Free web hosting

Free web hosting

While there are certainly times you should use paid hosting plans, sometimes you just want to throw your latest project up quickly and be done with it — at no cost to you.

• Wix.com
  • A strong, browser-based website builder, Wix.com reigns supreme if you want a simple, drag-and-drop interface for building basic sites (i.e., for portfolios, small sites, etc.).
  • While it’s not for those who are looking to work out their coding skills, house various video files, or host an app they’ve been tinkering with (If you match these descriptions, read on!), Wix leads the way when it comes to easy setup and robust features.
    • Storage: 500MB
    • Domain: Wix.com subdomain
    • eCommerce: No
    • Bandwidth: 500MB
    • Email: Yes
    • Website Builder/Design: Drag-and-drop editor with lots of templates and apps
• WordPress.com
  • One of the most well-known brands when it comes to getting online, WordPress powers 30% of all websites. The open-source version of the content management requires site owners to purchase and configure a web hosting plan, but WordPress.com removes all that hassle by pairing the popular system with plenty of online storage and support.
  • The biggest knock on WordPress is that it’s not as simple as some of the drag-and-drop site builders such as Wix and Weebly. But with hundreds of themes and customization options to choose from, WordPress gives users an extraordinarily high ceiling with which to create and grow an online presence.
    • Storage: 3GB
    • Domain: WordPress.com subdomain
    • eCommerce: No
    • Bandwidth: 3 GB
    • Email: Yes
    • Website Builder/Design: Hundreds of mobile-friendly themes and customizations
• Weebly.com
  • The well-known website builder also offers a variety of hosting plans that integrate with their brilliant platform. Weebly’s templates are among the most polished and modern you can find.
    • Storage: 500MB
    • Domain: Weebly.com subdomain
    • eCommerce: No
    • Bandwidth: Unlimited
    • Email: No
    • Website Builder/Design: Free templates; can edit via HTML, CSS, or drag-and-drop
  • The free plan has no ads, but Weebly does include their branding in the footer of your website.
• Bravenet.com
  • Serving more than 15 million members, Bravenet provides a full-service hosting option for people looking for the complete package. In addition to a drag-and-drop site builder and unlimited storage, the Canadian company is one of the only free web hosters with an email marketing platform.
  • Customers can also enjoy community-building features such as message boards, mailing lists, blogs, contact forms, polls, and other tools.
    • Storage: 500mb
    • Domain: Free Bravenet subdomain
    • eCommerce: Ecwid shopping cart, product search, and product listings
    • Bandwidth: 1 GB
    • Email: Unlocked with paid upgrades
    • Website Builder/Design: Free drag-and-drop website builder
  • Bravenet’s email marketing tool helps you build a contact list and design your messages through templates or customized solutions. Plus, the company’s in-depth analytics dashboard will help you gauge your success.
  • Bravenet is currently revamping its site builder and preparing to roll out 400 top-level domains for customers who want to upgrade to their own registration, according to Founder and CEO Dave Shworan. With plans starting as low as 99 cents per month, the company provides a pain-free entry into paid hosting services.
• x10Hosting.com
  • The veterans at x10Hosting pride themselves on giving their free hosting customers a stable and high-performance environment with the latest versions of PHP, MySQL, and cPanel.
    • Storage: 1 GB
    • Domain: 2 add-on domains, 1 parked domain, and 2 subdomains
    • eCommerce: 1-click installs for eCommerce platforms such as Magento
    • Bandwidth: Unlimited
    • Email: 3 free accounts
    • Website Builder/Design: Website builder with more than 150 templates; other programs available via cPanel installations
• AwardSpace
  • A pioneer in the free web hosting industry with more than 10 years experience, AwardSpace.com relies on free hosting to grow their customer base.
    • Storage: 1GB
    • Domain: Hosting for 1 domain and 3 subdomains is included
    • eCommerce: No
    • Bandwidth: 5GB
    • Email: 1 email account and spam filter
    • Website Builder/Design: No, but Joomla and WordPress installers are included
  • Their free plan, which is ad free, allows hosting newcomers to test the service and see if they want to invest in more features over the long term.
• 5GBFree.com
  • One of the newer free hosting companies on our list, 5GBFree.com focuses on cutting-edge technology and security by recently moving to a top US-based datacenter and using the CloudLinux operating system.
    • Storage: 5GB
    • Domain: 1 add-on and 1 parked domain
    • eCommerce: 1-click installs for Joomla, PHPShop, and ZenCart
    • Bandwidth: 20GB
    • Email: No
    • Website Builder/Design: 1-click WordPress installs; other apps available via cPanel
• Freehostia.com
  • With interesting plan names, Freehostia’s Chocolate flavor offers free cloud hosting. The load-balanced server cluster platform is up to 15 times faster than more traditional shared hosting setups.
    • Storage: 250MB
    • Domain: 5 hosted domains
    • eCommerce: 1-click cart installations of several top platforms
    • Bandwidth: 6GB monthly
    • Email: 3 email accounts
    • Website Builder/Design: Free website templates, plus 1-click installs
    • While the 250 megabytes of storage is a little small, it’s hard to argue with Freehostia’s 24/7 support and ad-free environment.

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