# Best free web hosting service?



## bill5 (Dec 6, 2020)

Looking to create one because webs.com is going away, just a simple "here's my music" site. I don't need a lot of bandwidth or disk space. All I want is something that is very easy to set up (preferably with some built-in templates etc) and oh btw free. Thought some might have done similar here. When I did a search, it came up w/these sites that appear to really suck user-friendly wise (like Infinity), like you were going to build something from scratch down the HMTL etc. I'm just looking for something where I can simply enter text and easily format it along with a few pics or other images, and add music tracks to listen to. I don't need any database support or tech support or anything fancy and bandwidth and space requirements are modest. 

I'm looking at wix.com now. It's generally the kind of thing I'm looking for, but the URLs they force on you kinda suck as does the editor.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Dec 7, 2020)

If you want a custom domain (ie; bill5music.com), you are pretty much out of luck. Just use a FB page, or buy a basic website plan at Wix, GoDaddy, etc. I got my Wix plan on sale, it was very reasonable (and a monkey could build a site). I also have a GoDaddy site, and it's like $60 per year including the domain. If you want to use your site to attract clients, I highly recommend paying for a real site and domain, it looks waaaaaaay more professional.


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## bill5 (Dec 7, 2020)

Thanks for the reply - looking at free only. It doesn't have to be as nice of a URL as above, but something close at least, not "http://www.webhostsitename.blahblah.1723468.moreunfriendlycrap.com/ (www.webhostsitename.blahblah.1723468.moreunfriendlycrap.com/)" For ex my webs.com was basically "bill5.webs.com." Anything close to that would be great.

I don't care about attracting clients and I was able to get a professional-looking site out of webs.com, so hoping for similar elsewhere...I found another one called Weebly which also sucked  Not giving up yet though


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## reborn579 (Dec 7, 2020)

just use wordpress.com. even if your url will be bill5.wordpress.com, at least the interface to edit the site and everything is very well made and put together, but also easy to use.


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## Will Blackburn (Dec 7, 2020)

Netlify


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## bill5 (Dec 7, 2020)

reborn579 said:


> just use wordpress.com. even if your url will be bill5.wordpress.com, at least the interface to edit the site and everything is very well made and put together, but also easy to use.


...but not free...




Will Blackburn said:


> Netlify


Tried, but their password requirements make NASA look slack.  I maxed out tries, may try later, thx


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## YaniDee (Dec 7, 2020)

Jeremy Spencer said:


> I also have a GoDaddy site, and it's like $60 per year including the domain


Is it your first year? I find the price creeps up every year..Anyhow for purely free, I vote for Wix..


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## Jeremy Spencer (Dec 7, 2020)

bill5 said:


> ...but not free...
> 
> 
> 
> Tried, but their password requirements make NASA look slack.  I maxed out tries, may try later, thx



From the Wordpress site....

“Create a free website and get access to professional themes, 3 GB of storage space, community support, and more.”

Worth a try maybe?


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## bill5 (Dec 7, 2020)

Thanks, but I already did; I wouldn't have said so otherwise. Not free. Nor are various others that various articles say are "free." It's like a free trial, or free for a year if you buy a year, etc etc. ugh. Appreciate the suggestions but I may be stuck with Wix by default. I tried 00website too, and they are free, but their editor is worse than Wix's.


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## reborn579 (Dec 8, 2020)

bill5 said:


> ...but not free...


wordpress does actually have a proper free version. i used it for a few years. you just have some limitations, but they're really not a big deal.
https://wordpress.com/free/i'm not endorsing them, it's just they have a pretty good service, i think


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## bill5 (Dec 8, 2020)

I just tried them the other day and saw no free version, but I'll double-check. Wouldn't be the first time I goofed.


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## maro (Dec 8, 2020)

Biz.nf (1GB Totally free without ads)


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## reborn579 (Dec 8, 2020)

bill5 said:


> I just tried them the other day and saw no free version, but I'll double-check. Wouldn't be the first time I goofed.


just click the link, man. haha


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## d.healey (Dec 8, 2020)

Why not just stick your music on SoundCloud and direct people there?


