5 Top Sites For Free Web Hosting

For the beginners (especially students), the most common problem faced by them while building a website is Budget. Yes, to run a website it requires a Web Hosting service that costs you a big money and it’s true that in the learning or testing process, no one wants to spend that money. But.. how nice it would be if you get the web hosting for your website at zero cost i.e, Free! Yes, there are various platforms where you can host your website for free as long as you demand, all you have to do is choose the right one for your website.

Before moving further, let’s have a brief introduction to Web Hosting. Web Hosting is the service in which storage space on a server is provided for your website. When your website is uploaded on such servers then it can be accessible to the users through the internet. The users need to enter the web address or domain name of your site into the web browser. The computer will then connect to the server and display the web pages to the users.

However, the free web hosting services put some restrictions such as limited bandwidth, displaying their own ads, storage capacity, etc., but if you’re a learner or student or if you want to launch your website for testing purposes, it is much better to use these no-cost hosting platforms. Here, in this article, we will let you about 5 Top Sites for Free Web Hosting.

1. WordPress

WordPress is the leading platform for free website hosting. It was launched in 2005 by Automattic, Inc. and it provides web hosting services for its users via both free and paid plans. Along with the number of free themes and various customization options, WordPress offers you an easy-to-use interface to host your website. In the free hosting plan, you can even monetize your site by placing the affiliate links or by using their own WordAds program. Also, you can use this free hosting plan as long as you need it, as there is not any time limit.

Specifications:

◉ Storage up to 3GB

◉ WordPress.com Subdomain

◉ Various Free Templates

◉ Automatic Backups & Updates

Although the free hosting plan of WordPress will place their ads on your site, however, you can upgrade to their paid plan at any time. In the paid plans, you can get rid of their ads on your site and can access other beneficial features as well.

2. Wix

Wix is one of the leading players in the web-development field that offers free website hosting along with various other features. Wix, headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, was launched in 2006 to offer web development services. It also allows users to build websites through the drag-and-drop interface. It offers you a reliable hosting service as all of your site content is stored on secure servers situated around the globe. Also, there is no need for any kind of installation process as your site will be hosted automatically just after it gets published.

Specifications:

◉ Storage up to 500MB

◉ Wix.com Subdomain

◉ Drag & Drop Tools with various Free Templates

◉ Advanced Security Monitoring

◉ Automatic Setup

In the free hosting plan, Wix places its advertisements on your website and also you have to use their subdomain as your website address. However, to remove these ads and use custom domain along with various additional features, you have to switch over the premium hosting plan.

3. Weebly

Weebly, headquartered in San Francisco, is the well-known web hosting service platform controlled by its parent company Square, Inc. It offers various hosting plans along with the latest website templates and drag and drop tools. Weebly also offers various built-in features and there is no need to install any extension to use them. However, like other free hosting platforms, Weebly also has some of its limitations in terms of features such as you have to use Weebly subdomain as your site web address, display Weebly ads on your site, etc.

Specifications:

◉ Storage up to 500MB

◉ Weebly.com Subdomain

◉ Free SSL security

◉ Various Free Templates

◉ Free SEO

Weebly serves your site across the whole server system that enhances the performance rate of your site. Apart from the free hosting plans, Weebly also offers some premium hosting plans. You can upgrade to these premium plans to avoid Weebly ads, to use a custom domain, unlimited storage, etc.

4. AwardSpace

AwardSpace is one of the leading free website hosting providers having high-end server technology. The best part of AwardSpace free hosting is that it is ad-free and you don’t require to place unwanted ads on your website. You can easily start with your website to get hosted with AwardSpace, all you have to do is sign up for a free website hosting account, choose any of the two CMS and do the installation for the same. AwardSpace offers various paid hosting plans as well and you can switch over from free to paid hosting anytime to access the additional features,

Specifications:

◉ Storage up to 1GB

◉ One Free Domain (with a dx.am extension) and 3 Free Subdomains

◉ One-Click CMS Installer (WordPress or Joomla)

◉ Absolutely Ad-Free

◉ Web-based File Manager

Moreover, AwardSpace offers an eccentric hosting control panel that seems to be very user-friendly and also a firewall is enabled in the hosting platform to prevent any kind of unauthorized access.

5. 000webhost

000webhost, powered by Hostinger, is also one of the most popular free web hosting providers. In 000webhost free hosting, you will get a cPanel, a WordPress auto-installer, website builder tool, etc. The hosting platform supports PHP, MySQL, CSS, JavaScript, etc. and also, there is no need to place unwanted ads by the service provider (i.e., Ad-free hosting). Also, the 000webhost offers you secured service as its servers use advanced firewalls with DDoS protection that ensures the protection of your website. You can use 000webhost free hosting as long as you want, and if can also upgrade to paid plans to access additional features.

Specifications:

◉ 300 MB of Disk Space

◉ Ad-Free Hosting

◉ Complete PHP & MySQL Database Support

◉ One-Click Installation Process

◉ Various Free Templates

Although, in a 000webhost free hosting account, you can control up to 2 active websites at a time with the provided tool in the cPanel and you are not required to attach any payment method (credit card, debit card, etc.) to access the free web hosting.

