5 Best Free Web Hosting Services Of 2025

One of my favorite Sherlock Holmes quotes is “Data! Data! Data! I can’t make bricks without clay.” Our best lists are the same. We start with detailed data and research informed by years of industry experience and real-world user experiences to create the most accurate best list possible for you.

Decision Factor	Scoring Weight	Description
Expert Input	25%	Real-world industry experience and hands-on testing of every product on our list looks into categories such as how well products function, any glitches, security concerns and if it actually lives up to marketing hype or not.
Hosting Types	5%	In addition to making sure all of our finalists fit the topic, we look at upgrade options and scalability to better serve the needs of growing businesses.
Resources	14%	RAM, CPUs, bandwidth and storage are just a few of the server resources and hosting plan limits we check.
Performance	11%	We dive deep into how well hosting plans perform. We ask questions like: How are server response times? What about CDNs and uptime guarantees?
Features	13%	Hosting is more than server resources. We look at building blocks for a great hosting experience, such as email accounts, one-click software installations, custom domain names and website builders.
Security	24%	Cybersecurity is vital, so we dig deep into security features such as SSLs, DDoS protections, firewalls and malware scanning.
Customer Service and Technical Support	8%	Free hosting rarely has strong support, but we investigated and tested available support to see which providers offer the best safety net.

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While providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), GitHub and Google Cloud offer high-quality free services, they come with some caveats. These platforms tend to be more advanced, making them difficult for an average small business owner without a tech team to manage. Additionally, there is a risk of incurring steep overage charges.

Most free web hosting is generally bare-bones and requires you to exercise due diligence when it comes to security. It’s not for the faint of heart or anyone with limited hosting experience.

If you need something more beginner-friendly but still free, look into our best free website builders. However, if you are ready to forge ahead into the melee, here are important factors to consider when choosing a free web hosting provider.

Risks of Free Hosting

You’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. The world of free website hosting isn’t as pretty, helpful or safe as paid hosting. You’ll rarely find helpful walkthroughs or even preinstalled software. Many don’t even offer one-click installs of popular software like WordPress. Plus, the ones that are more secure and fully featured generally require confident technical skills to operate. There are also inherent risks associated with most free hosting services.

Common risks of free web hosting include:

• Cryptojacking. Cryptojacking is when a host or other actor uses your computer’s processing power with or without your knowledge for cryptomining or other processing tasks. Watch for requirements that you leave a browser open or otherwise must maintain a connection to earn “server credits,” sudden spikes in internet usage or your computer slowing down randomly.
• Malware. Viruses, adware, trackers and other malware sometimes come from shady free hosting. Also, many legitimate free hosts run dozens of ads within the dashboard and control panel. Many of the ads may be infected and deceptively designed to try to get you to click on the ad instead of the control feature you are looking for.
• Downtime. Even with free hosts owned by larger companies, free plans are the first to be sacrificed if something goes wrong. Expect more frequent downtime when using free hosting.
• Sudden closure. Free hosts are pretty notorious for closing down without notice. Some are volunteer projects that just run out of steam and funds, or companies change strategies and stop offering the free tier plans.
• Poor security. Even among the best paid e-commerce hosting providers, security isn’t constant. With free web hosts, it’s a bit like the Wild West. Some have basic security features like SSLs and 2FA, but most hosts will have little to no security features. I know of several that can’t even sort out their own SSLs.
• Compliance issues. Free hosting tends to be very basic, and compliance is unlikely with various guidelines and regulations like SOC 2, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), ISO 27001, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA).

Essential Free Web Hosting Features

If you choose to use free web hosting, there are some basic features to look for to get the best possible results.

• Supported platform(s). Not all hosting supports all website platforms. Some are WordPress only. Others support direct image or HTML uploads only. Matching the host capabilities to your preferred programming and design method is vital.
• Server resources. Limited is the name of the game in free hosting. You won’t find unlimited storage like some of IONOS’s paid plans, and unlimited or unmetered bandwidth like Scala Hosting offers is rare with free hosting. One gig or less of RAM, 500MB or less of storage and drastic limits on bandwidth are normal with free hosting. If you need more resources on a budget, check out our best cheap web hosting list.
• Ease of use. Look for providers where controls are logically arranged and work as intended. For free providers, a plan using standard cPanel or DirectAdmin controls is often preferable and familiar to most SMBs.
• Domain name. Free website hosting usually comes in two flavors. Either it requires you to bring your own domain name, or it includes a free subdomain and doesn’t allow you to point a custom domain name. Which is right for you depends on your needs.
• Security. In addition to limited security, it is often difficult to find details on what security features are included with free hosting. In most cases, don’t expect any security that is not prominently displayed on the home page of the plan to be included. Also, be careful of malware. There are many scam sites that promise free hosting but actually serve viruses instead.
• Limited advertising. Not all free hosts advertise on your website, but some do. The trade-off is that most without live website advertising are covered in ads in the dashboard, which can make it difficult to manage your website if you can’t tell the ad from the legitimate control link. Pay close attention to terms before signing up to avoid a live website that looks like a flea market full of ads.
• Exit capabilities. Eventually, you’ll outgrow free hosting. In addition to being aware of paid plan options from your free host, being able to build on a platform like WordPress that is easily migrated elsewhere is important for scalability. Even when building on a platform that is normally easily moved, be sure to check that you have access to download your files before committing.

Overall, CloudAccess.net and tiiny.host stand out.

