A Guide to Free Web Hosting and Domain in 2020!
Who doesn’t want a freebie, especially when it has to do with a free website? Of course, nobody would say no to that. Just like getting free coupons along the road, you pick the item even though you don’t need it.
Well, in this case, you need to create a free website, but you don’t want to spend a lot on the project. You’re lucky because there are tons of websites that won't charge you a dime.
In this guide, we’ll explore how you can create a free website and what are the different free web hosting and domain. Hopefully, you’ll learn or get an idea of the best provider to use.
Are there any Free Website Hosting?
The answer is yes. There are many free website hosting service providers. All you need to do is determine the catch for every service to find a perfect match for your needs. From absolutely free to cheap service providers, you’ll learn more about them in this guide.
To further understand what is web hosting, see our other post.
How do I Host a Website with my Domain Name for Free?
Do you have an already existing name for your website but aren’t sure where to start with website hosting? You’re in luck because, in this specific section, you’ll learn how you can host a free web if you have a name.
Some service providers allow you to register a domain name with them for free but, of course, with a condition. In some cases, you’re expected to purchase a yearly plan to enjoy perks such as registration.
To enjoy web hosting with your website name, you should change your appropriately to make the transfer seamless. The fact that you can use the previous free domain with the current host not only saves you time but also the cost of registering another name.
All you have to do is to log in to your cPanel and change the settings of your NS accordingly. Different web hosts will give different instructions on how to change the settings depending on what’s acceptable on their platform.
You are probably already thinking that the process of changing settings on your website cPanel is complicated. On the contrary, you can do it within a matter of a minute.
How do you acquire this?
Domain registration on itself includes one-off charges plus yearly subscriptions. You don’t have to incur the cost of registering a new name with hosts that offer freebies.
Whether the domain name registration and hosting are only free for the first year, it’s one of the best ways to save some money. Here are some of the best free website name registrars and hosting providers.
Godaddy
Godaddy is one of the best free website hosts in the market- whether you want hosting with an already existing domain or you want to register a free website. The company manages more than 17 million domains making it the largest registrar in the world.
One of the perks you enjoy from using Godaddy as your host is that they offer free web registration. You also have an easy to use cPanel or Plesk to manage your site.
With this provider, you also have an awesome website builder tool to help you boggle your creativity. What’s more, is that you also enjoy free email backup for your site.
It’s also worth noting that Godaddy is one of the few web hosting providers that guarantee an almost 100 percent website uptime. You don’t have to worry about slow speeds anymore, and your audience can also have a great user experience after visiting your website.
Godaddy also gives a one-click WordPress installation tool to take your blogging to another level.
iPage.com
iPage.com allows you to register a free web name, but you also have the option of transferring your already existing domain for hosting with them. What’s more, is that you also get a free website builder or online store building tools.
The website building tools are easy to use, even for a beginner. Now you don’t have to learn to code to own a website.
With iPage.com, you also need not worry about the limitation of disk space. The company gives you unlimited bandwidth and hosting of email addresses for your WordPress site. You can now concentrate on creating your business rather than become worried about storage space.
Bluehost.com
If you love using WordPress, then this is the best host because they offer a WordPress install plugin and website building tools. It’s also worth noting that Bluehost.com provides unlimited domains, emails, and bandwidth depending on what you need. You can even get up to $200 with Google, Yahoo, and Bing advertisements.
The other good thing about Bluehost.com is that they offer customer support at all times. When stranded, the company provides you online tutorials on how to navigate your site, Cpanel, and any other issue.
What are some free web Host Sites?
Yes, there are so many free web hosting sites that can help you build your business until it starts generating income. Admittedly, most online entrepreneurs give up before their ideas materialize due to the high costs of web hosting. Here are some of the best free website hosts:
WordPress.com
Most people confuse between wordpress.com and wordpress.org, but in this case, we’ll talk about wordpress.com. The company offers free templates to use for building your website. With the free plan, you also get a 3 GB disk space.
Well, nothing is totally free, and for WordPress, you also get lots of ads on your website. The ads can be irritating because they are random.
It’s also worth noting that with the free plan, you should also have a subdomain extension of WordPress. However, you can upgrade to a paid plan to get rid of the ads and the extension.
