Phpwebsite vs joomla hosting

Best Free Web Hosting

Yes, the hosts featured on this page offer real web hosting packages at no cost. Be sure to read our in-depth reviews for the details and see what their customers say.

Is Free Hosting Right for You?

With free web hosting, you can get your website online at zero cost. Sound too good to be true? Sometimes you do get what you pay for; free hosting plans lack a lot of the features of paid hosting. If you're wondering whether free hosting is for you, check out the details below to see if it's really worth the cost.

Phpwebsite vs joomla hosting limits the size

A free hosting plan just might fit your needs and save you some money, especially if you.

  • Want to get a feel for what web hosting is like before you buy
  • Are testing out a website idea you aren't sure you'll continue with
  • Need to host a small, simple website on a short-term basis (like for an event)

Otherwise, you may want to look into a paid hosting plan if you need more reliable hosting with better customer support. Shared hosting plans can be as low as $5 per month, or even lower. If the success and reliability of your website really matters to you, investing in a paid hosting account will be worth it if you can fit the expense in your budget.

But even shared hosting may not be enough if you're looking to. start an eCommerce site, create a website that runs on a large database or depend on your website for the success of your business. If any of those sound like you, you may want to look at VPS or dedicated server hosting.

Free PHP Hosting?

Most popular web applications are written in PHP, and most free hosting users will be particularly interested in how well free plans support popular PHP scripts.

In addition to the limitations that apply to any potential use of free hosting, limitations that often include severely limited email and FTP support, slow customer support response times, and severely limited or non-existent automatic installation scripts, there are additional considerations that apply to users who hope to run a PHP application on a free hosting account.

Typical Minimum Requirements for PHP Applications

To get a sense for the minimum server requirements for some popular PHP applications let's take a look at three of the most common scripts: WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

  • WordPress requires PHP version 5.2. and MySQL version 5.0.
  • Joomla requires PHP version 5.3.10, and MySQL version 5.1.
  • Drupal version 7.38 requires PHP version 5.2.5 and MySQL version 5.0.15.

In every case, higher versions of PHP and MySQL are recommended by the software developers, but the applications will run as long as these minimum version requirements are met.

Phpwebsite vs joomla hosting minimum while also getting your

In terms of storage, a typical small website built with any of these applications will require between 50-100 MB of disc space before taking media files into account. Media files, and streaming media types such as podcasts and videos in particular, can quickly increase this figure dramatically.

Taking those minimum requirements into account, two issues are immediately apparent. Every free plan we looked at advertises PHP 5 and MySQL 5, however none reveal the exact version running on the free account server. An installation of any one of these three applications will have problems, and potentially fail to function at all, if the version of PHP or MySQL isn't sufficiently up-to-date.

With free hosting you can expect the page load time for PHP applications to be poor. If you were planning on just hosting static HTML and CSS files, you'd probably be ok, but a PHP application imposes a much heavier load on server resources, and free hosting servers are notoriously resource starved. One host went so far as to admit that the number of accounts hosted on a free-account shared server was very large. In addition, ZendOptimizer was not offered by any free plan we saw, which will further slow down PHP processing.

While the disk space included in every plan was adequate for an installation of a typical PHP application, the database size allowed was very small. Every plan allowed only a single MySQL database with a maximum size between 10 and 20 MB. That will be enough for a very small blog and website, but websites with a considerable amount of content, as well as certain application themes and plugins, will quickly burn through the allowable database size.

Another limitation imposed by every free plan we looked at was the inability to customize settings in the php.ini file. Without the ability to customize PHP settings, runtime, maximum file upload size, and other PHP parameters will default to the server settings, and if those settings don't work for your application, you're just out of luck.

Lastly, PHP offers a mail function that many websites use to send contact forms to a designated email address, or to send notification emails to visitors who opt to subscribe to website updates. However, since free hosting attracts a lot of unsavory activity, such as heavy spamming, it's likely the free hosting server will be flagged as a spam originator by most ISPs, and block delivery of these emails.

Most common PHP applications will probably install and run acceptably on free hosting accounts. However, you can expect website visitors to have a pretty poor experience due to slow load times. Users of free hosting accounts should not plan on hosting very many media files, or streaming media from the server.

In addition, free hosting customers should not plan on using the PHP mail function since it's likely any mail originating from the server will be flagged as spam. Finally, it's quite possible that the free account server may be running an antiquated version of PHP or MySQL causing compatibility issues with the PHP script you have chosen.