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What is Managed Hosting?

Managed hosting keeps the day-to-day management of servers, system hardware, and system software in the hands of the web hosting provider. Hardware and other operating features are typically leased to a client as part of a service agreement. Receiving application-level management feels a lot like having a red carpet rolled out for you. It will also feel that way for your website visitors when they encounter a platform that loads quickly, reliably, and smoothly.

Managed hosting is an efficient choice for:

◉ Small businesses with limited IT staff

◉ Online stores with high traffic

◉ Online enterprises that require up-to-date security features

◉ Websites with heavy back-end needs

Getting Started

How do you create a solid, state-of-the-art IT infrastructure when you don't actually know anything about IT infrastructure? It’s easy—just hire the right company to take care of it for you.

Managed hosting is a flexible option because you're able to create solutions that adjust to your demands and requirements. You can even keep adjusting solutions as your volume grows and changes. That means you won't be biting your nails while worrying that your website might crash every time you run a promotion or push out content that's bound to get a large response.

The biggest perk of choosing a managed hosting solution is that you'll always have support. You can count on qualified support professionals to respond when there is an issue affecting the front-end or back-end performance of your website. This can have a huge impact if your website being down or compromised means you could lose traffic or sales. In addition, you won't have to worry about taking care of routine server maintenance.

Getting the Best Value for Your Investment

Managed hosting is one of the best investments a small business can make while having an elegant, reputable online presence. It offers you the chance to run a website optimized for performance and pre-configured for easy maintenance.

Managed hosting gives you access to state-of-the-art technology even if you're not ready to invest in your own IT team or don't have the time or knowledge to get your hands dirty in the world of coding. You also won't be stuck with the responsibility of investing in costly hardware or staying ahead of system upgrades the way you would if you were handling your hosting needs using an in-house method.

A Web Hosting Solution That Upgrades With You

You won't get locked into doing things one way when you go with managed hosting. You have the freedom to adjust your web hosting plan as your business grows or changes direction. Your website will be able to handle spikes in traffic without any hiccups. You're essentially giving up the hard work of keeping a website running without giving up creative or administrative control. The best of both worlds!

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Web Server and Its Type

Web Server: Web server is a program which processes the network requests of the users and serves them with files that create web pages. This exchange takes place using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Basically, web servers are computers used to store HTTP files which makes a website and when a client requests a certain website, it delivers the requested website to the client. For example, you want to open Facebook on your laptop and enter the URL in the search bar of google. Now, the laptop will send an HTTP request to view the facebook webpage to another computer known as the webserver. This computer (webserver) contains all the files (usually in HTTP format) which make up the website like text, images, gif files, etc. After processing the request, the webserver will send the requested website-related files to your computer and then you can reach the website.

Different websites can be stored on the same or different web servers but that doesn’t affect the actual website that you are seeing in your computer. The web server can be any software or hardware but is usually a software running on a computer. One web server can handle multiple users at any given time which is a necessity otherwise there had to be a web server for each user and considering the current world population, is nearly close to impossible. A web server is never disconnected from the internet because if it was, then it won’t be able to receive any requests, and therefore cannot process them.

There are many web servers available in the market both free and paid. Some of them are described below:

◉ Apache HTTP server: It is the most popular web server and about 60 percent of the world’s web server machines run this web server. The Apache HTTP web server was developed by the Apache Software Foundation. It is an open-source software which means that we can access and make changes to its code and mold it according to our preference. The Apache Web Server can be installed and operated easily on almost all operating systems like Linux, MacOS, Windows, etc.

◉ Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS): IIS (Internet Information Services) is a high performing web server developed by Microsoft. It is strongly united with the operating system and is therefore relatively easier to administer. It is developed by Microsoft, it has a good customer support system which is easier to access if we encounter any issue with the server. It has all the features of the Apache HTTP Server except that it is not an open-source software and therefore its code is inaccessible which means that we cannot make changes in the code to suit our needs. It can be easily installed in any Windows device.

◉ Lighttpd: Lighttpd is pronounced as ‘Lightly’. It currently runs about 0.1 percent of the world’s websites. Lighttpd has a small CPU load and is therefore comparatively easier to run. It has a low memory footprint and hence in comparison to the other web servers, requires less memory space to run which is always an advantage. It also has speed optimizations which means that we can optimize or change its speed according to our requirements. It is an open-source software which means that we can access its code and add changes to it according to our needs and then upload our own module (the changed code).

◉ Jigsaw Server: Jigsaw has been written in the Java language and it can run CGI (common gateway interference) scripts as well as PHP programs. It is not a full-fledged server and was developed as an experimental server to demonstrate the new web protocols. It is an open-source software which means that we can access its code and add changes to it according to our needs and then upload our own module (the changed code). It can be installed on any device provided that the device supports Java language and modifications in Java.

◉ Sun Java System: The Sun Java System supports various languages, scripts, and technologies required for Web 2.0 such as Python, PHP, etc. It is not an open-source software and therefore its code is inaccessible which means that we cannot make changes in the code to suit our needs.

Source: geeksforgeeks.org

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