What to Know About Free Web Hosting
When building a website, you can’t afford to be uneducated. Simply put, the host is where the website lives, and is responsible for the security of the data, speed and reliability of a site, and user experience. You can build the best looking website out there, with fantastic design specs and extra features, but if your free web host doesn’t provide good speed or uptime, not a soul will see it.
That’s where we come in. We have trawled the industry to find the absolute best free web hosting for both business and personal sites in the UK, looking past the standard boasting of 99.9% uptime and super-fast speeds that all companies seem to offer, to find the big names who really stand out from the crowd.
Is There Such a Thing as Completely Free Website Hosting?
We know, it can be expensive getting a website off the ground, without yet another item on the list to dig deep for. Don’t worry, the companies usually offer the ability to "try before you buy" with competitive free trials, some for as many as 90 days. Some offer an anytime money back guarantee if a customer is unsatisfied with the experience they provide.
We always recommend looking for scalable options, especially if the package offers limited functionality or features. When a website first goes live, not much storage is required or heavy traffic needed, but as the business develops or word of mouth spreads about your blog or personal site, the website's capacity needs to have the option to increase it's capacity as it grows.
What Is Non-Negotiable?
While storage and customisation might not be at the top of the "must-have" list, we recommend always looking for the best in security and reliability, regardless of how expensive your choice is. It’s worth taking the time to make sure that whichever company is chosen offers the right amount of network monitoring for example, and daily backups so that the content is never lost if there is a server problem. If the plan is to sell online, be sure to look into malware detection and a powerful firewall to make sure any sensitive data is protected for customers.
Similarly, speed and reliability is really important. Studies have shown that as little as a 2 or 3 second delay can turn off potential visitors to the site. During the trial period try out the website on different devices such as mobile phones and tablets, to make sure the user experience is top notch.
Last Updated February 2020
