WordPress.com
Best for Learning How to Build a Blog
Why You Can Trust CNET
16171819202122232425+
Years of Experience
14151617181920212223
Hands-on Product Reviewers
6,0007,0008,0009,00010,00011,00012,00013,00014,00015,000
Sq. Feet of Lab Space
CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.
Like
- 5GB of storage
- No ads on your site
- Ability to connect custom domain
- Choice of WordPress or website builder
Don't like
- Customer service is only available through a support forum
InfinityFree is exactly what it sounds like -- a permanently free web host providing server space for over 500,000 websites. InfinityFree has a Trustpilot ranking of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on over 900 reviews.
The free plan includes 5GB of storage -- enough for 50 large pages or over 100 smaller pages -- unlimited bandwidth and free secure socket layer -- SSL -- certification for unlimited websites. All InfinityFree servers use a basic firewall to protect your site from malware and other threats and come with the industry-standard 99.9% uptime guarantee. You’ll also get one-click WordPress installation and access to a free website builder.
InfinityFree doesn’t place ads on your website. You’ll also get the option to connect your own domain, but you’ll need to buy a domain to use this option. If you want to build your website without spending a single dollar, you’ll need to use a subdomain connected to a domain, like yoursite.infinityfreeapp.com. InfinityFree offers several domains you can attach your subdomain to, including lovestoblog.com.
The big drawback of InfinityFree -- one shared by most free web hosts, as it allows them to reduce operating costs and keep their services free -- is that you can only access customer service through a support forum. The InfinityFree Admin account monitors this forum and typically responds to posts within 24 hours, but most responses will come from other users.
Like
- No ads on your site
- Ability to connect custom domain
- Choice of WordPress or website builder
- Custom email creation
Don't like
- 24-hour waiting period for account approval
- Customer support is only available via email
GoogieHost is an established free web hosting company with a 3.9 out of 5 star ranking on Trustpilot, based on over 550 reviews.
GoogieHost’s free plan includes 1GB of storage -- enough for 10 to 15 large pages or a few dozen smaller pages -- and 100GB of bandwidth. This allows for as many as 10,000 to 100,000 monthly views depending on how large your pages are and how many pages each visitor accesses.
All GoogieHost sites are ad-free and come with SSL certification, firewall protection and malware protection. The Cloudflare content delivery network -- CDN -- and LiteSpeed caching technology are also included to improve site loading times. You can either use the GoogieHost site builder or the one-click WordPress installation process.
GoogieHost also lets you create a business email (like yourname@yoursite.com), and you can connect an existing domain you own to the GoogieHost servers for a more professional appearance. If you want to keep your hosting 100% free, choose a subdomain instead.
There are some notable drawbacks to GoogieHost, starting with a 24-hour approval period for new accounts -- a notable difference from most (free and paid) web hosts, which let you start building your site within a few minutes of signup. Uptime for free accounts is only 98%, less than the industry standard of 99.9%, and you can only access customer support through HelpDesk.
Like
- Full access to the Wix website builder, including numerous site templates
- Advanced security monitoring
- 99.98% uptime
- Live chat support
Don't like
- No custom domain connection
- Host places ads on your site, which pay Wix, not you
Wix is a website builder company that offers a free web hosting plan for people who want to create very small websites and/or test the site builder before committing to a paid plan. Wix has a ranking of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot and an A ranking from the Better Business Bureau.
All Wix plans come with full access to the website builder, advanced security monitoring, firewall protection and SSL certification, plus Wix’s 99.98% uptime guarantee. The free plan from Wix includes 500MB of storage -- enough for five to 10 large web pages, or more if you keep your pages small. You’ll also get 500MB of bandwidth, limiting you to a few thousand monthly visitors -- or even less if each visitor looks at every page you’ve built.
I’ve worked on Wix sites before and enjoyed the range of templates and easy design process. However, I found the blogging tools lacking. Between the minimal blogging tools and the low storage space, Wix isn’t a great choice if you’re looking to create a blog for free -- but it can be great for a static site.
Wix offers 24/7 live chat support to all users and a phone callback system. This is notable when compared to other free web hosting options, which typically only offer support via email or community forums.
Free Wix users can't connect a custom domain, so you’ll be stuck using a subdomain. Wix also places banner ads at the top of every page on free websites. Money from these ads goes directly to Wix to pay for the cost of your server space.
Like
- Over 100 attractive themes, with an emphasis on blogging platforms
- Great blogging tools
- Built-in newsletter tools
- Options for creating paid content
- Above-average 100% uptime guarantee
- Good security
Don't like
- No custom domain connection on the free plan
- Limited access to WordPress technology
- Customer support is lacking
- Paid plans are overpriced
- Many users have reported issues with paid plans
WordPress.com is a for-profit web hosting company built around the open-source WordPress.org content management system, or CMS. The free plan includes over 100 themes, WordPress site-building tools, built-in newsletter creation with paid subscription options and tools for paywalling content. You’ll also get WordPress.com’s 100% uptime guarantee, unlimited bandwidth, firewall protection, brute force protection, SSL certification and Jetpack security tools.
