Free Web Hosts

Looking for a free web host to place your website?
-You're in the right place.

Free web hosts are useful if you are creating a personal site, or want a web host to place an experimental site (such as one that you might want to create when learning how to design a web page). They may also be useful if you want to create a hobby site.

Due to the large number of free web hosts, we've separated the different hosts into different categories depending on the features they provide. This page merely lists the latest additions to our list, and is useful if you are a frequent visitor to these pages.

Note that free web hosts tend to come and go with alarming frequency. You may want to read my article on All Those Disappearing Free Web Hosts for more information about this as well as some tips on choosing a web host that will last. If you're running a business, or are making money from your website, you should not use a free web host. You can find my personal favourites in my FAQ, Which Web Host Do You Recommend?

Disclaimer

The information provided on this page comes without any warranty whatsoever. Use it at your own risk. Just because a program, book or service is listed here or has a good review does not mean that I endorse or approve of the program or of any of its contents. All the other standard disclaimers also apply.

Free Web Hosts

Bravenet, well-known for their free Script Hosting facilities, has now gone into free web hosting as well. They offer 100MB of web space, a Site Editor, FTP access, 600MB traffic per month (20MB max per day), and Midi files are allowed. Banner ads are posted on your sites.

This web host offers 30 MB of disk space and 1000 MB of traffic. Although they advertise as providing you a subdomain, they actually only provide you with a URL like www.free30.com/yourname. Likewise, it does not look like they provide statistics and logs, contrary to what is advertised. You have to upload your site using your web browser. The owner is probably non-English speaking, since most of the content on the site is incomprehensible (it uses English words, even in its Terms of Service, but the sentences don't make sense).

This free web host offers 50MB of disk space, "unlimited bandwidth", a subdomain name like yoursite.web1000.com, FTP access, and some preinstalled CGI scripts like a forum script, counter script, a form mailer, and a toplist script. You cannot install your own CGI scripts. The host puts an ad-footer (apparently a text link) at the bottom of your site.

FateBack provides your site with 60MB space, unlimited bandwidth, FTP access, a web based file manager, a free POP3 email account, and a subdomain name. It places banner ads on your account.

You get 15 MB of disk space, 1 GB of data transfer, SSI and instant account activation with this web host. The host does not put advertisements on your site. You have to upload your files using their web interface.

Free Web Hosts with Perl / CGI (CGI-BIN) Access

This page lists the free web hosts that also allow you to install your own CGI scripts and have the Perl interpreter installed so that you can run Perl CGI scripts. It does not list the hosts that only provide pre-installed CGI scripts, although the web hosts listed here may also provide pre-installed CGI scripts that you can use in addition to providing you access to a private CGI-BIN directory.

Advertisements or No Advertisements: Note that like all our lists of free web hosts, you should assume that they are all ad-supported unless otherwise stated. This is a fairly normal practice, and it is my experience that many web hosts that do not have some means of supporting their hosting operations quickly go out of business (running web hosting operations is expensive).

What are CGI Scripts? For the absolute newcomer, CGI scripts are programs that run on the web server. They are typically used to run feedback forms, redirection, banner rotation, forums (message boards), counters , etc. That is, anything that is not simply a straightforward page to be read or viewed is likely to be handled by some sort of script. For these scripts to run, your web host must enable CGI execution on your account - that is they must configure the web server so that CGI scripts installed on your account will actually execute.

Free Web Hosts with Perl / CGI / CGI-BIN Access

You get Perl CGI access, Server Side Includes (SSI), 50MB of web space, the ability to configure the server using the .htaccess file (eg to password protect directories, define your own 404 File Not Found pages, etc). The reliability of this web host appears to depend on which web server your account is set up in.

You are given 20MB for your web pages, 1 GB of traffic, Frontpage extensions, FTP access, and CGI-BIN access. CGI scripts on Tripod execute under a rather restrictive environment though, and most free CGI scripts you find on the Internet that deal with email will not work there. You get some choices as to to the advertising that displays on your site. Your URL will be http://members.tripod.com/yourname/, and most sites should be able to use a subdomain of the form http://yourname.tripod.com/ for their site (unless yourname clashes with one of their many reserved names). They also have an online site builder that allows you to design your website from your browser.

Free Web Hosts with PHP Access / Support

Included on this page are the free web hosting providers (FWP) that provide you with the facility to install your own PHP scripts. For the uninitiated, PHP is a scripting (programming) language that you can use to write programs that execute on the web server. You can use it for many things, including, for example, handle forms that a visitor submits from your site, manage a message board or forum, etc.

Note that most free web hosts with PHP support do not allow you to use certain PHP functions. For example, the mail() function in PHP is often disabled, meaning that your PHP scripts will not be able to send mail. If you need full PHP services, you will probably need to get a commercial (paid) web host .

Unless otherwise stated, you should also assume that all the hosts listed put advertisements on your site (whether it is a banner or pop-up window or whatever).

