Free Webhosting: 4 Exciting Providers for Your Business
Hosting a website for free - it's possible! Find out what options you have here.
- What is free webhosting?
- What are the benefits of free webhosting?
- Disadvantages of free webhosting
- 4 providers for free webhosting
- 3 (almost) free alternatives
- Conclusion
Something that costs nothing is worth nothing - Albert Einstein is said to have once uttered these words. Whether the physicist already had future webhosting in mind when he made this far-reaching assertion, we cannot say. However, we are putting his statement to the test, and will review 4 providers for free webhosting.
What is free webhosting?
Free webhosting describes the ability to make your own internet presence visible online. It's about renting webspace, where your homepage's data is stored: This includes images, texts, HTML elements and video files. Webhosting should not be confused with domain registration, which is about giving your website a unique address on the web (we've outlined the free options for this in our article on Free domains).
What are the benefits of free webhosting?
Free webhosting is a great way to achieve a professional online presence without having to spend a fortune. There are many different providers offering free webhosting and it is important that you take the time to investigate the best options for your needs. All offer a variety of features that can help you manage and operate your site.
Some providers offer a free domain name, a free SSL certificate, unlimited traffic and storage space, support for various platforms, or other features. The type and scope of customer service also varies depending on the web host.
So what are the benefits of free webhosting? It also depends a bit on which provider you ultimately choose. Most free hosting services offer a wide range of features and options you can use in creating and managing your site. The most common benefits include:
Free storage space: Many free hosting services offer at least a few gigabytes of storage space for your website files. This is often enough space to create a simple, but feature-rich website.
Free domains: Some hosting services offer free sub-domains. This may not look as professional as a dedicated domain, but it costs nothing. This is practical, especially at the beginning!
Free e-mail addresses: Many hosting services offer free e-mail addresses. This is useful if you want to use your website for business or professional purposes.
Disadvantages of free webhosting
Free webhosting is a cost-effective option to put your website online, but it also has disadvantages. If you want to take your online presence seriously, you should keep the main disadvantages in mind.
Advertising: Since you are paying nothing for the service, some providers may place ads on your site. Of course, this is not a pleasant sight for your visitors.
Reduced bandwidth: Free webhosting often comes with reduced connection speed. This means that your free homepage performs slower than it would with a paid version. In the worst case scenario, your website may crash if you receive a lot of traffic.
Service: You can generally expect little customer service when you put your website online for free. For you, this means if something goes wrong, you should be able to solve the problems yourself.
Security: Last but not least, many free webhosting providers do not support SSL certificate and therefore do not offer an HTTPS connection for your page. Although it is only advisable to secure websites with HTTPS, it is becoming increasingly important for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Google prefers pages that have this security measure. The right encryption is also important if you want to host your website GDPR compliant.
4 providers for free webhosting
1. Wix
Wix is a cloud-based website builder that allows both beginners and experts to create a professional website. It offers an intuitive user interface and user-friendly features, with which you can quickly and easily design your websites. Wix offers countless design templates and custom design options to create your own unique look. It also gives you the opportunity to personalize the appearance of your site by integrating widgets and apps.
All in all, Wix makes it really easy to create professional websites without having to have technical knowledge or invest a lot of time. The simple controls of the drag & drop interface allow you to bring your ideas to life online - regardless of design or programming skills. The free version includes 500MB of storage space and 500MB of maximum bandwidth.
2. Freehosting
Freehosting is a free webhosting option that allows businesses and individuals to create and host websites without having to spend money. It offers many of the same features and benefits as other types of hosting services and can be upgraded to a paid version, which is still budget-friendly, if needed.
The free version includes, among other things, 10 GB of web storage and unlimited bandwidth for fluid traffic. In addition, the free version includes its own email account and a MySQL database.
Additional practical features from Freehosting are automatic data backup and security features that can help you run your website more securely. Domain registration is not possible via Freehosting: You have to register this with another provider.
3. GoogieHost
GoogieHost is a webhosting provider that specializes in providing free and cheap solutions for websites. The company was founded in 2012 in India and is headquartered in Lucknow. The range of offerings ranges from small single placements to larger packages that include multiple slots.
