Free web hosting services give small businesses a free place to host and build their websites. We reviewed dozens of services to find the six best based on available bandwidth, storage, uptimes, if they display ads on your site, the ability to connect your own domain, and if their free plan includes email.
Top 6 Free Web Hosting Sites 2019
| ByetHost | (Best Overall) Small businesses needing free hosting that includes a domain, email, and site. |
| Freehostia | Companies that require high uptimes but do not need unlimited bandwidth. |
| WordPress.com | Businesses needing hosting and a website builder with built-in SEO tools. |
| Weebly | Ecommerce businesses without coding knowledge needing a website. |
| AwardSpace | Businesses interested in reseller hosting at no additional cost. |
| Bluehost | Companies that need unlimited bandwidth and reliability at a low cost. |
How We Evaluated the Best Free Web Hosting Services
Web hosting is essential to launching and managing a small business website. However, many web hosting sites charge high fees for their hosting services. To combat this, small businesses can use a free web hosting service instead. However, some of these free services leave much to be desired in terms of features and ease of use. To help, we evaluated the best free services by bandwidth, storage, the ability to connect your own domain, inclusions such as free email, whether or not free accounts display ads, and the quality of their customer service.
Here are the specific criteria we used to find the best free web hosting sites:
- Cost – We sought providers that offer free forever plans, rather than providers who offer short-term free trials.
- Ability to Connect Custom Domain – Preference was given to providers who allow free users to connect their own domain.
- Bandwidth – The amount of bandwidth was factored in, with preference towards providers who gave the most bandwidth for free.
- Storage – We sought providers who offered the most storage for their free plans.
- Email – We looked for hosts that include free business email with their plans.
- Advertisements – Preference was given to those who do not display advertisements on your website.
- Ease of use – Some free services are not intuitive, and we ensured that the best on our list were the easiest free services to implement and use.
Based on the above criteria, we chose ByetHost as our number one free website host. Not only does it offer no-strings-attached service, but it includes key additions like business email addresses. It’s also very easy to use, making it an ideal choice for small businesses with very tight budgets that need a web presence.
Overall Best Free Web Hosting for Small Businesses: ByetHost
ByetHost is the best overall, no-strings-attached free web hosting for small businesses. You can set up a WordPress website, connect a custom domain, and even set up five business email accounts for no cost whatsoever. It is a great option for most small businesses, but especially so for those who wish to utilize free business email addresses through their host.
Byet Pricing & Features
| Features | Details |
|---|---|
| Price | Completely free |
| Can you connect your own domain? | Yes |
| Bandwidth (per month) | 50GB |
| Storage | 1GB |
| Email included? | Yes, up to 5 accounts |
| Do they display ads on your site? | No |
The catch with Byet is that your storage and bandwidth are limited. 1GB to store your website is plenty for most business sites. However, 50GB of bandwidth will only accommodate ~10,000 visitors per month (or ~3,500 visitors if you have a lot of high-resolution images). Paid plans increase your bandwidth, starting at $3.99/month.
The most unique Byet feature for their free web hosting service is their inclusion of up to five free business email addresses. Most free web hosting services do not include free email, and Byet offers the most of any free web host on our list. Email through a provider such as Gmail can cost $4.95 to $10 per month per email, so five free accounts can save a small business some money.
What Byet Is Missing
Byet’s free plan includes limited bandwidth, which can be a hindrance to some businesses. If you would like a host that includes unlimited bandwidth, your better bet is either Weebly or Bluehost, which costs only $2.95 per month and includes many other features, such as free business email addresses like Byet.
What Users Think About Byet
While users say the servers run fast, even on the free plan, some have noted occasional downtime. Also, a couple of users claimed their websites were taken down at random and redirected to a ByetHost page. It seems that ByetHost is cautious of misuse of their platform, and will temporarily suspend accounts that act suspiciously—like uploading a lot of files in a short period of time.
Where to Find Byet
Despite these risks, ByetHost is easily the best overall option for entrepreneurs who want a simple informational website, or developers who want to test out features. You can buy a .COM domain for just $9/year, or pick up a free domain, then port it to Byet and create a free WordPress, Joomla, PHP, or Zen-Cart site.