Value

While there’s no up-front cost with free site hosting providers, finding value in free web hosting is about balancing your time investment with what you get. There’s also the matter of upgrades. Most legitimate free web hosting is either a volunteer project, a college project for students to learn about providing hosting and dev work, or a loss leader for a paid website hosting company. That is, it’s a small free sample meant to convince you to upgrade to paid hosting.

There are some diamonds out there, like our best free hosting list finalists, but there are many more questionable free hosting sites.

There’s an old saying that “you couldn’t pay me to take that,” meaning something is so bad it isn’t enough for it to be free, you won’t use it even if someone paid you. Unfortunately, most free website hosting is like that. It’s so bad that it has no value even when free. That is, sometimes it has no value to you due to a lack of resources, poor security or being difficult to use. Sometimes the value is what you offer to the host instead of the other way around.

Overall, tiiny.host, CloudAccess.net and Freehostia tend to offer more value.

 Ease of Use

Some free hosts are easy to work with, but some are more broken than functional. Links don’t work, documentation is incorrect, SSLs won’t install for your website or you can’t even get logged in due to their own SSL errors. Likewise, many claim to have website builders, but they are inoperable and documentation was never updated.

Even a free host isn’t worth it if you spend more time banging your head on your keyboard than actually managing your website.

Tiiny.host, Cloudaccess.net and Freehostia are all easier to use options from our best list.

Domain Name

While almost all paid hosting allows you to connect a custom domain name to your website, many free hosting plans only allow for a subdomain. If you choose free hosting that allows domain name pointing, be sure to purchase a domain name from a reputable domain registrar, such as those on our best domain registrar list.

Now, depending on the hosting provider and the domain registrar, you may be able to forward your custom domain name to the free hosted subdomain name. However, remember that this can be problematic in some cases and confusing to users if you don’t use masking with forwarding, so the custom domain name shows in the address bar.

CloudAccess.net and Freehostia both allow custom domain use.

Server Resources and Plan Limits

Free plans are mostly designed as a sample of paid services. As such, it’s completely normal for free hosting plans to have very limited server resources. Storage, RAM, number of allowed websites and limited domain options are some of the downsides of using free hosting. That said, some providers have fewer limits than others.

GoogieHost and InfinityFree both offer good resources compared to other free web hosts.

In some cases, even the best free web hosting isn’t the best option for your business. It’s a lot like moving from a cash box to an actual cash register in retail. When you are a startup and doing pop-up events at craft shows, a cash box might work, but as you grow your business, you need to move up to better security and more features, such as tracking sales.

It’s the same with free web hosting; there are times it isn’t the right tool for the job. Some examples of when free web hosting rarely fits business needs include:

• You handle sensitive information and personal data, such as falls under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
• Your website is primarily e-commerce or otherwise handles electronic payments and needs to stay compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
• Downtime is a concern.
• You have steady traffic that exceeds free hosting bandwidth limits.
• Your website has many images or videos.
• You are not comfortable handling technical issues or security on your own.

Most businesses should avoid free web hosting outside of reputable website builders that include hosting. The stability, security, resources and support simply aren’t suitable for most business applications. That said, there are times when free web hosting can be a benefit to your business beyond your main website.

If you are just learning WordPress or another CMS and want to practice without affecting your main website, then CloudAccess.net is a great beginner-friendly setup that supports WordPress.

If your primary web hosting plan doesn’t offer a WordPress staging site and you need to redesign all or parts of your website, free web hosting can be a good way to test designs without affecting your live site. CloudAccess.net and Freehostia both offer WordPress support.

If you want to start building your WordPress website but haven’t chosen a paid host yet, look at CloudAccess.net for a stable and fairly user-friendly option.

If you need a short-term website where the domain name is not important, such as for a local event or school project, free site hosting might be right for you. For short-term sites, consider tiiny.host and CloudAccess.net.

Website Builders

The easiest and most secure way for most SMBs to get free hosting is to use the free tier with a website builder. While you don’t have the freedom of migrating your site to another web host later, it’s a great option for SMBs with small budgets and few technical resources.

If one of the best free website builders, best free blogging platforms or best free e-commerce platforms doesn’t fit what you need, you can look at one of the budget-friendly best low-cost website builders.

Special Offers

If you need more powerful WordPress hosting, special offers are a good way to reduce costs and get free months of hosting. Most hosting providers offer special offers for new customers, such as the first month free on many plans from Kinsta, or several months free with purchases of longer-term contracts from some of the best web hosting providers. For example, Hostinger offers three months free if you pay for four years upfront and provides a significant discount for the contract overall.

Cloud Hosting

Several cloud hosting providers offer limited-resource free plans or free hosting for a set period. However, cloud hosting often runs the risk of unexpected costs if you exceed usage limits, and it requires more technical skills to set up than the free hosts we covered in this list. For example, I know of one company that was charged $120,000 in a single week for AWS cloud usage, thanks to overages, all because someone misconfigured a process.

Some examples of limited free cloud hosting include:

• Atlantic.net offers free hosting for one year, but you’ll need a credit card to sign up in case you exceed the resources in the free hosting offer.
• Amazon AWS offers several free tier options for one year for new customers, but you’ll be charged if you exceed usage limits.
• Google Cloud offers several types of free cloud hosting, but like others, it has limits, and you’ll be charged if you exceed them. Another option is its $300 usage credit plan, meant to let you develop without costs and then move to a paid plan at deployment.

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