If you want to launch your very own self-hosted WordPress website, but you’re not quite ready (or able) to dip your toes into the premium web hosting waters, a free WordPress hosting service could be just what you need.
This post will break down the 11 best options, show you what they do well, and what they don’t do so well.
After reading, you’ll have a solid idea of which free website hosting option is best for you and your needs.
Let’s jump right in.
Editor’s Note: WPNode, a “free” hosting provider that boasts some great features — unlimited data transfer, free global CDN by Cloudflare and a built-in caching plugin to speed up your site (so Google will love you), etc. — isn’t included in this roundup because we couldn’t determine if it’s actually free. Clicking their “Host My Website” button takes you to a third party with WordPress web hosting plans that start at $2.50 per month, which, by our calculations, is $2.50 more than “free.”
WordPress.com, often confused with the open-source WordPress software, is a for-profit implementation of the open-source software that you find at WordPress.org.
WordPress.com simplifies the process of creating a WordPress site, letting you launch your site by simply registering for a WordPress.com account. However, it also doesn’t give you access to the full WordPress software, which means you’re limited in what you can do.
WordPress.com is a great option for non-technical users who don’t need the ability to install their own themes and plugins.
However, it’s not a good option for technical users because you don’t get server access and it’s a stripped-down version of WordPress that doesn’t give you much flexibility.
WordPress.com is a great free option if you don’t need the full WordPress experience. You’re sacrificing the ability to install your own extensions and access your server, but you’re gaining a simple experience powered by world-class infrastructure.
If that trade off sounds fine to you, go for WordPress.com’s free hosting plan.
000webhost is the free WordPress hosting platform from Hostinger, a popular budget host.
While 000webhost is largely just a marketing strategy to drive you towards Hostinger’s premium hosting packages, it still offers a solid platform that you can use to run a functional WordPress site — as long as you don’t get too much traffic.
000webhost is a great option for users who want a full-service hosting experience for free.
You’ll still be able to install your own apps, access your server and database, and use a custom domain name…you just won’t have to pay for it.
000webhost is an attractive option because it gives you fully functioning hosting for free.
The only things to pay attention to are the storage and bandwidth limits. While they’re fine for a low-traffic site, a high-traffic site will quickly hit those limits and 000webhost is aggressive about cutting off sites that exceed its limits.
AccuWeb is a US-based web host that offers both free and premium hosting plans. It’s been around since 2003, so AccuWeb is one of the older web hosts out there.
AccuWeb has one of the more generous free WordPress hosting plans when it comes to storage, bandwidth, and email limits. You also get access to cPanel, the latest versions of PHP, and a guarantee of no ads ever.
AccuWeb is a good option for users who need to host a single WordPress site with high traffic while maintaining the flexibility of the full WordPress platform. While it can’t power a truly high-traffic website, it does offer one of the more generous plans when compared to other full-featured free WordPress hosts.
Just remember that AccuWeb is strict about the one website rule — you’ll need to submit your government-issued ID to access your free hosting.
There’s no single standout feature with AccuWeb — it’s just a really solid free offering. The limits give you enough room to create a functional WordPress site and you still get access to the latest technologies like cPanel and PHP 7+.
Byet has been around for over ten years now and is a subsidiary of a parent company, iFastNet (which also runs another free web hosting plan on this list).
Byet offers some of the most generous free hosting plans around when it comes to storage and bandwidth limits.
Byet is a great option for users who need full server access for lots of WordPress sites and/or high-traffic WordPress sites.
Byet is one of the few free WordPress hosts to let you create unlimited websites and it also offers unlimited bandwidth, which makes it a good choice for high-traffic sites.
Byet packs the word “unlimited” into its plans quite a bit, making it one of the most generous free WordPress hosts out there.
Just remember the 10 MB limit on individual files, as that might cause issues if you need to host large files.
AwardSpace is a budget web host from Germany that’s been around since 2003.
With AwardSpace, you’ll get a free WordPress hosting plan that’s suitable for up to 5,000 visits per month, as well as an easy upgrade path as your site grows, with premium hosting plans starting at just $0.19 (USD) per month.
AwardSpace is a good option for those who want to have multiple low-traffic sites and need full server access. The bandwidth and storage limits will limit how many visitors you can have, but you’ll be able to have four websites (though three must be on subdomains).