Weebly.com
Weebly is another free hosting provider that offers an awesome website builder. The free plan also comes with drop and drag templates for your website building requirements.
The disk space that comes with the free plan is 500 MB, and you should also run Weebly ads on your website. However, if you upgrade to the paid plan, you can eliminate the random ads and unlock features such as more storage space.
Wix.com
Wix.com is also a free hosting service provider that also offers a website builder feature. You don’t have to know how to code to own a website with wix.com. You also get 500 MB of storage and 500 MB bandwidth.
However, in return for a free site and hosting, your website runs ads for Wix.com. If you upgrade to the paid platform, you can do away with the ads.
Best Unlimited Free Web Hosting Providers
Unlimited website hosting implies that you get to host as many websites and domains as you can. It also means that you have unlimited disk space and bandwidth.
The problem with limited web hosting plans is that, if you go against the policies on storage and bandwidth, you get penalized. Worse still, your website could vanish with all the data, especially if you get an increase in the number of monthly site visitors.
Therefore, if you don’t want problems with penalization, you should go for the unlimited web hosting providers? Let’s explore some of these service providers.
InMotion Hosting
If you own a growing business or you’re that aggressive online entrepreneur, then owning multiple websites with a guarantee of no downtime is a no brainer. InMotion Hosting offers a Business Pro plan that guarantees unlimited hosting.
Here’s what to expect with the shared hosting plan.
- Unlimited websites and domains
- Free SSL certificate
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Unlimited disk space
- Unlimited emails with storage
- High performance and top-loading speeds
- Automatic backups for your data and files
- 24/7 customer support
You're probably wondering how much this wonderful site costs, here is the payment structure: Monthly plans cost $17.99, with a renewal of $19.99 every month.
If you want a semi-yearly payment, then you should pay $14.99 per month, and you’re expected to pay the full amount upfront totaling to $89.94.
If you want yearly plans, then you should pay $13.99 per month, adding up to $167.88 payable upfront.
Bluehost.com
Bluehost manages over 2 million domains and offers a variety of plans depending on what you need. If you’re looking for unlimited hosting, then the Plus shared hosting plan is the best option for small businesses and blogging sites.
Here is what the shared hosting Plus plan entails.
- A free name for your domain for the first year
- Unlimited websites and domain hosting
- Unlimited bandwidth and storage space
- Free SSL certificate
- Free WordPress install
- Unlimited customer support
To get the plan, you should either subscribe to a monthly, yearly, 24 months, and 36 months. If you decide to pay monthly, you should pay a fee of $10.99.
For 12 months, you pay a total of $83.40, 24 months cost $142.80, while 36 months cost $178.20. To enjoy the unlimited hosting offer, you should make payments upfront.
Take a look at best free web hosting providers we’ve already covered.
Does Google have free Web hosting?
Yes, Google offers cloud services to customers with a whole year free hosting package for first-time customers. Subsequent payment plans are also affordable and ideal for startup businesses and students who want to own a website.
With Google Cloud hosting, you’re guaranteed of top performance, high security, and unlimited storage. You can also install a WordPress plugin to host on the Google platform.
The Risks Involved with Free Hosting Services
As much as most of us want free things including free web hosting, there are some risks associated with these free hosting services:
Penalization
If you go against the terms and conditions of the service provider, you risk your data getting deleted, and your website vanishing altogether. The act could severely hurt your business, especially if your audience can no longer find you online.
It’s Not Free Forever
As your traffic increases and business grows, you will need to upgrade to one of the paid plans. This is because, with the freebies, you have limited storage space and bandwidth.
Therefore, if you have more files to save and data to transfer, you’ll get knocked out of the free category. You can, therefore, rely on the no cost web hosting and domain as you start but be ready to upgrade.
You cannot monetize your Site
Every online entrepreneur wants to earn through affiliate marketing and running commercial ads. Sadly, with the free hosting providers, you aren’t allowed to monetize the site in any way.
One essential aspect to consider before going for free hosting is how it can hurt your search engine ranking. Google rarely ranks free websites because usually, they’re low quality.
Conclusion
If you have a limited budget but want to own a website, it’s good to check out some of the best web hosting and domain registrars in the industry. This guide offers you information on the best free web hosting and domain registration, free web hosting with your free domain, and unlimited web hosting plans.