Top 6 Best Free Hosting Sites & Platforms | 2017 Ranking | Most Popular Free Hosting Services

2017 RANKING & REVIEWS
TOP RANKING BEST FREE HOSTING SITES

2017 Guide & Ranking: Take Your Business to the Next Level with the Top Free Hosting Sites

Do you want to start your own website, but have no budget and no idea where to even begin? Truthfully, that thought is not too uncommon.

Many small-businesses and startups are looking for low cost options to legitimize and expand their outreach, but don’t know where to begin.

Thankfully, there are free hosting services that can help you out.  Free hosting sites, combined with website builders can actually allow you to start a website at no cost! This is essential for businesses on the rise with more limited budgets.

Award Emblem: Top 6 Best Free Hosting Sites & Platforms

The trick is finding these best free hosting sites. Many sites claim to be the top free hosting site, when in fact there are many negatives to using their services.

Before you become invested in these hosting sites, it is important to do a little research to determine the best fit for you.

Unfortunately, with all of the options, this can become a slightly overwhelming process. When you are trying to find the best free web hosting sites, you likely have questions, including:

• What should you look for in free hosting services?
• Are there free hosting sites?
• Can you get free web hosting and domain services?
• What do hosting free sites actually provide you?

Throughout this 2017 guide, we will answer the questions you have surrounding free online hosting. We will explain what online hosting free sites offer, as well as what to look for in free online hosting. Finally, we will provide a detailed review of the six best free web hosting sites.

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AdvisoryHQ’s List of Top 6 Best Free Hosting Sites

List is sorted alphabetically (click any of the hosting free sites below to go directly to the detailed review section for that free web hosting and domain site):

• 000webhost
• AwardSpace
• Bravenet
• Freehostia
• Weebly
• Wix

Top 6 Best Free Hosting Sites | Brief Comparison & Ranking

Detailed Overview: What Does Free Hosting Mean?

Website hosting is when a service rents their servers to you to maintain your website. This can be a personal or business website that your home or small-business servers simply will not support.

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Though hosting services mainly refers to a company storing and hosting your webpage on its servers, many hosting services have extended to offer many different features. Some even allow you to build your website right on their platform, which often can eliminate the need for coding services.

However, free hosting just means that these services are offered for free. With a free online hosting service, your webpage is hosted on their site at no cost. This often means running their advertisements on your website or even utilizing their site-specific domain names on your site.

Though many people need and want features that go beyond what is offered by free hosting services, for those with more limited needs or a smaller budget, free hosting services can be a great asset. It eliminates the need to pay for a server and for a web hosting service.

Detailed Overview: What to Look for in Free Hosting Sites

Now that you know what free hosting services do and do not do, the real trick is deciding whether or not free hosting and domain is right for you, and if so, what free hosting service is the right choice for you.

The pros of the top free hosting services, is that you can start a website at zero cost. You can also use free web hosting and domain to try out a web hosting service before you decide to purchase it. Free hosting and domain services intentionally make it easy to upgrade from a free to paid account, because they want you to want more services and be willing to pay for them.

However, even the top free hosting sites aren’t right for everyone. Loading speeds can be slow, the forced advertisements can detract from your content and customer support is often very difficult to find.

If you choose to utilize free web hosting, you need to be sure that you are securing the best free hosting service for you.

To do this, you actually have to know what you are looking for. You need to know what sets the best free hosting sites apart from all of the others. That is why when you are looking at free hosting services, it is important to consider the following:

Bandwidth

When any webpage is loading, the faster it loads, the less likely it is that visitors are going to click off the page. Too often pages download too slowly and the instant-gratification sets in, causing people to move away from a site. Having a free hosting site with fast bandwidth speeds will help with your retention.

Storage

It’s no mystery that websites take up a lot of storage space. That is why many free hosting services offer limited storage. As your website builds out, you will be forced to either scale back or upgrade to a paid account with more storage. Be sure to look for unlimited storage hosting services or ones with as much storage as possible.

Ecommerce Capability

If you are looking to start a business that sells goods and services online, it is important to see if ecommerce is offered. The top free hosting sites will offer the ability to integrate ecommerce capabilities, even if it is through a third-party add-in.

Website Builder

If you are starting a website from scratch and have no coding knowledge, then looking for free hosting services with a website builder is essential. This enables you to drag and drop images and text to modify a template in order to create the perfect website. The top free hosting sites should offer this feature.

Domain Names

When you are looking for the best free hosting sites it is important to look at domain names. Some free hosting sites offer you a free domain name, while others force you to buy a domain name. Some are even restrictive, not allowing you to use your actual purchased domain name, and instead switching it for their own generic one.

When you are looking for the best free hosting sites, the features above are essential to consider. High storage limits, fast bandwidth speeds and the ability to build your website utilizing your own domain name are the main priorities.

AdvisoryHQ’s Selection Methodology

What methodology does AdvisoryHQ use in selecting and finalizing the credit cards, financial products, firms, services and products that are ranked on its various top-rated lists?

Please click here “AdvisoryHQ’s Ranking Methodologies” for a detailed review of AdvisoryHQ’s selection methodologies for ranking top-rated credit cards, financial accounts, firms, products, and services.