AwardSpace doesn’t have a very generous bandwidth allocation, but it does let you host up to four websites, includes email hosting, and gives you full server access.
If you can work within those storage and bandwidth limits, it can be a good free option.
x10Hosting is a cloud-based host that’s been offering free web hosting since back in 2004. Cloud-based means that, rather than your content “living” on a single server, it’s stored in the cloud.
You’ll get unlimited bandwidth, full cPanel access, and a one-click WordPress auto-installer to help you get up and running.
x10Hosting is good for those with higher-traffic websites because it offers unlimited bandwidth. It’s also great if you want a powerful hosting dashboard, as it’s one of the few free web hosts to give you access to cPanel.
x10Hosting is a great free option if you can use it. I wasn’t able to get around the geolocation block to create a free hosting account — so YMMV when trying to sign up for this free service.
Free Hosting No Ads certainly won’t win any points for the creativity of its name, but the name does do a pretty great job of describing what you get with this one.
Free Hosting No Ads has been a free hosting provider since 2010 — you can even join their Facebook group for a chance to win a free domain name to pair with your free hosting.
Free Hosting No Ads is good for people who are just looking for a free playground to test things, but the lack of support for the most recent versions of PHP will cause a lot of compatibility problems with WordPress plugins.
So if you’re looking to harness the power of WordPress plugins, this one isn’t a good option.
Free Hosting No Ads is generous with its features and limitations, but the outdated PHP version support means you’re probably better off with a different host for any serious WordPress project.
If you thought Free Hosting No Ads’ name was creative, then you’re going to absolutely love the creativity and brevity of Free Hosting.
By saving time and energy on brainstorming a name, Free Hosting is able to offer generous free cPanel web hosting with unlimited bandwidth.
Free Hosting is a great option for people who only need to host a single WordPress site.
While you’re only able to host one WordPress site, the unlimited bandwidth and generous 10 GB storage limit mean that you won’t run into limits as your site grows.
If you want to use your own domain name and only need a single website, Free Hosting is a great option that gives you access to the industry-standard cPanel hosting dashboard and generous storage and bandwidth.
InfinityFree is another free web hosting service using infrastructure from iFastNet (the same parent company of the Byet service detailed above).
Like Byet, it gives you generous limits when it comes to disk space and bandwidth, which is why over 300,000 people use InfinityFree, according to the landing page.
Just like Byet…
InfinityFree is a great option for users who need full server access for lots of WordPress sites and/or high-traffic WordPress sites.
InfinityFree is one of the few free WordPress hosts to let you create unlimited websites and it also offers unlimited bandwidth, which makes it a good choice for high-traffic sites.
InfinityFree is from the same parent company as Byet, so it’s really just up to your preference which one you want to use.
There are some minor differences — like the number of email accounts you can have. But generally, you get the same service — so just go with whichever name you like better!
Despite the name, Freehostia offers both free and premium WordPress hosting.
Freehostia uses load-balanced clusters to host your site and gives you generous access to your server.
However, the low storage limits means it’s not a good option for large sites. For example, if you had a blog where you upload images, you’d hit the storage limit pretty quickly.
From a feature perspective, Freehostia is quite generous for a free WordPress host, with full server access, SSL certificates, and more.
The main thing holding Freehostia back is its low storage limits.
100WebSpace is a budget web hosting service that offers affordable premium plans alongside its free hosting service.
While its free service is fairly limited, you can upgrade to premium plans for as little as 99 cents per month, so you can affordably grow if needed.
100WebSpace is really only good for a simple static WordPress site. For example, if you just want to host a portfolio, it can be a great option. But if you’re a blogger who is planning on… well, blogging, you’ll quickly hit the storage limit.
100WebSpace is fine for basic uses, but its low storage limit will get in the way of dynamic WordPress sites. However, you can always upgrade to a premium hosting plan for less than a dollar a month, so it won’t break the bank if you have to upgrade.
If you keep your expectations in check and pick the right hosting company, you can have a solid experience using one of the services we’ve outlined above.
Thanks to the free web host services in this post, you don’t need to spend big bucks just to launch your own WordPress website.
Now that you know your options for the best free WordPress hosting, there’s only one question left to answer:
Which free WordPress host is right for you?
Pick the service that best matches your needs and go make something awesome.
The post 11 Free WordPress Hosting Services That Don’t Suck (2022) appeared first on Smart Blogger.
