000webhost review – here is what you must know in 2026
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000webhost is a free web hosting service powered by Hostinger, ideal for beginners, students, or anyone testing the waters of website building. With its free plan, you can get 300MB of storage, 3GB of bandwidth, one website, and access to a simple website builder — all without needing a credit card.
In this 000webhost review, I break down what you really get with 000webhost’s free hosting, how it performs in real-world use, what limitations to expect, and whether it’s worth upgrading to a paid plan.
000webhost is one of the most recognizable free hosting options for beginners who want to learn the basics of website creation without spending money. Its clean custom control panel and simple WordPress setup make it easy to get started, but its tight resource limits, weak security stack, and below-average uptime keep it from being suitable for anything beyond small test projects. If you only need a no-cost sandbox to experiment with web development, it does the job — just don’t expect commercial-grade performance.
| ⭐ Rating: | |
| 💵 Price: | From $2.99/month |
| 📑 Uptime guarantee: | 99.05% |
| ⚙️ Hosting types: | Shared hosting |
| 🌎 Server locations: | The US |
| 👨💻 24/7 live support: | No |
| 🔥 Coupons: | Cybernews Web Hosting Coupons |
000webhost shut down in October 2024 – what’s next
Unfortunately, 000webhost shut down in October 2024. The review you’re currently reading is an old one that we left for our readers. However, if you’re looking for a cost-effective web hosting solution similar to 000webhost, I collected the top 3 trusted alternatives:
- IONOS ($1.00/month). It’s the best alternative to 000webhost for beginners, offering a low price with strong features. IONOS includes a free domain, free SSL certificate, generous storage, and a website builder.
- Hostinger ($2.69/month). This provider is slightly more expensive, but allows hosting multiple sites with generous storage, a free domain, advanced security, and weekly backups.
- Wix (free). It’s a free provider suitable for small websites. However, you need to use a Wix subdomain to publish your site – connecting your own domain requires a paid plan.
Pros and cons of 000webhost
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000webhost plans and features
000webhost is a free service, meaning that no monetary exchange is required to put your website on its servers. However, you can also opt for a premium package from an affordable hosting provider like Bluehost, where prices start as low as $2.99/month.
The free package provided by 000webhost is based on shared hosting infrastructure, meaning a website shares the same server space as dozens, if not hundreds, of other websites owned by different users. Each free account is allocated relatively small resources:
- Possibility to host 1 website
- 300MB disk space
- 3GB monthly bandwidth limit
- 1 MySQL database
- 1 FTP account
- Option to connect a custom domain
- Cloudflare protected nameservers
Unfortunately, no email addresses or SSL certificates are provided. Additionally, 000webhost displays its own ads on websites.
Looking at the numbers, it’s clear that 000webhost is suitable only for very small, basic websites. To put it in perspective, most websites have pages larger than 300MB. This leads to the conclusion that the host is best for learning how hosting works, creating school projects, or teaching beginners – not for websites with moderate traffic.
If you need more resources, the provider offers the option to upgrade to one of the premium plans with its partner company, Hostinger.
Altogether, 000webhost provides a functional but limited hosting plan free of charge. The biggest advantage is the ability to connect a custom domain, but the limited resources and ads make it unsuitable for business use.
Hosting management: is 000webhost easy to use?
Surprisingly, 000webhost is a very modern and easy-to-use service. It uses a custom control panel paired with automatic setup wizards to launch websites. From registration to installing WordPress and adding a domain, I experienced no issues, although the interface was a little slow.
The signup process was straightforward, and once I confirmed my email, a setup wizard launched. During the five-step guide, I was able to install WordPress and make my site live.
Installation took only a few moments, but overall, everything went smoothly, and I was quickly redirected to the main control panel. Just keep in mind that you can’t choose any content management system other than WordPress, unless you upload an existing site manually. The only automatic options are the website builder and WordPress.
000webhost control panel
000webhost uses a modern custom control panel. It features main management modules such as the domain and file manager. However, the interface is a little bit slow.
