Starting a website can be an expensive undertaking, but it doesn’t always have to be….
If you follow on, I will share with you my best free web hosting picks in 2024 for those who want to host a website in the UK.
I will also cover the tactics that many free web hosts use to get users to fork out money. Plus a cheap (under £1/mo) web hosting alternative that may be a better fit.
Lets get started!
The Truth About Free Web Hosting…
After a quick Google, we can see there are website hosting options that offer up storage, bandwidth, PHP, MySQL and cPanel access for no charge.
Sounds pretty good right?
Well, not all is as it seems. One thing these providers forget to mention is that these plans lack in many other aspects.
For example, many free providers drop the ball on three of the most important areas. Which are speed, uptime, and security. So while you can get a free web host, be aware that you will be receiving a subpar and possibly insecure service.
Not to mention nonexistent customer support, no SSL certificates and abysmal load times.
Also, some providers will severely throttle your bandwidth/ speeds and force you onto their expensive sh**ty plans.
However, not all hope is lost… Follow on for a better alternative.
How I Found The Best Free Web Hosting Picks 2024
Upon doing research for this guide. I kept coming to the realisation that it’s hard to rank something that is the best of something free.
I found this to be a bit of misnomer as almost all of the free web hosting options simply aren’t that good. So how do you rank the best of a bad bunch?
But in saying that, there are some simple criteria that I tried to apply when sourcing out the top picks for this guide. Here they are.
There’s no getting around it, free web hosts offer bugger all when it comes to storage and bandwidth.
Surprisingly though, there are actually some providers that allow enough bandwidth for a steady amount of website traffic. While it’s nothing major, it would do the job for a sub 1,000 visitors a month website.
Also with storage, I have aimed for at least 1GB (and preferably SSD) as this will allow users to host a small WordPress/ Drupal website. As an average WordPress install is about 100Mb, this gives enough room for some blog posts, pages and even a video or two.
When possible, I have only included web hosting providers that include access to MySQL, cPanel and PHP. While these features are usually reserved for paid hosting plans, they surprisingly can be found in free ones too.
I included this into my review process as it allows website users a lot of control over their website. So if you want to transfer your site files, add an email forwarder, delete a plugin or backup your website, this won’t be an issue.
Also by having this access, it kind of works as an insurance plan if users decide to migrate their files at a later date on not lose any work/ data.
One way in which free hosting providers offer their services is by running their own ads on the website. This allows them to have some type of monetisation to pay for server/ hardware costs.
This was a big no-no for me, as the last thing you want is an ad on your restaurant website that is promoting another local restaurant. It also looks quite unprofessional if you are also running ads on a small business website.
So when possible, I have steered clear of free providers that use ads.
As I mentioned above, free web hosts are notorious for having abysmal uptime numbers. I have even seen some that have a 95% uptime which means your website is down for over 1 hour a day. Ouch!
But in saying that, from what I have found, there is no real good provider that has a reliable uptime when compared to BlueHost, SiteGround or FastHosts.
Unfortunately, this is a price one will have to pay when using a free provider.
Last but not least on my checklist was the ability to be able to install a CMS (Content Management System) with ease. I also looked out for providers that support platforms such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla which are the most widely used free blogging/ website platforms.
Top 10 Best Free Web Hosting Providers UK 2024
1. Hostinger: (Best Almost Free Host At £0.80/mo)
Ok, I know I said this guide is about free web hosting providers. But I believe I have found a better solution that addresses the concerns of a free hosting option.
Let me introduce Hostinger.
While many are unaware of this service, Hostinger (formally known as 000WebHost) has actually been around since 2004 and has now over 30+ million customers.
In the past year, however, they have gotten a lot of attention for their premium grade plans that are only £0.80/mo. Yup, you read that correctly, it’s not a typo. It really is only £0.80/mo.
So what does this £0.80 price tag get customers? Well, surprisingly a lot. Here are some of the standout benefits.
- 10GB SSD storage
- 100GB bandwidth
- Fast load times
- European server location
- 1-click WordPress install
- 1 website hosting
- 24/7/365 support
- 1 MySQL database
- Email account
- 99.99% uptime guarantee
- User-friendly cPanel
- DNS & FTP accounts
- Weekly backups
- Cloud platform
Pretty impressive right? I thought so too. Ok, but what are the downsides?
The major ones that I came across is that Hostinger doesn’t provide a free domain or SSL certificate. However, a domain can be picked up for only a few pounds and an SSL certificate for free.
While Hostinger isn’t technically a “free web host”, it’s as close as one can get to free without comprising on speed, uptime and functionally.
This makes Hostinger a great option for bloggers, small business owners, students, and online store owners!
Activate £0.80/mo Hostinger Pricing
2. 000WebHost: (WordPress Host £0)
Next up on my list is 000WebHost which is the free version of Hostinger (they are the same company) that has been around since 2004 and has 30+ million customers.