Best Free Web Hosting Site for High Uptimes: Freehostia
Freehostia is a top free web host known best for their higher-than-average uptimes (99.9%). Just like ByetHost, you can set up a WordPress website, connect a custom domain, and create business email accounts (up to three) at no cost. However, the amount of storage and bandwidth you get is a lot more limited, so Freehostia is better for those needing high uptime but who do not require a lot of bandwidth and storage.
Freehostia Pricing & Features
| Features | Details |
|---|---|
| Price | Completely free |
| Can you connect your own domain? | Yes |
| Bandwidth (per month) | 6GB |
| Storage | 250MB |
| Email included? | Yes, up to 3 accounts |
| Do they display ads on your site? | No |
A free plan earns you 250MB of storage space and 6GB of monthly bandwidth, which translates to around 1,200 monthly visitors (or 400 visitors if you have an image-heavy website). This is hardly sufficient for most business websites, but can work if your website is very simple, or if you don’t plan on promoting it too much.
Freehostia offers up to three free email accounts as part of their free web hosting plan, making it the second most generous option in terms in email. They also offer 24/7 customer support with one-hour turnaround time on email ticket responses, making them a good option for businesses that frequently use customer support services.
What Freehostia Is Missing
Freehostia’s bandwidth is skimpy on their free plan. They do offer unlimited bandwidth for $7.95 per month, however. This is high compared to Bluehost at $2.95 per month with unlimited bandwidth.
What Users Think About Freehostia
Users are generally happy with their free service and there aren’t any of the same complaints as with ByetHost as far as accounts getting suspended. It’s a good option for entrepreneurs and developers who just want to get their feet wet, although you will need to upgrade fairly quickly should your website start to grow.
Where to Find Freehostia
Visit Freehostia online to start using their free web hosting services. From their homepage, find the “Sign Up Now for Free” button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen to begin the process of getting free web hosting with Freehostia.
Best Free Web Host and Builder with SEO Tools: WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a blogging platform that offers free web hosting and site design for an entry-level website complete with SEO tools. There are also premium plans available to grow with your business. Many websites are built using WordPress.org and hosted on third-party platforms. However, with WordPress.com, you can create and host your site in one place, making it both free and easy. WordPress.com is best for new businesses that need to quickly build a web presence with good SEO capabilities but without a big upfront investment.
WordPress.com Pricing & Features
| Features | Details |
|---|---|
| Price | Free |
| Can you connect your own domain? | No |
| Bandwidth (per month) | Unlimited |
| Storage | 3GB |
| Email included? | Email forwarding only for free plan |
| Do they display ads on your site? | Yes |
The free WordPress.com plan includes 3GB of storage, access to dozens of customizable templates, and built-in SEO tools. The free plan does not allow for custom domains, meaning you can only use a WordPress.com subdomain, such as yourbusiness.wordpress.com. Also, the free plan includes WordPress.com advertising and banners. The lowest level paid plan starts at $4, which does remove ads, allows for a custom domain, and increases storage limits to 6GB.
The main features of WordPress.com are the web design and built-in SEO capabilities it provides users at no additional cost. Users can choose from a number of templates that can be customized to suit their business. The built-in SEO makes it easier to get found organically, increasing your website’s exposure. This gives businesses a two-in-one platform to build and host their site in one centralized place.
What WordPress.com Is Missing
WordPress.com’s free plan is lacking in a few areas. For example, it is unable to connect a custom domain and it lacks direct support. They do provide what they call “Community Support,” which is their version of a troubleshooting forum specific to using WordPress.com. However, this may not always be the most helpful—especially for those who aren’t particularly tech-savvy.
What Users Think About WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a highly-rated blogging platform where users frequently note that they like how customizable web pages are and that their built-in SEO tools help make their sites discoverable. There are some negative comments around WordPress.com’s interface, which isn’t the most user-friendly and can involve a learning curve for those new to building websites. See user reviews in detail at our WordPress.com Reviews Page.
