The best free web hosting in 2024

For those on a shoestring budget, the allure of free web hosting can be hard to resist. However, the old adage "you get what you pay for" often rings true in the world of web hosting. Many free hosts come with a slew of limitations and hidden costs that can quickly turn your dream of a free website into a nightmare.

That's not to say there aren't any decent free options out there. After rigorous testing, we've identified a handful of providers that manage to offer a surprisingly robust free hosting experience. These hosts deliver a balance of features, performance, and reliability that sets them apart from the sea of subpar free options.

Whether you're a blogger looking to share your thoughts with the world, a small business owner in need of a basic online presence, or a developer seeking a testbed for your latest project, these hosts have something to offer. Let's explore the cream of the free hosting crop.

The quick list

Searching for top-notch free web hosting without delving into specifics? Here’s a brief rundown of the best free hosting services, emphasizing their unique offerings. For detailed insights, explore the complete reviews. 

The top 3 best web hosting services right now

These three options below are our top selections when evaluating the best web hosting services, and while not free, they provide cheap shared hosting and a range of other hosting packages, backed by reputation, security, and strong performance.

Bluehost: top features and inexpensive hosting
Bluehost is our choice for the best web hosting service, thanks to its high-quality packages and top-performing servers. Its shared hosting starts at just $2.95 a month and includes 10GB of storage alongside unmetered bandwidth.

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Hostinger: ideal hosting provider for SMBs
Hostinger's highly-recommended hosting provides top-level performance, an extensive knowledge base, and is easy to install.

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Cloudways: the best cloud hosting available
Cloudways offers extremely flexible cloud hosting via customizable, pay-as-you-go plans priced hourly and monthly. You get managed hosting, free SSL certificates and site migrations, and much more, starting from $11 a month for 1GB RAM, 25GB storage, and 1TB bandwidth.

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If you're set on going ahead with a free host—which we don’t recommend—make sure you check our list of the best free web hosting services below. We comprehensively tested 18 supposedly free services, and the four we've listed are the only providers offering reliable, functional hosting for free.

The best free web hosting of 2024 in full

Best overall

x10Hosting providing unmetered bandwidth on its free cloud hosting plan. This, coupled with SSD storage and a choice of cPanel or a custom control panel, makes it an attractive option for those seeking a free hosting solution. You also get a free website builder and one-click software installer, making it easy to get started.

However, the free plan is limited to 500MB, and customer support for free users is limited to a community forum. At times, there have been issues with sign-up and logins.

For those needing more resources and support, x10Hosting offers paid shared hosting plans with unlimited bandwidth, disk space, domains, and email accounts. These plans also include a 99.9% uptime SLA, automatic daily backups, and a 24/7 support email service.

Best unlimited

InfinityFree stands out as an excellent all-around free hosting option for sites that won't receive many visitors each day. It offers unlimited bandwidth, and domain connections, although you will have a daily limit of 50,000 hits. But if you’re getting this many visitors, you should probably be using a premium host anyway. 

While the offer of "unlimited" bandwidth and storage catches the eye, know that the actual free storage you get is 5GB. This is fairly generous for a free plan, but it's not unlimited. If your site is heavy with images or videos, you might find yourself bumping up against this limit sooner than you'd expect.

Another point to note is that while InfinityFree supports a range of SSL certificates, including Let's Encrypt and Cloudflare SSL, there's a catch if you're using a free InfinityFree subdomain. Due to limits on the number of certificates issued per domain, you might not be able to secure an SSL for your subdomain.

Additionally, you can either import your own premium domain name or select a free subdomain from the InfinityFree library. InfinityFree includes support for the cPanel administration panel. You will even have access to the Softaculous one-click installer, which makes initial setup easier than ever. 

In terms of support, InfinityFree's approach is quite hands-off. You won't find direct email or phone support here. Instead, you'll rely on a knowledge base and a user forum for help. This can be adequate for solving common issues, but if you're facing a unique problem, the lack of direct support might feel limiting.

Apart from somewhat average performance, we found very few other obvious flaws. You won’t ever have ads placed on your website, you’ll benefit from a 99.9% uptime guarantee and will have access to a suite of other tools. 

Best for reliability

If you’re looking for a reliable free host that’s been working in the industry for years, you simply can’t overlook 000webhost. It’s run and managed by hosting powerhouse Hostinger, and it offers a very impressive selection of advanced tools and features. 

For example, you will have access to a cPanel control panel, a free integrated website builder, and a 99% uptime guarantee. However, email accounts are notably absent, there’s no one-click installer, and you will be limited to 300MB of storage and 3GB of bandwidth.

The platform's instant account activation is especially beneficial if you're working on a project with tight deadlines or simply eager to see your digital ideas come to life quickly.

Another aspect to consider is the community support. While 000webhost doesn’t offer the direct customer service found in paid plans, the community forum is a treasure trove of insights, tips, and troubleshooting advice. Leveraging this can significantly enhance your experience, especially if you're new to web hosting or encounter unique challenges.

The absence of forced ads on your website is a noteworthy benefit, distinguishing 000webhost from many other free web hosting services. This ensures a cleaner, more professional appearance for your site, which can be crucial for your brand's perception and user experience.

However, be mindful of the limitations in disk space and bandwidth on the free plan. While suitable for small projects, these constraints might hinder the growth or performance of your site as it attracts more traffic or requires more content. Planning for future needs and considering an upgrade path to Hostinger’s paid plans could be a wise strategy for long-term projects.