Pros and Cons of Free Hosting

Looking at free web hosting plans, you may be wondering what the catch is. It's true that they're not for everyone. Here are a few of the pros and cons:

  • Anyone can start a website at no cost.
  • You can try out a web host before you choose a host to commit to.
  • Most web hosts with free hosting make it very easy to upgrade to a paid hosting plan if your site's traffic grows beyond the free hosting limits.
  • Loading speeds can be very slow, and uptime is often unreliable.
  • Even if the hosting is free, you may have to buy your own domain name, whereas many paid hosting plans include domains for free .
  • Customer support can be very basic or even non-existent.

Once you set up your website on your free hosting account, set up regular backups for your data, just in case.

Free Hosting Frequently Asked Questions

  • How do you create a website for free?

Start with a free hosting account, a free website builder, or a hosted blog on a free plan. Look at pricing carefully, because most free website builder plans are limited in some way. For example, you may have to pay to remove advertising, and the number of pages you can create might be limited. Most free hosting does not allow you to use your own domain.

  • Is free web hosting really free?

    Most hosts that offer free hosting won't charge for the basic hosting package. But they may limit the features and tools that you can use. There may be relatively small resource limits, and you probably won't be able to create email addresses. Some free web hosts also serve ads on customer websites to pay for the cost of the hosting plan.

    In the majority of cases, you will need to upgrade your plan to access anything more than the absolute basics.

  • When is it a good idea to use free hosting?

    Free hosting keeps costs at a minimum while also getting your blog or business online. It's ideal for very small micro-businesses, personal blogs, and community websites. If you just want to trial a project, you can get started on free hosting and upgrade when your idea takes off.

  • What are the drawbacks?

    Free hosting is inevitably going to be very basic. The resource limits are going to be tight, and you probably won't be able to create anything more than a very basic website. You may experience throttled bandwidth, limited support, and extended downtime. And your host may also place advertising on your site, which can detract from your design.

    Before you decide to go the free hosting route, make sure you review all of the terms and conditions. It may be better to pay for a cheap shared hosting account, rather than making too many compromises.

  • Will I get an uptime guarantee?

    Free hosting rarely comes with a meaningful uptime guarantee, and support response can be slow. If your site is down, you probably won't be able to do much about it.

  • Is there a company offering free Windows hosting?

    Windows costs more money to host than Linux, because the hosting company has to pay for the cost of software licenses. Free Windows hosting is therefore extremely rare.

  • How does the host place ads on my site?

    Your host will probably overlay advertising on your site using a script. So you won't be able to edit your files to remove the ads yourself.

  • Can I host a blog on a free shared hosting plan?

    Yes you can. In fact, the majority of free hosting services are setup to host blogs that are powered by the wide variety of open source blogging platforms like WordPress, b2evolution, Serendipity, and more. If the server your free hosting platform is built upon is open source, hosting an open source blogging software should not be a problem. Consult with your free hosting provider to make sure your blogging platform of choice is compatible with their server.

  • Can I start an e-commerce store on a free hosting plan?

    It's not a good idea. Your customers will expect you to have an SSL certificate to keep their details secure, and you won't be able to purchase one on a free plan. You will also need to hold personal data securely, and free hosting rarely includes the ability to set up databases. There are a lot of risks involved in e-commerce sites if they are not set up correctly, so it's best to pay for a proper hosting plan.

  • Do I have to know how to code to use free hosting?

    Because free hosting is designed for beginners with smaller websites and standard requirements, you should not need to know how to code. But if you have no programming experience, a site builder is probably going to be easier to manage, compared to a normal web hosting account.

  • What scripting languages are typically supported?

    You'll be able to use HTML and CSS. Some hosts also allow PHP scripts to run. Support for specialist languages is rare.

  • Do free hosts offer MySQL support?

    Many do, but check the fine print. A typical WordPress database can take up hundreds of megabytes of space, particularly if you need to run a few plugins. If your host limits the size of your database, your WordPress site will stop working.

  • Is free hosting slow?

    Hosts need to place a minimum number of customers on a server to break even. If they aren't being paid for this service, they might need to split the server resources more thinly to make a profit, which means that the hosting service is slower for everyone. This isn't a rule, and you might find that speed is acceptable. But the best speeds are undoubtedly achieved on paid hosting accounts.

  • What features will I miss out on?

    Free hosting rarely includes email mailboxes, or the ability to use your own domain name. You might not get access to some of the useful extras that come with shared hosting, like script installers and site builders. Find a cheap shared hosting provider, and pull up the features to compare them.

  • Are there any free alternatives?

    Yes. You could use a basic website builder package, or sign up for a free hosted blog. While these are basic solutions, they work well for personal projects.

    If you run a business, free services rarely provide the necessary features or stability, and you'd be best off spending a few dollars a month on a shared hosting account. You could also set up a store on a site like Shopify.

  • Can I get free WordPress hosting?

    If you just want to set up a blog, WordPress.com is the ideal solution. It's free, and fairly restrictive in terms of features, but it works well for this purpose.

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