First, let me address the strange name. 000 is a marketing name that symbolises £0.00, which is actually kind of cleaver.
Ok, enough about the name, how does 000WebHost actually stack up as a provider? Well, to be honest, good and bad.
On the upside, they give new users 1GB storage, 10GB bandwidth, PHP/ MySQL/ cPanel access, forum customer support, no ads, ok speeds, and 100+ free templates.
Not to mention there is a 1-click process for WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and OS Commerce. All for the price of… nothing!
While these are great features, what really lets 000WebHost down is there shockingly unreliable uptime. According to HostingFacts, they were receiving an average 95% uptime over a 12 month period.
This equates to a whopping 1 hour per day of downtime which could mean loss of sales, leads and traffic.
So while I may be grilling 000WebHosts, at the end of the day, they are a free web host. So they are not going to be perfect.
But as long as you know what you’re in for, this will avoid some headaches in the future. Nonetheless, a top provider that comes at no charge whatsoever.
3. x10Hosting: (Cloud/ cPanel Host £0)
Moving onto the next free provider on my list is x10Hosting. P.S. What’s up with these really weird brand names?
So who and what is x10Hosting? Since 2009, this company has been providing a free unlimited cloud hosting platform which has attracted 100,000’s of customers.
As for the features of their service, they boast an unlimited amount of bandwidth and storage on their cloud server.
However, I am a bit dubious about these claims as this is not even common amongst premium hosts. But I digress.
Other inclusions are 1-click WordPress installs (+300 more), PHP/ cPanel access, surprisingly good uptime/ speeds and forum customer support portal.
Ok, so what’s the catch?
Going back to the “unlimited” claims, it seems that if customers abuse the servers, there are reports that their website will get taken down without question. Which for some is a huge red flag.
While x10Hosting isn’t a perfect provider (none are from my experience), they do pretty well for costing nothing.
4. AwardSpace (Student Web Host £0)
Next up on my guide is AwardSpace which is a great free web host that covers a lot of the bases.
Being in business since 2004, AwardSpace has now gained over 2.6 million customers and counting. While they are best known for their premium plans, they also offer a pretty decent free option too.
So what can one expect from the no-cost option?
Some of the standout benefits are the included 5GB bandwidth, 1GB storage, 99.9% uptime, 100% ad-free, PHPmyadmin access, WordPress install and full MySQL databases.
There is also the option to host 4 websites for free on this service. However, only one can be hosted on a primary domain with the others be for subdomains.
The only thing that really lets AwardSpace down are their slow load times which we found were around the 1.5-second mark. You can see the impact a slow website has on your business here.
Overall, not a bad free provider that also has upgrade options for only a few pence a month. I could see this being a good fit for students or portfolio/one-page websites.
5. FreeHosting.com: (cPanel Host £0)
Another provider that caught my attention was FreeHosting which has been around since 2009 and has close to 20,000 customers.
What really stood out to me with this provider was their extremely easy to use cPanel interface. On top of that, they are UK based, 10GB disk space, unlimited bandwidth, PHP, MySQL and 100% free hosting for life.
As for their downsides, FreeHosting.com clearly states what that don’t cover, which is quite uncommon. What they won’t do is host free domains like TK, .ML or .GA. Neither will they host subdomains or provide PHP mail interfaces.
The biggest downside, however, would definitely have to be their horrible uptime. From some test sites I have seen, I was seeing uptime numbers in the 80%! This means a website could be down for 1 month over the whole year!
Get Started With FreeHosting.com
6. Wix
Ok, so I realise Wix isn’t a hosting company. But for those who want to test that waters with a free drag and drop builder, Wix is a great choice.
Upon signing up for Wix, users can access Wix’s 300+ professionally designed themes for almost any blog or small business.
From there, users can drag and drop images, videos, posts, and content to their own liking. Seriously one of the easiest platforms to use.
As for the features of this free option, Wix provider 500Mb of storage, 500Mb bandwidth, and a free subdomain. Unfortunately, Wix will place ads on the website and users won’t be able to take online payments.
For a full breakdown of their plans, you can see my Wix pricing guide here.
7. InfinityFree
Next in my lineup, I came across InfinityFree which stood out to me as they offer some pretty premium features in their free offering (more on the below).
As for the basics of their free plan, it includes unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, 10 email accounts, MySQL databases, Linux, Apache (with .htaccess) and a free subdomain.
Sounds pretty good right?
But what I found to be really beneficial was the included free SSL certificates and free CloudFlare CDN integration. Nice!
Ok, so what’s the catch? Well, after reading their terms of service. It seems like they can remove a customer’s website without question if they above the server and bandwidth limits.
There are also limits to the type of content you can upload to your website also.
