A web host or web server enables webmaster to publish his or her website and webpages to the world and surf its contents. For hobbyists or novice starters, it may be an overkill and expensive to subscribe or purchase a web hosting package, be it shared hosting, VPS (Virtual Private Server), hybrid server or dedicated server. In this case, free web hosts, or websites that provide free web hosting space come to rescue. However, not all free web hosting offers are created equal.
Most free web server provides web space and HTTP service for common HTML documents only. HTML is the most basic web standard in creating and designing websites and web pages. HTML can generate only static web contents, and support limited interactive features with usage of JavaScript. Such free web hosting providers (FWP), for example, include Yahoo! GeoCities and Google Page Creator.
If you plan to write a blog using WordPress, or host a forum using phpBB or vBulletin, or put up a CMS system such as Mambo or Joomla, or provide RapidShare and file sharing download service using Rapid Leech, chances are most free host providers will fail to support and won’t properly install and run these services based on PHP scripts. PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a scripting programming language that used to produce dynamic web pages, or dynamically generated contents. When a web browser client browses a web page, the PHP program instantly execute and parse the script to return the request on HTML format.
So in order to run PHP scripts on web server, PHP must be supported and loaded on Apache or HTTPD server. Most free web hosts don’t, as allowing PHP consume a lot of system resources, and may pose security risks to the server. However, some free web hosting providers do support PHP, although some hosts may restrict usage or disable certain PHP functions, such as do not allow users to use the mail() function in PHP which is requires by PHP to send email. Most hosting providers offer free hosting as a introductory package to induce and influence webmasters to upgrade to paid hosting when their requirements rise. This indeed provide a good upgrade path for those who success to make their websites fly, or need full PHP hosting features.
As with most common free web hosting services, there’re some other limitations and inconveniences when using these free websites hosting. One major annoying part is most hosts will put advertisements – banner ads and/or pop-up or pop-under ads – on the free hosted sites. Worst, there are many free website hosting providers that disappear and vanish overnight, taking away with it your websites, and the time took to develop the sites.
If you can live with all these downside and host your websites on a free web host which supports PHP, here is a none complete list of available free web hosting providers with PHP support, and brief summary of hosts features.
100webspace.com – 1 domain hosted with 100 MB data storage and 3 GB data transfer. Supports PHP, Perl and CGI-BIN. Comes with 5 subdomains, 1 MySQL database, 5 MB MySQL space, FTP access, POP3 and IMAP E-mail (No SMTP).
1111mb.com (defunct) – 5000mb (5gb) disk space, 50000mb (50gb) bandwidth, no advertisements, free subdomain at yourname.1111mb.com, WYSIWYG editor, full FTP support, PHP 4 support, 10 mySQL databases, instant activation, domain name support and 99.9% uptime.
111mb.net (defunct) – Supports PHP, SSI and MySQL, with 400MB amount of free space and 5MB file size limit. Able to use own fully qualified domain name or free subdomain provided.
225mb.com (Xinsto Host) (defunct) – 225 mb of disk space, 10 GB of transfer, 5 MySQL databases, 10 email account (2 mailing lists), cPanel w/Fantastico, SSH access, redirects, raw access logs, stats, MIME types, Apache handlers, SSL, SSI, hotlink protection and shopping cart. All new accounts are manually reviewed.
275mb.com (defunct) – 275 MB space, MySQL database, 5GB bandwidth, FTP account, 1 one click phpBB forum install, free control panel, 99.5% uptime, no pop-up ads, free blog, phpMyAdmin, free guestbook and instant activation.
3-hosting.net (defunct) – 250 MB free webspace, 1000 MB daily HTTP traffic limit, 15 GB monthly HTTP traffic limit. Instant activation. Multiple accounts allowed. Support PHP, MySql and subdomain hosting. Use Xpanel control panel. Self ads allowed.
30mb.com (defunct) – 30MB disk space with unmetered bandwidth.
4000webs.com (defunct) – 4000 MB disk space (4GB storage), 8000 MB transfer (8 GB bandwidth), PHP support, MySQL database, no ads, free poll hosting, free subdomain (http://username.4000webs.com), FTP or browser-based file manager, free traffic tracking, 99.9% uptime on dual core servers, instant activation, gigabit network connection, and WYSIWYG/HTML editor.