Detailed Review – Top Ranking Best Free Hosting Sites

Below, please find the detailed review of each free hosting service on our list of best free web hosting sites. We have highlighted some of the factors that allowed these free hosting sites to score so high in our selection ranking.

000webhost Review

If you are looking for one of the best free hosting sites, then 000webhost is certainly an option consider. The web hosting service has over 14 million users throughout the world, and has been in business for over 10 years.

You will get free hosting and domain services, but 000webhost doesn’t stop there. The site also offers SEO analysis, traffic analytics and stats, and even how-to guides to help increase your presence.

You will get 1.5 GB of storage with an impressive 100 GB of bandwidth. Additionally, 000webhost also provides 5 email accounts linked to your website. This alone makes them one of the best free hosting services. Plus, as your business grows, you can upgrade to premium plans that start at only $3.50 per month.

Bottom Line

If you are looking to design, build and host a website for free, 000webhost could be one of the best free hosting sites. With 5 emails and a litany of other features, the only drawback is that e-commerce isn’t yet available.

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AwardSpace Review

If you are looking to take your business to the next level, then AwardSpace is another one of the best free hosting sites that you should consider.

Perhaps the greatest benefit to this top free hosting site is that even their free plan is ad free. That means your visitors are free to focus on the content you provide, without distracting advertisements.

With their paid version, you will get 5 GB of bandwidth and 1 GB of storage. This isn’t overwhelming, but it is enough to get you by for a while. You will also get 1 email account that comes with a spam filter, but there is no web design / build capabilities unless you utilize a third-party provider.

Bottom Line

AwardSpace could be one of the best free hosting sites for you if your storage and bandwidth needs are more limited.

Bravenet Review

Bravenet is likely a top free hosting site that you have never heard of, but you should quickly remedy that. The company is based in Canada and offers free hosting services that are laced with other useful features.

There is no free email address provided, but Bravenet has an email marketing platform that you can utilize with your own address. This is a great feature that few, if any, other top free hosting sites offer. By reaching out to your customers in an organized, regular manner, you can generate more interest in and traffic to your site.

When it comes bandwidth and storage, there are no restrictions. That means unlimited storage and speed, which is unparalleled. The site even offers a drag and drop website builder, so you can literally do it all.

Bottom Line

From start to finish, design to customer outreach, Bravenet is one of the best free hosting sites out there. They are definitely a top site to consider when looking for the right fit for your business.

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Freehostia Review

If you are looking for the top free hosting sites, Freehostia is one that you shouldn’t miss looking into. Their Chocolate Plan – yes, you read that right – offers free hosting that is much faster than other free sites.

You will be afforded 6 GB monthly of bandwidth, though your storage is a bit limited at 250 MB. Still, if you are starting off smaller, 250 MB is adequate until you start to build up more traffic and content. As one of the best free hosting sites, they also offer 3 free email accounts linked through your hosted domains.

The great thing about Freehostia, besides the ad-free environment, is the ability to work through the platform easily. 1-click ecommerce is able to be added into the site, and there are even free templates to design and build a webpage.

Bottom Line

If you are starting off small, Freehostia is easily one of the best free hosting out there. You get plenty of email accounts and can host up to 5 domains.

Weebly Review

Weebly is one of the most well-known free hosting services available on the web. If you are looking to build a solid website, the free templates provided by Weebly and professional and sleek. They can also be edited via HTML or CSS, if you have the experience.

You will not get an email with your free plan, but bandwidth is unlimited, which means you won’t lose out on visitors who become frustrated with slow loading speeds. This best free hosting site also offers 500 MB of storage, but you will get a weebly.com subdomain.

Though their free hosting services are strong, upgrading to paid plans also offer many more features, such as e-commerce. It is also easy to upgrade, which users love.

Bottom Line

The two drawbacks are the weebly.com subdomain and lack of e-commerce in the free plan, but unlimited bandwidth and ad-free environment is hard to beat when it comes to free hosting services.

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Wix Review

Last, but not least, Wix is another top free hosting site that you should consider for your website. Wix really shines in the website design and building phase, with many different stunning templates to start from. It’s easy to edit and customize templates with drag and drop to get exactly what you are looking for.

The 500 MB bandwidth and lack of email and e-commerce might dissuade some, but the ease of use that Wix operates with is almost unparalleled. For those looking to get started and test out free hosting services before upgrading to paid services, Wix is a good fit.

Upon upgrading, you will get access to email, domain and e-commerce capabilities. Wix paid plans also start relatively cheap, which is a plus.

Bottom Line

When it comes to finding the top free hosting services to build and host your website, Wix might just be the perfect fit for you.

Conclusion – Top 6 Best Free Hosting Services

The best free hosting site is a great thing to have on your side as you get started with a website. However, with so many options it can be hard to find the right fit.

That is why when you are looking for the top free hosting sites, you need to carefully consider the following:

• Bandwidth speed
• Number and placement of forced advertisements
• Domain name requirements
• Web-builder capabilities
• Storage capacity
• Ecommerce capabilities

Often times free hosting services are a stepping stone, holding you over in the beginning stages of your website before you are established enough to upgrade. The last thing you want to do is invest so much time building up a website with one hosting service, only to determine that you do not like it.

That is why it is so essential to do your research now, when you are in the free hosting services stage. It is much easier to upgrade on a single platform when the time comes.