Get Started With Infinity Free
8. 5GBFree
Can you take a guess at how much storage this provider gives for free to their users… Yup, it’s 5GB. What a surprise!
As for the bandwidth usage, users can get 20GB which is more than enough for a light traffic/ small business website. Just don’t expect too much as far as uptime and speed is concerned.
If you don’t plan on using WordPress (which they do offer), users can also choose from Drupal, Joomla and even ZenDesk for their CMS of choice. To learn more about WP, cehck out my guide on the best WordPress web hosting UK picks where I cover some of these providers in more detail.
When it comes to the server location, it is hosted in the US in a Cisco infrastructure. So for faster speeds, choosing a UK or European based provider might be better.
9. FreeHostia
Next up on my list is a free web hosting provider that actually has a good reputation for customer support. Who would have guessed!
On top of having a good reputation for customer service, FreeHostia also has substantial security, malware, and antivirus systems in place to protects users’ data.
As to the backing of these claims, I personally couldn’t say. Just note that no-cost hosting providers are notorious for poor security and backups. To learn more, you can see my post on data breach statistics which are quite unsettling.
Ok, so what’s included with this option? Users can expect 250Mb of storage, 6GB bandwidth, 3 email accounts, 5 hosted websites and 1-click WordPress installs.
The biggest downsides for me would definitely have to be the 250Mb storage limited. As a WordPress install is about 100Mb, this won’t get you very far. There is also a limitation on file size uploads of 500Kb. So be careful not to upload any large photos!
10. BlueHost
Last but not least on my list is BlueHost. While BlueHost isn’t a free web host by any means, I thought I would add it in as it shows what one can expect from a “proper host”.
Also, what might be surprising is that a premium web host like BlueHost or SiteGround is actually relatively cheap.
So what can users expect from BlueHost? Well, quite a lot!
Some of the most notable advantages are the 50GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, free domain, free SSL certificate, backups, free email POP accounts, cPanel access, 24/7 phone customer support and blazing fast speeds and a 99.99% uptime.
Oh yeah, BlueHost is also WordPresses top recommended web host! So if you want to create a WordPress website in under 5 minutes and have iron-clad security and features. This could be the pick for you.
To get a full rundown of other top providers, you can check out my top web hosting UK guide which covers 10 top-notch providers.
Do I Use/ Recommend Free Web Hosts?
In short, No. I personally would recommend or use a free web host as they fall short in many areas. That’s not to say they can be a good solution for other people, however.
As I run multiple websites that get in excess of 100,000 visitors a month, a free provider simply wouldn’t cut it. I also want the peace of mind knowing that my website are constantly getting backups and running the latest version of PHP.
Also with a paid web host, I am able to connect to a CDN for a cloud hosting solution that dramatically increases my website speeds.
But, as I said earlier, this comes back to your budget and what you are after. If you can’t afford a few pounds for a cheap provider like Hostinger, then a free hosting company might be your only option. Just know that there are risks and restrictions in place.
Pros & Cons Of Using a Free Web Hosting
Pros
- No money required
- 1-click WordPress installs
Cons
- Slow website speeds
- Poor uptime reliability
- Increased security risk
- Potentially stuck with a bad host
- No free domain or SSL included
- Limited storage & bandwidth
- No customer service
- No migrations services
- Nonexistent backups
- Potential of ads on website
As you can see, the cons definitely outweigh the pros… by A LOT! As my mum always used to say, there’s no such thing as a free breakfast, which couldn’t be more true in this scenario.
So while it might be appealing in the beginning, there will be a cost in other ways of dropped out servers, slow load times, potential data breaches and being stuck with a host.
Best Free Web Host For Students
Upon doing research for this guide, I kept on coming across students (whether in university, college or high school) looking for a free website host.
While I might write an article about this in the future, I’ll briefly cover it now in short.
In short, there are free web hosts for students, but just be aware of what you are using it for. Let me explain.
Say for example you are making a website for your CV or resume. In this instance, you’ll want a host that has great uptime. The last thing you want is a potential employer going to your website and nothing loads…
For this and similar situations, Hostinger is a great choice. It is only 80p/mo and provider premium features at a discount price.
On the other hand, if you just plan on playing around with the website and want to get a handle on the in and outs of web hosting. Then a free provider is good to experiment with.
In this instance, 000WebHost could be a good fit. It has cPanel access, CMS installs plus heaps more. And if you are to outgrow this provider, you can always upgrade to their premium plan. Which is run by Hostinger. This means there will be no migration of transfer cost. Rather simply a 1 click upgrade process.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this guide has shed some light on the top free web hosts for those in the United Kingdom. If you feel like I have missed something, or would like me to cover a particular provider, please let me know down in the comments.
Also, if you have ever used any of these free web hosts, please share your thoughts as it will help others make the right design. Thanks for reading!