What are some tips for getting free website hosting?

Website hosts often impose usage restrictions on users, so compare free hosting services carefully. PCMag and Wikipedia have side-by-side comparisons that can help you find the best free host for your website. Most free hosts are ad-supported and often ban or restrict websites that contain pornographic or illicit content.

Free Web hosts often only provide users with a subdomain or directory, in contrast to paid hosts that sometimes provide a second-level domain. If you wish to use your own second-level domain name, then you must ensure your free host permits this.

While most free website hosts are ad-supported, some are not, such as Google Sites. Intrusive host advertising schemes can often reduce the quality of your website, so you should avoid ad-supported hosts if possible. If your website is a blog, consider creating a Tumblr or Blogger social media profile instead.

If you are an expert user, consider a cloud computing service such as the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud. Setup is complicated because you must manage a Web server yourself, but cloud computing services impose relatively few hosting restrictions. As of 2015, Amazon offer a free trial of its Web services for one year; the free trial includes free hosting options.