Where to Find WordPress.com
Find WordPress.com online to start building your website. They have dozens of free customizable templates to choose from, giving you a good starting point to create a professional-looking website without web development expertise.
Best Free Web Hosting Site for E-commerce: Weebly
As the most user-friendly option on this list, Weebly offers a completely-free hosting plan that’s perfect for building personal websites and ecommerce sites due to its integrated store and payment processing options. Designing a website with Weebly is similar to creating a PowerPoint presentation—simply drop elements to build your pages, and adjust colors and other settings on an intuitive menu. It’s best for ecommerce businesses with no web design experience, as it is very easy to use.
Weebly Pricing & Features
| Features | Details |
|---|---|
| Price | Completely free |
| Can you connect your own domain? | No |
| Bandwidth (per month) | Unlimited |
| Storage | 500 MB |
| Email included? | None |
| Do they display ads on your site? | Yes |
The free version of Weebly gives you 500MB of storage and unlimited bandwidth, which means it can be accessed an unlimited number of times. Other free services like Byet and Freehostia limit your monthly bandwidth, so your website could get pulled down if too many people view it.
Weebly is similar to WordPress.com as it is also a website builder. Weebly’s website builder uses a drag-and-drop interface, making it even easier to use and requiring zero coding knowledge. They offer a lot of great solutions for businesses that sell products online with their extensive ecommerce features, including professionally designed online product galleries, customer reviews, inventory tracking, secure checkouts, and more, making them a good choice for businesses that sell online.
What Weebly Is Missing
While Weebly has many great features, users on the free plan are required to use a Weebly subdomain (YourSite.Weebly.com). If you want to use your own custom domain, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan starting at $8/month. Weebly also displays small ads on free websites that can be removed by upgrading to a paid plan.
What Users Think About Weebly
As a completely free and user-friendly platform, it’s perfect for personal websites. However, for a business, the Weebly ads and Weebly subdomain will come off as unprofessional. You can always upgrade to get around these limitations, starting at $8/month. But at that point, Bluehost is a more cost-effective solution, providing even more professional website features starting at just $2.95/month.
Where to Find Weebly
Visit Weebly online to start using their free hosting services. Those who do not have an existing site will also find that they offer a number of great templates that are easy to customize for any business, without any web development skill required. They also offer many ecommerce options, making them a great choice for businesses that sell products online, or may in the future.
Best Free Web Hosting for Reseller Hosting: AwardSpace
AwardSpace is a well-known web hosting company that offers a free plan and the unique feature of free reseller services. Their free web hosting service is feature-rich and is one of the few that offers free reseller hosting. The AwardSpace free plan includes limited storage, so it is a good choice for those who may be interested in web host reselling.
AwardSpace Pricing & Features
| Features | Details |
|---|---|
| Price | Free |
| Can you connect your own domain? | Yes, free hosting for 1 domain |
| Bandwidth (per month) | 5GB |
| Storage | 1GB |
| Email included? | 1 email account included with spam filter |
| Do they display ads on your site? | No |
AwardSpace’s free web hosting plan provides 1GB of storage and 5GB of bandwidth, which translates to approximately 1,000 website visitors per month, depending on how image-heavy your site is and how many pages the average visitor views. The free plan also allows you to use your own domain, provides one business email address, and they do not display ads on your website.
AwardSpace has very similar features to Byet, with one key difference: their free web hosting service includes reseller abilities, or the ability for users to sell their server space to third-party businesses. They also include one free email account to help get new businesses started with a professional email address.
What AwardSpace Is Missing
AwardSpace is lacking when it comes to providing quality customer support. They do offer free support, but it often has a lengthy turnaround time (up to one week). Also, their free web hosting service comes with very limited bandwidth—the lowest of our top free web hosts.
What Users Think About AwardSpace
AwardSpace is highly rated, with users frequently commenting how they like the ease of use and that they see a good uptime. Negative reviews most often revolve around customer support issues, so they may not be a good choice for those who often use customer support for assistance.
