The honest guide
Free web hosting, without the sales pitch
Free hosting is real and genuinely useful, as long as you know what you are getting and where the limits sit. Here is the straight version: what free actually means, the catches worth knowing, and the strongest options for each kind of project.
What free hosting is good at
A personal site, a portfolio, a landing page, a learning project, a static front end or a small app prototype. If the site does not need to earn its keep or carry serious traffic, a good free plan will carry it just fine, and you keep the option to grow into paid hosting later.
Where the limits bite
Free tiers pay for themselves through forced ads, tight storage and bandwidth, a subdomain instead of your own, slower shared servers and thin support. None of it sinks a small site, but the moment ads, uptime or your own domain start to matter, it is time to look at paid plans.
The best free host for each job
One standout pick per use case. Tap through for the full review.
Free PHP & MySQL hosting with no ads, unlimited bandwidth, and 99.9% uptime.
Free hosting for static sites with custom domain support
Deploy static sites and fullstack apps globally with instant Git integration.
Free PHP & MySQL hosting with no ads, unlimited bandwidth, and 99.9% uptime.
Free web hosting compared
The strongest all-round options, side by side on what matters.
| Provider | Storage | Bandwidth | PHP/MySQL | SSL | No ads | Own domain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
InfinityFree
traditional
|
5 GB | Unlimited | ||||
|
000webhost
builder
|
— | — | — | — | ||
|
AwardSpace
traditional
|
1 GB | 5 GB/mo | ||||
|
FreeHosting
traditional
|
1 GB | Unmetered | ||||
|
Byet (ByetHost)
traditional
|
5 GB | Unlimited | ||||
|
Freehostia
traditional
|
250 MB | 6 GB/mo | — | |||
|
GoogieHost
traditional
|
1000 MB | — | ||||
|
ProFreeHost
traditional
|
5 GB | Unlimited | — | — | ||
|
FreeWebHostingArea
traditional
|
1.5 GB | Unmetered | ||||
|
HelioHost
traditional
|
1000 MB | Unmetered | ||||
|
x10Hosting
traditional
|
Unlimited | Unlimited | — | |||
|
Biz.nf
traditional
|
1 GB | 5 GB |
A tick under No ads means the host does not force ads onto your pages. A dash means the provider has not specified that detail.
Four kinds of free host
Free hosting is not one thing. Pick the family that fits what you are building.
Traditional free hosts
34Classic cPanel-style hosting with PHP and MySQL, the closest thing to a paid shared plan at no cost.
Static and JAMstack
15Deploy a static site or front end straight from Git, with global CDN delivery and generous free tiers.
PaaS free tiers
30Run real applications and APIs on a platform that handles the servers, with a free allowance to start.
Website builders
25Drag-and-drop site builders with a free plan, usually on the builder's own subdomain.
Free web hosting questions
For the right project, yes. A personal site, a portfolio, a learning project or a static front end can run perfectly well on a good free plan. The limits show up when you need real performance, no ads, a custom domain on every tier, or dependable support, which is where paid hosting earns its keep.
Free plans pay for themselves somehow. Common trade-offs are forced ads on your pages, tight storage and bandwidth caps, a subdomain instead of your own domain, slower shared servers, and little or no support. None of that is a dealbreaker for a small site, but it is worth knowing before you build.
Some free hosts let you point a custom domain at your site; others only give you a subdomain like yoursite.theirbrand.com. The comparison below flags which providers support a custom domain so you can filter for it.
The reputable providers listed here are safe to use, but free tiers rarely come with uptime guarantees and resources are shared widely, so reliability is variable. For anything you depend on, treat free hosting as a starting point and plan to upgrade.
Move to a paid plan when ads on your pages start to matter, when traffic outgrows the free limits, when you need your own domain and SSL on every page, or when downtime starts costing you. You can compare affordable paid plans on our hosting plans page when that day comes.
Outgrowing free? Paid hosting starts cheap too
When ads, traffic or your own domain start to matter, the jump to paid is smaller than you think. Compare real plans from hundreds of hosts on genuine monthly value, renewal prices included.