customer support even for their free plan, which is an excellent and considered a must-have.

AwardSpace is allowing for some flexibility with the different features and tools it offers to its free hosting users. It has earned the fifth spot with us here.

Website: awardspace.com

5. Weebly Free Hosting

There is a major difference with Weebly compared to many free hosting companies.

Majority of free hosting programs:

Their focus is on providing the technical platform needed to have a website live on the internet. They provide a selection of the components a website needs to function on the web. Then as a secondary convenience, some of the free hosting programs will offer a web building application or at least some tools to use for this or ready-made templates.

Weebly:

Weebly has basically reversed their priorities. They emphasized promoting the components needed for building and designing the website. The technical aspects for getting and keeping the site live are there and are free of charge but they are more behind the scenes and are not made the focus for the free hosting offering.

The Must Haves

Uptime

With Weebly providing free hosting, they are not advertising their Uptime but will be on par with any other hosting company. They are well spoken of when it comes to fast load speeds.

Disk Space

The program is allowing for a decent sized site to be built and maintained. It does this with the provision of offering 500MB of storage. For those that are running a basic site this is enough to keep more site owners happy.

Bandwidth

There again is no focus on band width as it is taken for granted based on the disk space that is being provided for disk space that there will be more than enough bandwidth to accommodate everyone.

Domains

There does not appear to be a limit as to how many domains one can host for free at Weebly. Being as the technical platforms are being maintained in the back end and the bigger focus is on encouraging clients to design and develop their websites. There is a drawback with the domains feature on Weebly as they are sub domains with the free version.

Back Ups

With the infrastructure that Weebly works off of backups are automatically created of each site. It does not indicate how often.

Support

Weebly has a help centre that can be accessed form the user’s website interface. The contact options are email and live chat. Members of the Pro plan or higher can also access live phone support.

The Nice to Have

Website Builder

The website builder is the big drawing point of the Weebly free hosting. It comes with a lot of options and a lot of tools. It is extremely user-friendly with its drag and drop building program.

SSL Security

One of the big concerns on the internet today is security for both web owners as well as the users of the site. Weebly offers SSL security for its free hosting plan which is not something that many others do.

When It’s Time for an Upgrade

Many don’t realize that Weebly has purchase plans for hosting as well. They have three paid version plans with the highlights being:

Starter

• All of the same features as the free version plus;
• Unlimited storage
• No Weebly Ads
• Your own domain
• Advanced site stats

Pro

• All that the starter has plus;
• Site search
• Password protection
• Video Backgrounds
• HD Video& Audio
• Up to 100 members

Business

• All that the Pro offers plus,
• Unlimited membership
• Membership Registration

There are also e-Commerce Versions of these Paid Plans.

Summary

Summarizing the 3 metrics that matter most.

How important is what they are offering free to you?

The must haves are there and the site owner really doesn’t have to be concerned about them if they are building an average sized site. For the free features they are somewhat limited but one of the important ones which is the site builder is a good one that is user-friendly and has a lot of options.

Is there an opportunity to upgrade if necessary?

The opportunity to upgrade focus most on the expansion of the site size, but one of the important differences is that the paid versions are free of ads, which is not the case with the free version.

What kind of support are you being offered?

There is support access even for those using the free hosting services.
Overall for those who really don’t want to get into the technical requirements of what a website needs to go live then Weebly is a good choice. By going with this free type of free hosting it means having some restriction when it comes to expanding the capabilities of the site.

The two major drawbacks with the free hosting version is the Weebly ads and only being able to have a Weebly sub domain. We have placed Weeby in the sixth position for our ratings.

Website: weebly.com

6. Wix Free Hosting

Wix is very much along the same lines as Weebly meaning the focus they create is more on their clients building and designing their website using simplified tools to do this. The technical components of what the site needs are automatically looked after by Wix, which is the must haves.

The Must Haves

Uptime

Although the uptime is not advertised it can be assumed that Wix will be just as good as the other free hosting sites for keeping the sites they are hosting live.

Disk Space

There is plenty of disk space with the 500 MB Wix offers in their free hosting package. The average website will work nicely with this, even if they use many images and a fair amount of pages.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is important for downloading and streaming. But with 1GB of bandwidth, there should not be any issues.

Domains

The one downside of domains is that only a subdomain running off the Wix domain is allowed for the free hosted sites.

Back Ups

The infrastructure that Wix has in place will tend to the backups.

Support

Wix has an extensive self-help center to assist all users of the Wix platform no matter whether they are using free hosting or paid plans.

Nice To Have

Website Builder

With the focus being on making it easy for the web owner to design and build their site then the website builder is going to be important.

When It’s Time For An Upgrade

Wix has ensured that they will have the perfect plan for everyone. To meet these needs they have developed 5 different paid plans that range in price.

Connect Domain – Basic Plan

• Offer everything the free plan does as well as;
• 1 GB bandwidth
• 500MB storage
• Connect your domain

Combo – For Personal Websites

• Offers everything that Basic Plan does plus,
• Increase in Bandwidth and storage
• Free domain
• Removal of Wix Ads
• Unlimited Plan – Great for freelancers and entrepreneurs
• Offers everything that Combo does plus
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Increase storage
• $300 in ad vouchers
• Site booster app
• Form builder app

There are an additional two plans that are structured for e-commerce sites.

Summary

Overviewing the 3 metrics that matter.

How important is what they are offering free to you?

The must haves are all here and the extra features are limited but the big one which is the web builder is a great one offering many different templates to choose form and build out.

Is there an opportunity to upgrade if necessary?

With five plans being available to upgrade there should not be any reason for members to have to leave Wix because they aren’t being accommodated.

What kind of support are you being offered?

The help centre is extensive but there is no real contact that can be made so one needs to hope they will find their answers in the centre.

Wix is on par with Weebly and will come down to which website builder you prefer and which has more extra features that you feel would be beneficial. Wix has our seventh spot in our ratings.

Website: wix.com

Conclusion

Here we have chosen seven out of many free hosting sites. We have made our choices based on set criteria based on the must haves but other important components such as ease of use and options for upgrading.

Keep in mind that free web hosting is an excellent start for making a presence on the web. But, there is a lot of competition that most sites are faced with. For the website to excel, the best choice for hosting is paid hosting, which will offer more features, faster load times and better opportunities to grow the site.