6te.net – Similar to ueuo.com, now Free Web Hosting Area, comes with Zend Optimizer but without Ioncude Loader.
athost.net (defunct) – Free ad supported web hosting with 50 megs of storage, secure FTP access, CGI-BIN access by request, PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, Perl and POP or web email accounts. Monthly bandwidth transfer limit is 500MB. Choice of own domain name or free subdomain.
bestwebperiod.com (defunct) – Free cPanel hostinw with 50mb Space and 500mb bandwidth, 5 email account, MySQL database, cPanel administration, MS FrontPage, CGI/Perl, and PHP.
byethost.com – Offers clustered free web hosting with domain name support, free web site on 250 mega bytes powered by a large network of quad CPU servers running the latest versions of MySQL, Apache Web Server and PHP. Monthly bandwidth transfer limit is 6 giga bytes. Comes with unlimited POP3 email accounts with webmail support, 3 MySQL databases, 5 extra sub-domains, 5 addon domains, file manager, 29 scripts such as phpBB2 & phpBB3, WordPress, Zen-Cart, osCommerce, MyBB, UseBB, MyLittle Forum, 4images, Coppermine, SMF, Joomla, e107, XOOPS, PHP Wind, CuteNews, Mambo and WikiWig installable by Automatic Script Installer, which is similar to cPanel’s Fantastico. Unique feature is PHP Flags Manager to set custom PHP flag settings to PHP Display Errors, PHP Register Globals, Scripts Maximum Execution Time, Scripts PHP Memory Limit and PHP Magic Quotes.
coolfreepages.com (defunct) – Free 50+ megs of disk space, FTP account with unlimited FTP site updates, PHP4 support, hosting for .COM, .NET, .ORG, or international domain names on demand, submission to popular search engines for free, fast dual servers, fast T3 line, unlimited bandwidth, no monthly fees ever, no setup charges and multilanguage technical support.
freehostia.com – 250 MB data storage, 5 GB monthly bandwidth, hosting for 2 domains, no ads, PHP & Perl enabled, 1 MySQL database, 10 MB MySQL DB space and Elefante free scripts.
freesites.com (defunct) – Disk space of 100 MB and monthly transfer of 1 GB. PHP support with 1 mySQL db. 1 FTP account and no forced banner ads, and allow own banner ads.
freewebhostingarea.com – Provides up to 1500MB web space with 12 MB file size limit, unmetered traffic, daily/weekly backups on external source, no ads for low traffic sites, supports php5 version 5.4 mail() active, GD2 library, php curl, php magickwand/imagick (support for ImageMagick), php sockets, php xml, xsl, php soap, php pdo, supports Ioncube loader, memcache and memcached with igbinary, free MySQL 5 database (latest stable 5.5) and more.
gethosted.info (defunct) – Comes with 100 Megs of free web space, 1000 Megs of free bandwidth, MySql databases, PHP 4.4.6 support, FTP access, personal email, sub domain, Frontpage extensions support, easy phpBB install, Squirrell Mail, guest book and web statistics.
hostingcosmos.com (no longer free) – 100 MB space, 1 GB bandwidth limit, MySQL database, PHP support, 1 hosted domain, 2 sub-domains, 2 parked domains, FTP access and no ads.
hostingme.co.uk (defunct) – 750Mb webspace, 10Gb bandwidth, unlimited MySQL databases, unlimited email addresses, PHP5, one advert required per page.
i6networks.com – Free Cpanel hosting with no banner and no ads. Supports PHP, mySQL, CGI, Perl, CPANEL, POP, IMAP, SMTP, awStats, WordPress, Joomla, phpBB, sub-domain, catch-all email, webmail. Comes with 5GB space and 1000GB Xfer (1TB) limit.
igotfree.com (defunct) – Unlimited space and bandwidth, no banner or popup advertisements, 24/7 FTP access, PHP, MySQL, CGI Support and free http://YOU.igotfree.com subdomain.
