Free personal web hosting
1] Weebly
I would place Weebly in the first position even though it has its own limitations. The reason for placing it in the position first is that it offers you some really good features. I suppose it has the best website builder that is easier to use compared to website builders of other hosting providers. The elements are self-explanatory and all you have to do is to drag, drop them to the web pages and edit them according to your needs. It has provisions for the page title and SEO differently. You can also have a blog along with static pages. The blog comes with a rich text editor that is also easy to use. You can have a custom domain name attached to your website at no extra cost (of course, you will have to buy the domain name separately or via Weebly) or you can simply use a subdomain of Weebly. There are some restrictions too. The most visible one would be the footer that appears on published websites which give away that you built the website at Weebly. You do not have FTP access and the website editor won’t let you upload audio or video but you can embed them (using Soundcloud and YouTube) in the free account. Pros Cons
2] WIX
WIX is also a website builder that does not provide you with FTP. The ease of using a website builder is a little low than compared to Weebly. The website builder supports drag, drop and customize. There are hundreds of templates to choose from. If you know a little coding, you can customize the templates for yourself or you can create a template from scratch and upload it to Wix for personal use as well as for use by others. Among the drawbacks is again the advertisement showing you published the site using WIX. The other drawback is that you have to be with a paid plan to use your own custom domain. The free one will not show any option to add your custom domain as far as I know (I tried to check it and could not find any option there). Since it is based on website building software, you do not have access to FTP, meaning you have to create and edit the site using website building software. Pros Cons Tip: This post lists some free image hosting sites.
3] Jimdo
Again, another website is based on a website builder rather than being based on FTP. This helps people with little to no experience in website building to building professional-looking websites easily. There are plenty of templates and each template is customizable to some extent. Plenty of tutorials on building websites and expert help at your fingertips. Comes with a mobile editor as well that automatically creates a mobile version of your website. On the downside, Jimdo also shows ads on published websites. No FTP support, meaning you have to stick to a website builder. Also, for using a custom domain, you will have to go for a paid plan. Pros Cons
4] Webs
Webs are yet another browser-based website builder that has both free and paid plans for people with no knowledge of coding. The website builder is easy to use and supports the drag and drop of elements. You just drag an element like “text” to the building area and start typing your text. There is a huge collection of templates as well as visuals that you can use with your templates. SEO integration is inbuilt so you can make use of SEO Booster. The website builder also has social media integration. In fact, all of the above-listed free, personal, web hosting services provide you with free social media integration. You can customize the templates if you know a little bit of coding. You can attach a domain name only if you go paid. You can always use a sub-domain of webs for use with your personal website if you do not wish to pay for anything. Pros Cons Read: Parked Domains and Sinkhole Domains explained.
5] Blogger
You might be surprised that I added Blogger to the list of best free personal web hosting providers. Truth is, with the features available at Blogger, you can build a full-fledged website without having to learn coding. There are not many templates but you can customize each template using a graphical user interface. You get to add a blog (which is primary) in addition to static pages. You can add your own custom domain without having to pay any fee except for the domain’s cost. Help is easily available through documents and forums They do not have too many templates. You might need to know coding a bit to customize static pages or you might one of the several tutorials to add and remove features from the website. FTP is not available. You have a rich text editor that supports many languages. Plenty of plugins are available all over the Internet to add special effects to your website created with Blogger. Pros Cons The above is my list with reviews of the best free personal web hosting providers. Please share your thoughts. WordPress could have replaced Blogger if the former did not charge for linking the sites to a custom domain. There is a yearly fee in addition to the domain charges so I preferred Blogger over WordPress. Some of you may want to have a look at our practical & useful Blogging tips for bloggers.