Once you install WordPress, you can see the main interface. The menu on the left has all the settings you’d normally see in a control panel.
Under the Tools section, you can find such items as domain management, file manager, database, and email. Each tool has an explanation with it and, basically, that’s all you need for any website management. Additionally, more settings are available under the Website Settings menu option.
Here you can choose the PHP version (I was surprised that the latest version was available), manage redirects, and security. However, if you do want to change anything, prepare for some wait time – the interface takes longer than necessary.
Altogether, the 000webhost control panel is well put together. It’s functional, easy to navigate, and, on top of that, looks great. The only disadvantage is long wait times for most of the actions to be applied.
Performance: is 000webhost fast?
Performance is the weak point of 000webhost, as with all free web hosting services. The average uptime does not meet modern standards, meaning you can expect your site to be down for a significant amount of time. The speed is also much slower than the industry’s average.
000webhost uptime and response time
Over the course of 4 months, 000webhost has maintained my test site’s uptime at 99.05%, complying with its own 99.05% uptime guarantee. While that would sound good, the hosting industry has a 99.9% standard – almost 0.9% higher than what I got for this 000webhost review.
In other words, 299 outages over a period of around 120 days is not a good and reliable result.
Server response times are also pretty slow, averaging at 1.87 seconds. The shared hosting average is around 600ms – a boundary I wouldn’t like commercial hosts to pass.
Generally speaking, 000webhost servers consistently show results that are way below average. At the same time, the services are usable and do comply with the 000webhost uptime guarantee.
000webhost website speed
000webhost loaded a WordPress website surprisingly well. Fully loaded time was 1.5s, while Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) didn’t even require a second. These two measures are the most important ones when it comes to a fully built website’s performance:
- LCP plays a big role in a website's ranking. Google now takes website loading time into consideration when ranking pages. It has set a 2.5-second mark for the LCP to be considered good.
- Fully loaded time shapes user experience. A website that loads for longer than 3 seconds faces higher bounce-off rates.
In the 000webhost case, both LCP and fully loaded time are more than fast enough. However, take into consideration that this is just an empty website with a generic theme. I did try to install some demo content on it, but the storage limit wouldn’t allow it.
One more thing to note, 000webhost servers are located in the US alone. As my test was also performed from the US, other parts of the world may see very different speed results.
000webhost stress testing
For the last test, I attempted to send 50 virtual users (bots) to my website and observe how 000webhost handles traffic. It turns out that this provider still holds up.
000webhost failed the first test with 50 VUs, which is not surprising at all. 50 VUs at all times would sum up to around 50,000 monthly visitors – that’s way too much for 3GB bandwidth to handle.
So I lowered the number by 5 until the test results were passable. I found that 000webhost handled 20 virtual users.
This time around, the response speed has remained remarkably stable, regardless of the fluctuations in virtual users. More so, the red line is as flat as it gets, meaning there were no failed requests either.
What’s surprising to me is that 000webhost handled this much traffic – even some paid providers do less. This means the provider is either not overcrowding the servers or not imposing a hard limit on the bandwidth one account can use.
All in all, its performance is pretty decent altogether. While uptime is definitely not up to paid hosting standards, speed and server power are more than enough for any learning purposes website.
Is 000webhost secure?
000webhost is not one of the most secure providers you can find, as only the most basic security features are available. This is how its security infrastructure looks like:
- Basic server-level firewalls
- DDoS protection
- 24/7 server monitoring
You can enable hotlink protection and ban certain IPs. Unfortunately, SSL certificates aren’t available, and there are no advanced security measures targeted towards website software.
Altogether, for basic personal projects, the security measures are enough. However, you shouldn’t store sensitive personal information on 000webhost’s servers, as its interface is far from being bulletproof.
Will 000webhost customer support help me?
The only way to get help with 000webhost is through its community forum and knowledge base. No professional customer support is provided. Here’s how you can get help:
- The knowledge base is well-made and structured. However, it’s not clear how often it is updated.
