Best free webhost ??

[chris.p]

...And the latest update...

Wordpress ran fine on 000webhost after the parameters were set up right for SEF URLs

Then it seemed a good idea to change the site over to a CMS to see if that worked OK. I installed Joomla 1.0 which I prefer to J1.5. However you can't manually install it on this host, there are too many issues - wrong Apache file ownership settings etc. The files aren't writeable for this reason and others. Too many problems.

Anyway, there's a Fantastico installer there, so no problem (I thought) - I'll use that. Tried that, but it's offline. They're "fixing it soon". In the meantime - "Upgrade to our paid service". Sure. That would put you on another server I reckon, as the script installer won't work with those faulty server settings.

So I thought hmm, let's try another host, then. Heard about another that should be better: 5quidhost.co.uk

They have a full commercial hosting service at £5 a year ($7.50), or a free version, or various upgrades of course. I got an account to try the free version. Stunned - absolutely perfect server settings, full-on cPanel and email, all the latest PHP and Apache versions, all the server settings absolutely right, the full monty. Exactly the same as if you were paying £70 / $100 a year, no difference. And obviously run by capable server techs as servers like this, that are set up absolutely right, are about 25% of the total in my experience.

The catch is a tiny webspace and bandwidth allowance of course - just 20MB disk space and 2GB traffic. It's actually not possible to install Joomla correctly in a space that small, but luckily they give you the same space again for the database, which makes it just possible. Very tight though. Anyway - you can see what you're getting, this way, and can then upgrade if you like it. And that's what I'll do. £5 won't kill me

So here's the state of play:
Use 000webhost for an HTML site or a blog / micro-cms install like WordPress. It works 100% and there is a big resource allowance. You can upgrade once your site takes off, to get better email (which is the worst part of this service, just 5 accounts and v-e-r-y s-l-o-w. Messages can take 24 hours to appear in your inbox

Use 5quidhost if you want to run a real cms, but you'll only get a skinny install in there. Then you'll hit the wall and need to upgrade. Not a fortune though -- and well worth it. A really excellent server set-up that you will have trouble beating at under £100 / $150 a year. Haven't checked how many sites on the server yet but it doesn't seem slow, unlike many of the others I looked at.

They have servers in the UK and US (and elsewhere I think), and I believe you can request where to be hosted. If you have a commercial site that offers a service based in a particular country, you must be hosted in that country. If you're selling in South Africa you must be hosted in SA.

But to start a site out, it may not matter too much. And if you want max initial traffic, and the site is not country-specific, then host in the US.

And if you want the most sensible legal situation, in an EN language country, with no restrictions, loony laws, or litigation culture, then host in the UK. Don't know how long that will last though.

[update]
Unfortunately the 5quidhost account upgrade to £5 / $7.50 a year doesn't include MySQL, in other words no DB. Hmm. Next upgrade is £24 / $36 per year. Still very good value for what you get though, a perfectly set up server.

[rosarionemia]

Sorry but I dont really believe in free webhost. just a simple question, why are they giving it for free?

Thanks.

[chris.p]

Yes, that is a logical question.

And the answer is - the same reason software authors give their programs away for free. Almost all of the same reasons apply. For example try-before-you-buy is a proven business model. You lock out your competitors this way.

However I'd say the big difference is the relative quality in the two areas - free / open-source software is provably of the highest quality and in some cases can't be bettered. You can't say the same about free webhosts. I haven't tried many, but I've only found one quality host that offers a free service. Because it has a tiny webspace allocation it's basically a try-before-you-buy service.

However it worked for them - while trying out free webhosts, I came across their economy hosting service, and found one that actually knows how to host CMS properly. So they will get work from me as I can always use a source of cheap but good CMS hosting - not easy to find. I know of others but I'm not keen on their business ethics - they hold your card details and auto-charge every year unless you cancel 2 months before, and that kind of stuff. Smart tactics of that type don't get my vote.

[korbenPL]

000webhost.com

Their free hosting is lousy. The most typical reply you get when sending a ticket with a problem is: upgrade to paid one. Polish language available for free user yet it doesnt work unless you pay [sic] And make sure you insert gmail address when registering or your domain may never become activated.