Free Web Hosts with PHP

Tripod (UK) provides you with PHP, MySQL, web statistics, FTP access (only for certain areas of the world - they block other countries), a site builder, a web-based FTP / file manager, 50MB disk space, unlimited traffic, unlimited file size, etc. The service is ad-supported. Your URL will be something like http://www.members.lycos.co.uk/yourname/.

This free web host provides you with 50 MB of disk space, FTP access, PHP4 (but without functions like mail(), phpinfo(), and the sockets functions), MySQL, .htaccess access, and free domain hosting. If you're not buying a domain name from them and want free domain name hosting you must upload your website onto their servers (for them to check) before they'll set up your domain on their name servers.

T32 gives your site 35 MB of space, FTP access, unlimited bandwidth, PHP (but with the mail() function disabled), Server Side Includes (SSI), and free domain name hosting or a subdomain name like yourname.t35.com (if you don't have your own domain). The largest file that you can upload to your account is 250 KB (ie, there is a file size limit). The host places pop-up ads on your website.

Free Web Hosts with Free Domain Hosting

Looking for a free web hosting provider that provide free domain hosting? The list of free web hosts on this page will not only host your site for free, they will also host your domain name without your having to pay anything for the hosting. That is to say, if you have a domain name of your own, you can "point" it to your site hosted with these free web hosts without having to pay any additional charge.

If you are not sure how to go about getting your own domain name, you can check out our free tutorial (it includes a list of domain name registrars with brief reviews) at: How to Register Your Own Domain Name.

Note: unless I specify otherwise, all the hosts listed here can be assumed to place advertisements on your website. (It's standard practice - they have to recover their cost of hosting your site somehow.)

Free Web Hosts with Free Domain Hosting

This UK free web space provider gives you 15MB of web space with no ads. You get FTP access, multiple email forwarding, website statistics, and a subdomain name (eg yourname.port5.com or yourname.portland.co.uk). You can also host your own domain name free of charge. Unfortunately they limit you to 100MB of data transfer every month (which is usually only enough if you are putting up a personal web site with only a few visitors each month).

This free web host provides you with 50 MB of disk space, FTP access, PHP4 (but without functions like mail(), phpinfo(), and the sockets functions), MySQL, .htaccess access, and free domain hosting. If you're not buying a domain name from them and want free domain name hosting you must upload your website onto their servers (for them to check) before they'll set up your domain on their name servers.

T35 gives your site 35 MB of space, FTP access, unlimited bandwidth, PHP (but with the mail() function disabled), Server Side Includes (SSI), and free domain name hosting or a subdomain name like yourname.t35.com (if you don't have your own domain). The largest file that you can upload to your account is 250 KB (ie, there is a file size limit). The host places pop-up ads on your website.

Free Web Hosts with Site Builders or Web Templates

If you are new to creating your website, or if you just want to create a website and get online quickly, these web hosts provide you an easy way to build your website without having to learn HTML or download a web editor . Most of these sites allow you to create your website using their free online site builders or free web templates, and customize the appearance of your web site to your liking. Some of them even provide you with free offline site builders that you can use to create your website while not connected to the Internet. Best of all, the web hosting providers listed here give you these services free, along with your free web hosting account.

Note: unless I specify otherwise, all the hosts listed here can be assumed to place advertisements on your website. (It's standard practice - they have to recover their cost of hosting your site somehow.)

Free Web Hosts with Free Site Builders (Online or Offline) or Web Templates

Bravenet, well-known for their free Script Hosting facilities, has now gone into free web hosting as well. They offer 100 MB of web space, a Site Editor, FTP access, 600 MB traffic per month (20 MB max per day), and Midi files are allowed. Banner ads are posted on your sites.

You can get your web pages created free of charge and hosted by this service. Your page has to be created by their online builder, which currently only allows one page per URL. It may be useful if you just want to get things like your resume or personal home page online.

You are given 20 MB for your web pages, 1 GB of traffic, Frontpage extensions, FTP access, and CGI-BIN access. CGI scripts on Tripod execute under a rather restrictive environment though, and most free CGI scripts you find on the Internet that deal with email will not work there. You get some choices as to to the advertising that displays on your site. Your URL will be http://members.tripod.com/yourname/, and most sites should be able to use a subdomain of the form http://yourname.tripod.com/ for their site (unless yourname clashes with one of their many reserved names). They also have an online site builder that allows you to design your website from your browser.

Tripod (UK) provides you with PHP, MySQL, web statistics, FTP access (only for certain areas of the world - they block other countries), a site builder, a web-based FTP / file manager, 50 MB disk space, unlimited traffic, unlimited file size, etc. Your URL will be a subdirectory name like http://members.lycos.co.uk/yourname/. The service is ad-supported.

Geocities Free is an ad-supported web host that gives your website 15 MB of web space, 3 GB of traffic, a free web page builder and page wizard, and a URL like http://www.geocities.com/your-yahoo-id. You have to upload your pages using their online file manager. You can also add things like a guestbook, counter, etc to your web page. The service is ad-supported.

TopCities provides your site with 150 MB of space, your own sub-domain, FTP access, a guestbook, a message board, form mail script, a browser based FTP facility, and an EZ Page Builder. The service is ad supported.