Free of cost or even at no cost; that’s the actual price of creating a website nowadays. Free website hosting puts at the disposal of beginners, students, and hobbyists the chance to set out what they have and want to share online. Today’s free hosting landscape has evolved beyond basic services to include platforms that can support legitimate websites, as long as you pick a service that is not only cheap but also offers a range of features and a very simple set up.
Comprehending what to expect from free website hosting is key. Though you don’t get unlimited resources, you’ll still get access to a wide range of services which do provide a base for blogs, portfolios, or small projects. This is more than enough to remove initial hurdles, thus allowing you to put your energy into content creation instead of technical details.
Why Choose Free Website Hosting?
Adopting a free website hosting is a strategy used for two important developmental benefits:
- Testing and Experimentation: In the digital space we live in —which is all about ideas—, free website hosting is the tool you can use to build a new concept, understand how content management systems like WordPress work, and even to put forward a prototype for a large scale project. There’s none to zero financial risk in this, making it great to learn from your mistakes, while a traditional setting might have been very costly.
- Learning Web Development: There is no better way to learn than practice. Setting a simple live site can teach a great deal about domains, FTP, control panels, and basic webmaster tasks. This experience can also offer more educational value than any theory based course that you can take. The best part? It’s available through the use of free website hosting, which is at your disposal.
Realistic Expectations and Limitations
To have a great experience, let’s see what is given up with free hosting plans.
Common Limitations
Most free website hosting services present the following:
- Limited storage and bandwidth
- Possible advertisements on your site
- Subdomains instead of custom domains
- Decreased performance in paid out plans
Essential Features to Demand
Most free services should provide:
- An easy-to-use web interface for file and database management.
- Basic support via knowledge bases or forums.
- One click access to install applications like WordPress.
Best Free Hosting Choices for Easy Setup
Several companies have established themselves through their free of charge and easy to use plans. Here’s some of the most prominent ones:
InfinityFree
A stand out in the free host field, InfinityFree presents a very robust set of features. We see unlimited disk space and bandwidth, support for custom domains although a free sub domain is also made available, and access to a custom control web panel which includes a one click installer. Also behind the scenes they are powered by the iFastNet network which also provides premium services thus adding to the reliability.
000WebHost
Hostinger, which is the parent company of 000WebHost, also put out a very useful free tier option that we can use to see what they are all about before you commit to their paid services. They give out 300 MB of storage, 3 GB of bandwidth and also a very useful built-in control panel that has a WordPress installer. Also because they are associated with a large scale host the infrastructure is very much a stable and maintained product.
AwardSpace
Another established competitor, AwardSpace provides a free plan that includes 1 GB of web space, 5 GB of monthly traffic, and a free subdomain. What it does best is to present a custom hosting panel called Zacky, which is very intuitive for beginners and makes site management a simple task.
Role of Control Panels in Free Hosting
The control panel is what you use to manage your website. For free hosting, providers use the main panels or they go with a more simplified version which they have created. For the more technically inclined, there is the option to install their own panel in a free tier cloud server (from the likes of Oracle or Google Cloud), but keep in mind this is a more advanced choice.
Best available control panels include:
- aaPanel: The best in class free control panel. Its very lightweight design, which also offers a very modern and simple interface, features one click deployment for over 100 apps. It is a very easy and efficient tool to use, and the best linux for developers option out there.
- cPanel: In the industry this is a common choice but for free hosts it’s a no-go because of the high license cost.
- DirectAdmin: A more affordable option to cPanel.
- Webmin/Virtualmin: A free and open source option which is very powerful but does have a steeper learning curve.
- Plesk: A rival to cPanel which also is used in paid hosting.
The Non-Negotiable: Backup Plans
Your information is still your responsibility, even if you pay for any hosting service or use a free one. What we do recommend though is that you have a very good hosting backup system in place, something that most free hosts do not supply. Use the tools at your disposal in the control panel to regularly download copies of site files and databases, or you can also use plugins like UpdraftPlus for WordPress which will do this for you.
A Foundation for Your Growth
Free website hosting is a great solution that functions as a platform for empowerment, which in turn levels the playing field for web presence. By choosing a provider which has easy set up, a user friendly control panel like AaPanel, and which also includes a free hosting backup option you can create a real website without breaking the bank.
This approach is for you to grow into and out of our free services.
Once your project outgrows, you can jump from a free hosting experience to a confident transition to paid services, a reason why free website hosting is the ideal start to your digital journey.