Where to Find AwardSpace
Visit AwardSpace online to learn more about their free web hosting service and to sign up for your free web hosting plan. If you don’t have a website yet, AwardSpace includes a free website builder tool to help get your site up and running quickly and easily, and they have affordable premium plans available in case you outgrow their free plan.
Best Low-Cost Web Host for Features & Reliability: Bluehost
Bluehost is not a free web host, but it is very low cost for high value. Unlike most free providers, Bluehost doesn’t limit the number of people who can access your site each month (your bandwidth), suffer from extensive downtime, or limit certain features like your domain name or amount of storage. Bluehost is a great choice for those who need unlimited bandwidth, reliability, and proven security, and are willing to pay $2.95/month.
Bluehost Features & Pricing
| Features | Details |
|---|---|
| Price | $2.95/month |
| Can you connect your own domain? | Yes, domain included free |
| Bandwidth (per month) | Unlimited |
| Storage | 50GB |
| Email included? | Yes, up to 5 accounts |
| Do they display ads on your site? | No |
Bluehost is not free, but it’s easily the best-priced option that’s suitable for professional business use. Starting at $2.95/month, you get 50GB to store your website, unlimited bandwidth, a complementary .com domain for one year ($12.95/year thereafter), and up to five professional business email accounts.
With Bluehost, you can fully customize your website by simply clicking and adding text/photos—there’s no programming required, which helps make building a site without web development skills easy. We’ve also created a WordPress template that speeds up the design process further; Fit Web Themes: Business Edition is free to use, and we provide instructions how to set this up with a Bluehost website here.
What Bluehost Is Missing
Bluehost isn’t missing anything in terms of features or service. However, they are lacking a free option, like the other hosts on our list. Their entry-level hosting plan does come in at a below-industry-average price point, which means they are the most affordable option for growing businesses that need a host with budget-friendly plans.
What Users Think About Bluehost
Users like that Bluehost provides, first and foremost, an affordable and comprehensive web hosting option. They note that it’s convenient having a host that includes domain hosting, business email, and has website-building capabilities. Learn more about what users have to say about Bluehost web hosting on our Bluehost Reviews Page.
Where to Find Bluehost
Visit Bluehost online to learn more about why they are considered to be one of the best web hosts available. You can sign up for hosting services for as little as $2.95 and enjoy the benefits of free business email addresses, reliability, and security.
“Think about investing a little bit more into a hosting partner who can offer support to your business. Some IT teams provide support, bug fixes, updates, and more in their hosting packages. It costs a little bit more than a simple hosting plan, but it ensures your site is protected and up to date with little to no effort on your part.”
– Keri Lindenmuth, Marketing Manager, KDG
“Think about investing a little bit more into a hosting partner who can offer support to your business. Some IT teams provide support, bug fixes, updates, and more in their hosting packages. It costs a little bit more than a simple hosting plan, but it ensures your site is protected and up to date with little to no effort on your part.”The Bottom Line – Free Web Hosting Sites
Free web hosting services can be a good starting point for new businesses as they provide a way of hosting—and even building—a website with no upfront investment or strings attached. As a web presence is critical to brand awareness, lead generation, and sales, small businesses with limited budgets should seriously consider starting with the free options in this article.
However, a more cost-effective strategy in the long-run can be to choose a low-cost web host such as Bluehost. This is because, generally, free web hosting services charge a little more for their paid plans to make up for their free users. For example, Freehostia charges $7.95/month for unlimited bandwidth compared to just $2.95/month with Bluehost. Click below to learn about the robust hosting options of Bluehost.
Submit Your Comment
Disclaimer: Reviews on FitSmallBusiness.com are the product of independent research by our writers, researchers, and editorial team. User reviews and comments are contributions from independent users not affiliated with FitSmallBusiness.com's editorial team. Banks, issuers, credit card companies, and other product & service providers are not responsible for any content posted on FitSmallBusiness.com. As such, they do not endorse or guarantee any posted comments or reviews.
You must be logged in to comment. Click a "Log in" button below to connect instantly and comment.