- The community forum receives new topics and questions daily, yet the replies aren’t active. You can expect a senior member of the forum to reply in a couple of days.
Overall, the provider doesn’t offer active customer support. It has a broad knowledge base and a community forum, yet no other professional support options exist.
000webhost review: final recommendations
000webhost is one of the top free web hosting providers offering reliable hosting services. It includes a custom control panel and allows users to connect their own domain. It’s also useful for learning purposes, although I can’t recommend it for professional use.
| Feature | Legitimate hosting free of charge | |
| Pricing | 000webhost is absolutely free, there are no costs involved. | |
| Ease of use | The custom control panel is modern and easy to navigate, although a little slow. | |
| Performance | 000webhost uptime results were decent (99.05%), while the website’s load speed did surprise – it handled small websites and average levels of traffic speedily. | |
| Security | The provider includes just the basic server security modules, while essentials like an SSL certificate are missing. | |
| Support | 000webhost doesn’t offer professional customer support options, but you can use a knowledge base and a community forum. |
Who do I recommend 000WebHost to?
Briefly, 000webhost is a decent option for free web hosting. However, you can’t expect the highest quality, generous features, or top performance – it’s only suitable for learning projects.
Alternatives to 000webhost
I don’t recommend using a free hosting service due to its general unreliability and associated security issues. There are many reliable and cheap web hosting providers you can use as alternatives – some of the best being Bluehost, Hostinger, and DreamHost.
Bluehost
Bluehost stands out as one of the most budget-friendly alternatives to 000webhost, with plans starting at just $1.99/month. You can easily upgrade your plan as your needs grow, making it a flexible option.
With Bluehost, you get dependable servers and impressive performance, backed by 24/7 live chat and phone support, along with a comprehensive help center. Even the most basic plan includes an intuitive web builder, enabling you to create and manage your website all in one place. Read more about this provider in our full Bluehost review.
Hostinger
Hostinger is the parent company that supported the 000webhost project. It's another affordable provider that doesn’t sacrifice power and quality – subscriptions start at $2.69/month.
The host comes with generous resources, advanced security, and speedy, reliable servers. Additionally, all Hostinger plans include weekly backups and other advanced security measures. Plus, you get 24/7 customer support – helpful and very friendly. For more insights, refer to our Hostinger review.
DreamHost
DreamHost is another affordable alternative to 000webhost, with prices starting at just $1.99/month.
The provider’s main focus is WordPress, so it includes automatic WordPress installation and a few CMS-specific optimizations. It’s also secure and straightforward. Even with the cheapest plan, you get a free domain, domain privacy, an SSL certificate, unlimited monthly bandwidth, and daily backups. Check out our DreamHost review for a full-depth analysis.
FAQ
How good is 000WebHost?
As a free hosting option, 000webhost is a decent provider. It doesn’t collect much personal data during sign-up, and its servers can handle the needs of small websites. It’s also suitable for learning purposes.
Is 000webhost.com safe?
000webhost isn’t the safest provider you can find. Since it’s a free option, you don’t receive many security features. Additionally, there’s an instance of a data breach that exposed a significant amount of customer data.
Why is 000webhost bad?
000webhost isn’t bad per se – it’s a free option and not a scam. However, by choosing it, you sacrifice hosting quality, performance, and reliability.
Is 000webhost free for lifetime?
Yes, 000webhost is free for a lifetime. It allows you to host small projects without any cost.
What is 000webhost used for?
000webhost is mainly used for learning web development and getting familiar with web hosting and its backend. It serves as a sandbox for beginners to experiment with websites without any financial risk.
Is 000webhost good for WordPress?
Yes, 000webhost is good for WordPress. It features automatic setup and installation for the CMS, as well as the latest PHP versions to enhance its speed.
How do I host a PHP site on 000webhost?
To host a PHP site on 000webhost, you can use the file manager to upload your website files. You also need to set up a database if your site requires one.
How do I get my website on 000webhost?
You can get your website on 000webhost by uploading its files via file manager and setting up a database, or simply installing or migrating WordPress.