Of course, once you've outgrown your free hosting, it's possible to upgrade to a full Hostinger package. Generally, we find Hostinger's products to be priced well, so starting with 000webhost and moving later to Hostinger if you need to seems a reasonable course of action if you're on a tight budget.

Best for advanced users

Although it’s far from our number one choice, some people will like GoogieHost because of its generous server resources and built-in cPanel control panel. Choose GoogieHost, and you will benefit from 1GB of storage and 100GB of bandwidth, and harness the power of the Softaculous one-click installer. 

There are also free subdomains available if you require one, along with access to a free Site.pro website builder, a free SSL (secure sockets layer) certificate, and more.

GoogieHost's performance metrics are promising, with a 98% performance score and a load time of just 1.0 seconds. This suggests that GoogieHost is making sure your site not only stays up but also loads quickly for your visitors. The inclusion of automated constant backups and a 99% uptime guarantee also adds a layer of security and reliability to the service.

However, the journey to set up and manage your site can be quite the slog, thanks to the platform's cluttered interface and intrusive ads. These ads, aimed at subsidizing the cost of free hosting, can disrupt your workflow and detract from the overall user experience.

Another aspect to consider is the platform's limitations on hosting big websites. With PHP disabled, some web applications won't run, limiting what you can do with your site. This is a significant consideration if you plan to use your site for more complex projects or applications.

The poor design of the GoogieHost website certainly doesn’t inspire confidence in its services, and customer service options are very limited. Most customer reviews lament the difficulty of getting things set up on GoogieHost and that there's no real customer support, so it's an also-ran at best.

Best for entrepreneurs and startups

Founded in 2003, AwardSpace has carved out a niche in the competitive web hosting market, particularly appealing to those looking for a feature-rich and user-friendly hosting experience.

AwardSpace is known for its free web hosting service, which is a rarity in terms of the features and value it offers. You get 1GB of SSD storage, 5GB monthly bandwidth, and 1 MySQL database, all without the intrusion of ads. 

While the free plan is generous, it has its limits. The 1GB storage and 5GB monthly bandwidth may suffice initially, but as your site grows, these constraints could hinder your ability to expand or manage increased traffic effectively.

The platform provides a suite of tools designed to simplify website creation and management. The one-click app installer for WordPress and Joomla, along with the Zacky Website Builder and its premium themes, are great for those who are less tech-savvy or looking to get their website up and running quickly.

For those whose sites outgrow the free plan, AwardSpace offers a range of affordable shared and VPS hosting plans. These plans come with attractive features such as unlimited storage and bandwidth, extra databases, and improved server performance, catering to a wider audience from bloggers to small businesses.

AwardSpace's premium plans are competitively priced, but it's important to note that the promotional rates are only valid for the first year. Subsequent renewals see a significant price increase, which affect the long-term affordability of their hosting services.

AwardSpace prides itself on customer support. Free plan users have access to 24/7 support, albeit with slower response times, while paying customers can expect responses within an hour.

Whether AwardSpace is the right web hosting provider for you ultimately depends on your specific needs, skills, and budget considerations.

Best ad-free

FreeHosting.com is a popular choice for those seeking a no-cost hosting solution. Its free plan boasts a generous set of features, including a website builder, cPanel access, and a one-click app installer. Notably, FreeHosting.com doesn't force ads on your website, unlike many other free hosting providers. 

FreeHosting also includes an impressive 10GB of storage space, 1 email address, and 1 MySQL database on free plans. But the free plan comes with limitations. Uptime isn't guaranteed, and performance can be inconsistent, making it unsuitable for business or high-traffic websites. While FreeHosting.com offers paid plans with additional resources and features, these lack the value proposition of similarly priced plans from other providers.

Ultimately, FreeHosting.com's free plan is best suited for testing purposes, hobby projects, or those needing a temporary hosting solution. For anything more demanding, a paid plan from a more reliable provider is recommended.

The best free web hosting services, compared

How to choose the best free web hosting for you

When trying to choose a free web hosting service, there are a few important things that you need to keep at the front of your mind. First, remember that free hosts won’t ever be anywhere near as good as premium options.

In general, you will have to deal with security vulnerabilities, poor performance, and limited features. You may also be faced with strict resource constraints, and you’ll likely be left to fix things yourself if anything goes wrong. 

That said, there are a few decent options out there. For example, 000webhost is managed by Hostinger, an industry leader in the hosting space. Although it offers very limited storage and bandwidth, you can rest assured that it provides secure, reliable service. 

Platforms like InfinityFree and Byethost are also worth using, especially if you’re looking for advanced features and generous server resources. GoogieHost is another option worth considering.

How we review the best free web hosting

To test free web hosting, we begin by creating a new account with the hosts we want to test. Following this, a simple website is created with each host, and its performance is monitored over a period of time using Uptime.com. 

Uptime and server response times are the two main metrics that we focus on during long-term monitoring. However, we also complete short-term testing with Dotcom-tools and Bitcatcha to analyze page load speeds. 

On top of this, we perform a complete analysis of every aspect of a host, from its control panel and user interface to the resources and security measures included.

Take a look at our review testing methodology for more information.

Next steps with web hosting

If you're looking for specific hosting services for a given setup, make sure to read our guides to the best VPS hosting, the best Linux web hosting, and the best WordPress hosting.