I used WordPress.com to build my first website and have worked on several WordPress.com sites since then. While the templates are more limited than the tens of thousands of options you’ll get using WordPress.org on a third-party host, there are many great options for bloggers and the tools for creating and organizing blog posts are excellent.
However, there are drawbacks to WordPress.com’s free plan. Pages are unlimited, but there’s only 1GB of storage -- plenty for a handful of static pages and a few dozen blog posts, but not for long-term blogging or image-heavy sites. You won’t get the full range of themes or plugins for the WordPress CMS. You’ll be stuck using a subdomain and ads -- that pay WordPres.com, not you -- will be placed on your site. Customer service is also only available through a support forum.
The paid version of WordPress.com also has major issues. The plans are overpriced compared to third-party web hosts like A2 Hosting and GoDaddy, plus the customer service has thousands of bad reviews on Trustpilot. Many Trustpilot reviews also reported issues with Wordpress.com charging fees after plans are canceled or failing to provide promised services. If you plan to grow your site and eventually invest in paid hosting, don’t make that investment on WordPress.com.
What is the best free web hosting right now?
The best free web hosting company is InfinityFree. You can connect your own domain, install the fully-featured WordPress.org CMS -- including the ability to use all WordPress.org themes and plugins -- and enjoy unlimited bandwidth and a high 5GB storage limit. You can also use the InfinityFree website builder for an easier site building experience when compared to WordPress. Your site will be ad-free and secured with SSL certification and a basic firewall.
The one drawback of InfinityFree is that you can only access customer service through a community support forum. However, this limitation is pretty common in free web hosting packages.
Factors to consider when choosing a free web hosting service
Site building tools
Most websites are created with either a website builder or a content management system.
A website builder is a visual design tool for building websites without code or technical experience. Most of these tools are front-end editors, letting you see exactly what changes will look like to your visitors as you’re making them. Website builders are often proprietary, making it difficult to transfer your site to a new host later on. This is important to consider if you plan to grow your site and buy a premium plan later, as website builder plans can be expensive.
A content management system or CMS is a tool for creating, organizing and maintaining content like blog posts and landing pages without needing to use code. These tools typically require more technical skill than website builders but offer more flexibility, including the ability to easily transfer to a new host, as most are open-source. The most popular CMS is WordPress, powering 43.4% of all websites.
Your web host should make it easy to work with the website creation tool you want to use.
Storage and bandwidth limitations
Storage dictates how many files -- like blog posts and images -- your site can store. Themes and plugins also use storage space. The number of pages you can publish per gigabyte of storage depends on how many images, audio files and videos you plan to publish, plus the themes and plugins you’re using. 1GB should be plenty for a static site with five to 15 pages. Generally, 5GB is a good starting point for a blog, but you’ll eventually need more.
Bandwidth is the amount of data your site can transfer to visitors. This determines how many visitors you can have in a specific period, with most hosts using a monthly measurement. Many web hosting services offer unmetered or unlimited bandwidth -- bandwidth with limits so high most sites won’t exceed them -- while others have strict bandwidth limitations.
Things get tricky when bandwidth is expressed as a measurement like 1GB, as the amount of bandwidth each visitor uses varies based on how large your pages are and how many pages each person views. For example, if your average page is 5MB and 100 visitors look at five of your pages each day, you’ll need 75,000MB or 7.5GB of bandwidth.
Ads
Somebody needs to pay for the server space your site is hosted on. Some hosts with free plans do this by placing ads on your site and taking the revenue from those advertisem*nts. You usually won’t be able to control what these ads are, and you may not be able to control where they appear.
Domain choice
Most free web hosts don’t offer domain registration, as ICANN charges fees on all domains. Instead, they use subdomains for users on free plans. These are site names that appear before the host’s domain, like yoursite.wix.com.
This makes your URL longer, which may make it difficult to remember for some users. Some visitors may also consider your site unprofessional if it doesn’t have a custom domain. If these things aren’t important for your site -- for example, if you’re making a niche hobby site for fun or using this site primarily to learn some web design basics -- you can stick with a free web host. Otherwise, you might want to look at cheap web hosting options.
Security
There are lots of things worth compromising on for free web hosting, but security isn’t one of them.
Your web host should provide at least two security measures:
- Secure socket layer -- SSL -- certification: A protocol that encrypts data sent to and from your site, such as payment information. SSL certification also tells browsers and VPNs your site is safe -- some browsers and VPNs won’t even load a site without it. SSL is also a Google ranking factor, so your rankings might suffer if you don’t have it. Most free hosts use subdomains attached to domains with SSL certification.
- A firewall: Software that filters out malware trying to enter your site, similar to how an air purifier filters out smoke trying to enter your house. Firewalls aren’t perfect, but they will protect your site from most common malware. There are free, open-source firewalls like ModSecurity, so there’s no excuse for a free web host to skip this layer of security.
Some free hosts may offer additional security features like distributed denial of service -- DDoS -- protection and automated backups, but these features aren’t even included on all paid hosting plans, so it shouldn’t be a deal breaker if your free host doesn’t offer them.
Customer support
Many free web hosting companies limit customer support options to lower their hosting costs. You won’t be able to access phone support on most free plans, and responses to support tickets and customer service emails may be slow.