justfreespace.com (defunct) – 50 MB disk space on 2 Gig bandwidth (no ads option) or 2000 MB disk space – 20 Gig bandwidth (ads supported option). Comes with Cpanel with free Fantastico, 5 MySQL databases and 2 FTP accounts. Supports Apache, PHP, MySQL and CGI.
juztalk.com (defunct) – cPanel based free hosting with 1GB storage space and 50GB transfer per month. With all standard cPanel supported features.
orgfree.com – Similar to ueuo.com, now Free Web Hosting Area, comes with Zend Optimizer but without Ioncude Loader, and register_globals PHP variable is set to Off.
proshosting.net (defunct) – 500Mb of space and 5Gb of bandwith. With Panel/Fantastico/RvSkins.
puzzlehosting.com (defunct) – 10 MB or 100 MB of Disk Space, MySQL database, E-Mail account (POP3/SMTP/IMAP), FTP account, cPanel control panel, scripts library, CGI scripts, no ads but requires 25 posts a month at the forum.
qupis.com (defunct) – Free PHP, Perl free web Hosting with CPanel X (latest), Pop3 emails, forwarders, Add-on & Parked domains support. 150 MB space with 5000 MB BW. 99.9% Uptime guaranteed. All libraries completely included.
rnetwork.org (defunct) – 1GB web space, cPanel with Fantastico and RvSkin, FTP support, Front Page Extensions, MySQL, PHP, PERL, CGI, Protected Directories and Cron Jobs.
sphosting.com (no longer free) – Ads supported with 100 Mb’s of disk space, 5 Gigs of bandwidth, sub domain, Mysql, PHP, and Cpanel.
synced.org (discontinued) – 300 MB space, 35GB monthly bandwidth (35,000 MB), 10 MySQL databases, 10 POP/SMTP email accounts (up to 10 mailing lists), 10 FTP supports, 10 addon domains, Fantastico for one-click installs of forums, shopping cart systems, web blogs, image galleries, CMS web sites, web site templates, and more,PHP 5.x, cPanel, HTML, CGI, PSQL, Custom Error pages, no file size limit, own ads allowed.
tripod.lycos.co.uk (limited to Tripod Site Builder for free account) – Unlimited traffic under fair use conditions. Supports PHP5, MySQL, FTP, WebFTP, guestbook, feedback forms, counter, statistics, polls and other add-ons. Free 50 Mb of disk space and URL of homepage in the format of http://members.lycos.co.uk/sitename.
t35.com (no longer free) – Free unlimited web space and unlimited transfer. Support PHP, Server Side Included (SSI), FTP Access and comes with simple control panel. 500KB file size limit.
thehostcity.com (defunct) – 250 MB disk space and 15 GB of bandwidth. Comes with XPanel control panel. Support PHP, MySql, subdomain hosting and automatic account activation. Multiple accounts allowed.
ueuo.com – Now Free Web Hosting Area, offers unmetered traffic at 3.5GB/day limit, 200 MB webspace, 10 MB file size limit, PHP 5.1.6 with GD2 library (FreeType, Gif, Jpg, Png, Wbmp, Xbm support), curl, zlib, upload, soap, xml and all important modules, plus register_globals and Safe Mode on, MySQL 5.0.27 db, PHP mail() enabled, SSI Support (Server Side Includes – .shtml), free subdomain at yourchoice.ueuo.com, Ioncube Loader, full FTP access, custom error page, phpMyAdmin, instant activation, hit counter and advanced control panel.
webmastershock.com (defunct) – 500mb space with 25gb transfer, cPanel 10, FTP/PHP/CGI/MySQL/Frontpage, email, statistics, error pages, subdomain or domain hosting.
zendurl.com (defunct) – 500 MB space, 15 GB bandwidth, 2 databases, 2 addon domain names, 1 FTP account, no forced ads but voluntary ads, MySQL and PostgreSQL support, PHP, PERL/CGI, SSI supported, script autoInstaller, e-mail forwarder and autoresponder, phpMyAdmin, Webalizer, and hourly backups.
If you know any other free web hosting that supports PHP, do share with everyone in comments.
LK is a technology writer for Tech Journey with background of system and network administrator. He has be documenting his experiences in digital and technology world for over 15 years.Connect with LK through Tech Journey on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