The cost-free variant offered by the provider can host up to 3 websites. The webspace is 1GB with a maximum bandwidth of 100 GB. Other features include a WordPress manager, a free SSL certificate, and a free mail mailbox.
If that's not enough for you, GoogieHost also offers a paid package for a cheap $2.50 per month. In return, you get an unlimited number of websites, unlimited webspace and unlimited bandwidth for particularly fast traffic.
4. AwardSpace
Last but not least, we come to AwardSpace, another provider of free webhosting, that also has a branch in Kiel. In addition to providing webspace for free, the company also offers paid packages for webhosting.
The free version includes up to 4 websites, which are split into a main domain and up to three subdomains. After registration, you can choose the content management system on which your website should be based - for example, you can use WordPress or Joomla. Alternatively, AwardSpace also has its own Website Builder in the works. The free webhosting from AwardSpace offers a total of up to 5 GB of bandwidth, 1GB of webspace, 24/7 customer support and is 100 % ad-free for you and your users. In addition, the system supports MySQL databases.
3 (almost) free alternatives
Hostinger
Hostinger offers prices starting at 2.99 € per month and is a cheap webhosting provider with a fast, reliable, and user-friendly platform. Hostinger offers a wide range of features, including unlimited storage space, website builder software, free domains, preinstalled applications, and much more. You also receive a powerful customer support available round the clock.
It offers prices that are affordable for all types of customers, and it was specifically developed to help businesses improve their web presence. The user interface is intuitive and easy to use, so beginners can comfortably manage it. Thanks to the advanced features, more demanding users can also achieve the best possible performance for their sites.
For this purpose, Hostinger offers a wide range of tools such as WordPress installation, SSL certificates, e-commerce platform and many other tools for optimizing your web presence. In addition, Hostinger also offers an upgrade to its premium package, with which you can use even more features. This makes it an interesting option if you don't necessarily need to be cheap, but very cheap, on the web.
IONOS by 1&1
IONOS Hosting & Cloud is a universal product for businesses of all sizes. Starting at 1€ per month, it offers a comprehensive range of hosting and cloud services that can help you create and operate secure and high-performance websites and applications.
The package includes, among other things, 200 GB of web space, 100 databases, 24/7 support via mail, chat or phone and unlimited bandwidth for a fast connection. In addition, you get your own domain, up to 10,000 subdomains and an SSL certificate.
You can also extend your IONOS website with numerous applications. They can be installed with just one click, making it particularly easy to individualize your homepage.
STRATO
Also with the provider STRATO Webhosting you can host your own website very cheaply. The starter package, which is free in the first month, costs 4€ per month. For this you receive 3 domains, an SSL certificate and up to 2,000 email mailboxes with 20 GB of mail storage each.
The webspace at STRATO is 50 GB in this price variant. The traffic of your website is unlimited. In addition, you receive comprehensive web statistics that give you information about the performance and success of your homepage.
At STRATO, you can also extend your website with various applications. The supported systems and extensions include WordPress, Typo3, Joomla and Drupal.
Conclusion
Whether and which provider for free webhosting is right for you depends on various factors. Before you make a decision, you should ask yourself several questions: What do you want to achieve with your website? How important are performance and storage space to you? And what opportunities would you like to have to possibly extend your website? All these questions will help you make the right choice. Overall, however, it can be said that, as often happens, there is hardly any way around putting some money into it and investing in one of the paid hosting offers - provided you plan to really start professional and extensive work with your website. Fortunately, this doesn't have to be expensive, as we have also shown you. We wish you a lot of success in choosing the suitable provider!
Nils ist SEO-Texter bei OMR Reviews und darüber hinaus ein echter Content-Suchti. Egal, ob Grafik, Foto, Video oder Audio – wenn es um digitale Medien geht, ist Nils immer ganz vorne mit dabei. Vor seinem Wechsel zu OMR war er fast 5 Jahre lang als Content-Manager und -Creator in einem Immobilienunternehmen tätig und hat zudem eine klassische Ausbildung als Werbetexter.