Some companies don’t offer support tickets or email support at all, relying instead on support forums where customers help each other. Company representatives may or may not monitor these forums and respond to concerns.
Make sure you know what customer service options are available -- and that you’re comfortable with those options -- from the web host you’re considering. If you expect to need a lot of customer support, consider waiting to build your website and saving up to buy a cheap web hosting plan instead of opting for free web hosting.
How CNET tests web hosting
We perform extensive research on all of the web hosts we feature. This starts with a comprehensive examination of each web host's features. We also take a close look at the limitations, such as the use of subdomains and ad placements on your site.
We then read reviews on sites like Trustpilot. If a company has a rating of less than 3.9 out of 5 stars, we generally exclude it. Exceptions are made when reviews seem suspicious, focused on plan types not covered in the list we’re writing or concentrated on something other than the web hosting company itself. For example, many negative reviews of WordPress.com are actually reviews of the WordPress.org CMS; these reviews aren’t factored into our decision-making process. We also leverage our own hands-on experience when possible, like with WordPress and Wix.
In some cases, we’ll also test the free web hosting using the process outlined in How We Test Web Hosting. Notes from these tests will be added to relevant listings.
Cheap web hosting can be a good alternative to no-cost web hosting
Free web hosting can be a good choice for experimenting with website design or building a simple hobby site, but limitations like being restricted to a subdomain make it ineffective for professional and business websites. If you want to make money from your website, I recommend opting for cheap web hosting instead.
Here’s a quick rundown of three cheap web hosts -- defined as hosting companies with renewal pricing of less than $10 a month -- I recommend:
AccuWeb
AccuWeb hosting offers several affordable web hosting plans secured with SSL certification, custom firewall and malware protection, DDoS protection and daily backups. All AccuWeb plans also offer at least 10GB of storage, 100GB of bandwidth -- enough for 10,000 to 20,000 visitors, possibly more for a small website -- and five custom email addresses (like yourname@yoursite.com).
AccuWeb offers 24/7 customer support via live chat and support ticket. You can also access phone support 24 hours a day, every day except Sunday.
The most affordable AccuWeb Hosting plan is WordPress Basic++, which starts at $2.75 a month and stays at a $2.75 a month rate on renewal if you choose a three-year plan. This plan includes pre-installed WordPress, LiteSpeed-enhanced servers and the LiteSpeed plugin for improved site speeds. You'll have to buy a domain separately, so factor in an extra $10 to $20 a year when budgeting for AccuWeb hosting.
Ionos
Ionos’s cheap web hosting plans include a free domain for the first year, SSL certification, firewall protection, malware scanning, DDoS protection and daily backups. You’ll also get 24/7 customer support via live chat and phone.
Ionos has two cheap hosting options: shared hosting and WordPress hosting.
The most affordable Ionos shared hosting plan costs $4 a month to start and $6 a month on renewal, based on a three-year contract. This plan includes 10GB of storage, unlimited traffic and one custom email address.
The most affordable Ionos WordPress hosting plan also starts at $4 a month and rises to $6 a month on renewal, based on a three-year contract. This plan includes a custom WordPress setup wizard, 25GB of storage, unlimited traffic, and one custom email address.
Hostinger
Hostinger plans are highly affordable and include essentials like a free domain for the first year, SSL certification, malware scanning, custom-built caching tools for improved site speeds and weekly backups. All plans include email hosting for up to 100 email accounts.
The most affordable Hostinger shared hosting plan starts at $3 a month and rises to $8 a month on renewal, based on a three-year term. This plan includes the Hostinger website builder with 150 designer-made templates and one-click WordPress installation, letting you choose how to build your site. WordPress users get site acceleration through LiteSpeed, auto updates to the core CMS and a WordPress vulnerabilities scanner. You’ll also get 100GB of storage and enough bandwidth for 25,000 monthly visitors.
The most affordable Hostinger managed WordPress hosting plan also starts at $3 a month and rises to $8 a month on renewal, based on a three-year term. This plan offers all of the same WordPress-specific features of the comparable shared hosting plan but lacks access to the website builder. You’ll get 100GB of storage on this plan.
Free web hosting FAQs
What is the best free web hosting?
The best free web hosting is InfinityFree, which lets you create ad-free sites using either a website builder or WordPress.org tech. InfinityFree also provides a high storage limit of 5GB, unlimited bandwidth and the option to connect a custom domain.
Does free web hosting exist?
Free web hosting does exist. However, it comes with severe restrictions on things like storage, bandwidth and web design, so I recommend opting for cheap web hosting instead if you have any budget available.
Is Wix really free?
Wix offers a free plan with heavy restrictions, including limits of 500MB of storage and 500MB of bandwidth. You’ll also be forced to use a subdomain and accept ads on your site -- and the ads will pay Wix, not you.
What is the disadvantage of free hosting?
There are several disadvantages to free web hosting. For starters, free hosting tends to have poor customer support and strict limitations on things like bandwidth and storage. Many free web hosting plans also require you to use a subdomain (like yoursite.hostname.com) and some place ads (that pay the web host, not you) on your site.