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## bill5 (Dec 8, 2020)

maro said:


> Biz.nf (1GB Totally free without ads)


Thx - unfortunately the editor on that is also poor (and buggy to boot), but appreciate the suggestion. It looked promising.

Tragically Wix is still winning lol


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## lsabina (Dec 8, 2020)

I believe Weebly is free.


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## Jazzaria (Dec 8, 2020)

Worth noting that there are a few ways to get domains for free - http://dot.tk, http://dot.cf, http://dot.ml. I wouldn't rely on these for anything substantial (you essentially don't own the actual domain, they can reclaim it if you're inactive or just if they feel like it), but can be nicer than a subdomain.

In any case, Netlify is the way to go _if_ you are developing the site yourself. It's what I use to host mine (https://jazzaria.com).

But, I also wrote the code for it. If you're looking for something you don't have to write code for, I'd say Wix and Weebly are the leaders, and Webflow (https://webflow.com/) looks similarish.

If you're willing to learn just a little code (not as much as Netlify), Neocities (https://neocities.org/) is nice, and has its own friendly community. And lastly, I'd say Bandcamp is surprisingly tweakable and most of what it includes is stuff you're going to want anyway, so you could just go with that.


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## Timothy Schmidt (Dec 8, 2020)

I've been using Google Sites for years and have always been satisfied with their system. By default, your site's url is sites.google.com/view/whateveryouwanthere. A friend then introduced me to Google Domains last year as a cheap way to obtain a custom URL, and indeed, I'm only paying $12 a year for the one I found! However, I've never come across anyone else recommend either Google service. Dunno if they're hidden gems or if there is some red flag about them that no one has told me about yet.


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## webs (Dec 10, 2020)

Interface preferences are often very personal / subjective, so I'll offer this with the caveat that you may or may not like it, but... it is 100% FREE for life (no credit card needed, even) 

They have a free for life plan, and they have an "upsell" plan that you can decline.

You can make up to 3 full websites on the free plan.
You can have 3 custom domains on the free plan (i.e. the domain names you buy at a place like godaddy)
You can host 15 videos with a wistia-like player/experience (and no ads like on youtube)
You can set up a shopify-like eCom store, but the free plan takes a greater payment processor fee.
You would want to embed your music from something like soundcloud or the like.
A number of other features currently and coming soon.

It's in BETA, so there are bugs here and there, but the dev team is rolling fast. I have built about 10 personal sites on them so far, and a couple for clients, so there's a personal endorsement.

Here's a good comparison of the two plans...
And in full disclosure I'm an affiliate for them, so I'll provide 2 links.
*
This link is NOT an affiliate link.*

*This link is an affiliate link*.

(in case I helped anyone today and they would be kind enough to use it. If anyone upgraded I'd get commission and would appreciate it! )

Both links go to the same place.

Similarly, heads up that *for domain names*, Namecheap will be having another holiday sale starting on the 15th I believe. namecheap.com (or the respective affiliate link here.)

*Hope it helps!

*


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## StevenOBrien (Dec 18, 2020)

It's a bit complicated and not very user-friendly, but you can use static hosting on something like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure. It costs me something like $0.03/month to host my personal site.


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## Rory (Dec 19, 2020)

Someone who has his own domain name, such as johndoe.com, has a few free options, including:

1. write your own index.html page and any additional pages using HTML

2. use Wordpress from wordpress.org, which is free, not wordpress.com, which is paid: https://wordpress.org

3. use GitHub Pages, which can be used by anyone, not just people who use GitHub to write computer code: https://pages.github.com

4. use Netlify's free tier: https://www.netlify.com/pricing/

Wordpress is fully featured. I think that it's overkill for a simple site, but the advantage is that one doesn't have to know much to use it. GitHub Pages and Netlify are based on Jekyll, which you can read about here: https://jekyllrb.com. I have accounts for both, and they are pretty idiot proof.


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