Free web hosting is a real option — but the right choice depends entirely on what kind of site you’re building. Some free hosting services support PHP and MySQL, making them suitable for WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal installs. Others only serve static files, which is perfect for portfolios, landing pages, or simple business sites. This guide covers the best free hosting options available, what each one actually offers, and where the limits are.
What to look for in a free hosting plan
Before choosing a free hosting provider, it’s worth understanding which features actually matter. Most free plans make trade-offs in at least one of these areas:
- PHP and MySQL support — required if you want to run WordPress or any server-side web application. Without it, you’re limited to static HTML.
- Bandwidth — how much data can be transferred to your visitors per month. Low bandwidth limits are the most common hidden restriction on free plans.
- Disk space — storage for your files. 1GB disk space is enough for most small sites; unlimited disk space claims should always be read carefully.
- Free SSL — HTTPS is now a basic requirement for SEO and user trust. Any hosting service worth using should include a free SSL certificate.
- CDN — a content delivery network speeds up load times by serving your site from servers closer to your visitors. Included on some free hosting platforms, absent on others.
- Custom domain — whether you can connect your own domain name or are stuck with a subdomain like
yoursite.hostingprovider.com. - Forced ads — some free hosting plans display adverts on your site to fund the free tier. This is a dealbreaker for most professional use cases.
Free hosting options compared
| Feature | InfinityFree | Netlify | GitHub Pages | WordPress.com |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHP & MySQL | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ (limited) |
| WordPress hosting | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | 100GB/month | 100GB/month | Limited |
| Disk space | 5GB | Unlimited | 1GB | 1GB |
| Free SSL | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| CDN | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Custom domain | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Paid only |
| Forced ads | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| cPanel | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
InfinityFree — best free hosting with PHP and MySQL
InfinityFree is the strongest option if you need a free hosting plan that supports PHP and MySQL. It’s one of the few completely free web hosting providers that lets you run WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal without upgrading to a paid plan.
What you get on the free plan:
- Unlimited bandwidth (with fair use limits)
- 5GB disk space
- Free SSL certificate via Let’s Encrypt
- Support for subdomains and custom domains
- cPanel-based control panel with a one-click installer for WordPress
- No forced ads on your site
The main trade-off is performance — shared infrastructure with no CDN means load times can be slow, and uptime isn’t guaranteed to the same level as paid hosting. For a test environment, a student project, or a low-traffic site, it’s a solid free hosting option. For a professional website with regular visitors, the limitations will show.
Netlify + GitHub Pages — best free hosting for static sites
If your site is static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — no PHP, no database — then Netlify combined with GitHub Pages is the best free web hosting setup available. Both platforms are built for static sites and offer a level of performance and reliability that free PHP hosting simply can’t match.
What makes this combination strong:
- Netlify includes a global CDN on the free plan, meaning fast load times for website visitors worldwide
- Free SSL is provisioned automatically on both platforms
- 100GB bandwidth per month on Netlify’s free tier — more than enough for low-to-medium traffic
- Deployments trigger automatically when you push to GitHub — no FTP, no manual uploads
- No forced ads, no subdomain requirement, completely free forever for static sites
The setup requires basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Git — but the result is a fast, secure, scalable site with zero hosting costs. I build all my static HTML websites on this stack. For single-page sites, portfolios, or landing pages that don’t need a CMS, it’s hard to beat.
How to set it up
- Create a GitHub account and push your site files to a new repository
- Sign up to Netlify and connect your GitHub repository
- Deploy — Netlify builds and publishes your site automatically
- Add your custom domain in Netlify and point your DNS (Cloudflare works well here)
WordPress.com — free WordPress hosting with significant limits
WordPress.com offers a free plan that gives you a hosted WordPress site immediately — no setup required. It’s the fastest route to a live WordPress site, but the free tier has restrictions that make it unsuitable for most professional use cases: forced ads on your site, no custom domain name (you’re on a yoursite.wordpress.com subdomain), limited storage, and no access to plugins or custom themes.
WordPress.com is worth considering if you want to try WordPress without any setup cost. If you need a professional WordPress site with full control, you’re looking at paid hosting. I cover the full picture in my guide to WordPress development services — including what a properly configured WordPress build looks like versus the limitations of free plans.
When free hosting isn’t enough
Free web hosting works well in specific situations. It stops working when your requirements grow. Here’s when to move to paid hosting:
- You need reliable uptime — free hosting services rarely offer uptime guarantees. If downtime costs you customers, you need a paid hosting provider with an SLA.
- You’re generating leads or revenue — a professional website on a free subdomain undermines trust. A custom domain name and professional hosting are non-negotiable at this point.
- You need better performance — free shared hosting has no CDN, limited resources, and unpredictable load times. VPS hosting or cloud hosting gives you dedicated resources and consistent performance.
- You’re running web applications — anything beyond a simple site needs more PHP resources, MySQL capacity, and bandwidth than free hosting plans provide.
- You need customer support — free hosting typically has no meaningful customer support. When something breaks, you’re on your own.
Low-cost web hosting from providers like SiteGround, Cloudways, or Hostinger starts from a few pounds per month and eliminates most of these constraints. For a business website, the cost is negligible compared to the reliability you gain. If you’re unsure what hosting setup is right for your project, feel free to get in touch via my web development services page.
Who is free hosting right for?
- Web developers testing a site or learning a new stack
- Freelancers and small businesses just starting out with a minimal online presence
- Personal projects and portfolios that don’t need a CMS or dynamic functionality
- Low-traffic websites where occasional slowdowns or downtime aren’t critical
If your site is meant to generate enquiries, rank in search results via SEO, or represent a business professionally, free hosting is a short-term solution at best. Start there if budget is the constraint — but plan for the upgrade.