When you take a look at their forum - hundreds of unsolved issues and no ona cares about the free users but other users, where is the staff?

the autoinstaller never works

my opinion: 1/5

atbhost.net
I've been toying with its rich options for a week now and let me tell you it is both free and good. try it and you won't be disappointed.

my opinion: 4.5/5

[bk_7312]

Originally Posted by korbenPL

atbhost.net
I've been toying with its rich options for a week now and let me tell you it is both free and good. try it and you won't be disappointed.

my opinion: 4.5/5

atbhost.net sure is one unique free webhost. By free, the actually mean you pay by post per month, not by money. That's one way to make sure your client is still active. What's more, they have MySQL databases (which isn't found on many free webhosts).

[bk_7312]

Does anyone know anything about .co.cc domains? What's the difference between .co.cc and other domains like .com, .net and etc.

You can register for a .co.cc at www[DOT]co.cc for free.

[chris.p]

Yeah, .co.cc is a cheap domain, basically. Like .info, only even cheaper.

Depends what you want it for - it's OK for a personal site but no good for a site that you want traffic for. So if it's a business site or one that you can maybe get a couple of $$ with ads then I don't recommend it.

The reason is that Google thinks of .info and .co.cc as spammers and you have a lot of hard work to do before you can convince them otherwise. This is because spammers buy domains to churn 'n burn, and the cheaper they are the better. They buy hundreds at a time and set up spam sites on them. Then when they are discovered, they ditch them. As .info's were sold for 60c and are still cheap, they are a favourite for this. If .co.cc are cheap they will go the same way.

A real domain is only about $8 so I don't figure it's worth cutting corners. Always buy a .com unless you really don't care about traffic or anything.

[bk_7312]

So, it's all about traffic then? Comparing yourname.co.cc to a yourname.hostdomain.com, I think I would prefer a .co.cc domain.

Right now, I'm in no real need of a .com domain nor traffic because I just want to play around with setting up websites. Until I can confidently say I know my way around, only then would I consider buying a .com domain. For now, I'll stick with the free stuff.

I'll make a note to be careful with .info, .co.cc and other domain which can be acquired for free or very cheaply but I'm sure WOT can serve as an early warning system.

[chris.p]

OK, a .co.cc domain is fine for that stuff. Also you can tell your pals that you are located in the Cocos Keeling Islands (off NW Australia I think).



But you don't need WOT for that, or whatever, it's just Google who don't like them. Spam sites are normally very clean because their purpose is to make money from ads, and they try and stay under the radar for as long as possible.

[xobi]

Hi friends,
I tried a several of them. First of all am hosting for fun and to learn. First I started with 000webhost.com. When i started playing with Joomla! 000webhost gave me a lot of problems. I manually uploaded / installed joomla on 000webhost. I frequently faced chmod problems (directory is not writable, file is not writable.. etc etc..) I tried to install Joomla via Fantacio web installer from 000webhost cpannel, unfortunately they had disabled that feature for an unknown period of time. I think they stopped that service forever to free hosters.

After that i tried http://x10hosting.com They had a lot of terms and conditions to follow. I feel that is quiet awkward. There registration is quiet long and frustrating. I somehow successfully completed registration though i didn't receive any email confirmation. So i decided to sign up for one more time. This time luck was with me. Everything just went fine. But after two days they removed my account without notifying any reasons. Funny thing is that i did no hosting. I just created an account and they just deleted me.

Finally i found another host that is http://byethost.com

They are providing 5.5 GB of diskspace, 200GB monthly transfer. Sounds good isn't it? There registration is simple. For the first 24 hrs my website url was redirected to a scam site named [ mybookface. net ]. But after that it never happened to me. I am quiet happy with them. There cpannel is quite old but thats not a problem with me. We can install a lot of scripts including Joomla without any problem. Safemode is OFF on there servers. So there will be no chmod problems.

I successfully changed my site address with my free CO.CC domain. That took almost 24 hours to activate.

You can check there free hosting details here:

i gave them 4/5 rating.