As I was putting together the pieces of the geolocated augmented reality platforms for the ASTE presentation this year I decided it would be interesting to see if it would be possible to find a free web host that offered 1-click installation of WordPress, and that also came with a free (sub)domain name. As it turns out, there were a few good hosting companies that fit the bill. Exciting, right? On of my goals for this presentation was to find solutions that are simple and involve as little monetary investment as possible.
Why is having a self-hosted WordPress installation important? The biggest reason is that it enables you to install your own plugins and custom themes. Normally, this sort of service is offered as part of paid web hosting packages, but there are a handful out there that are free (as in free beer). WordPress.com websites don’t allow installation of plugins or themes outside the standard sets they allow in the free accounts. From the field, two hosts stood out from the rest:
Squirrel Host – https://krystal.co.uk/welcome/squirrelhosting
- 10GB web space
- 100GB bandwidth
- Free Web Hosting No Ads
- Free subdomain at .blg.lt
- PHP, MySQL, Cron Jobs, SSH, Curl, GD
- Free email. POP3, Web Mail, Spam Protection
- File Manager, Site Builder, Auto Installer
Biz.nf – https://biz.nf
- 250 MB of web space
- 5000 MB of data transfer
- 1 POP3/SMTP, Webmail
- FTP Access, File Manager
- PHP 4/5, MySQL 5, CGI, etc.
- Easy Control Panel
- Free subdomain at .co.nf
- Free Web Hosting No Ads
I recommend these with the understanding that I get what I pay for, and since I’m not paying for these I really don’t expect too much. That being said, for the small projects that I built on these servers, the free accounts have been great and I haven’t yet had any trouble with them.
Thank so much for posting this. Really helped me out today. 🙂