There are few free PHP hosting options that deliver the necessary quality you need, and some low-cost options that offer a better service. Hostinger is the best choice overall for its 30-day money-back guarantee and ease of use. GoogieHost is the best fully-free option for simple sites, and IONOS the best choice for web-based apps.
This guide includes both permanently free plans with some limitations and budget options that offer a wider set of features.
There are many other hosts which advertise free PHP hosting, but most come with significant trade-offs: forced ads on your site, severely limited resources, or outdated PHP versions that compromise security and functionality. Some even profit by collecting and selling your data at signup.
For this reason, affordable hosting like Hostinger is often more viable than strictly free options. Below, we compare the best free and low-cost PHP hosting providers based on reliability, features, compatibility, and developer tools to help you choose the best option for your project.
Which Free PHP Hosting Should You Choose?
- For WordPress-based sites: Go with Hostinger. It offers exceedingly affordable plans, a user-friendly control panel, and plenty of WordPress optimization tools.
- For fully-free hosting: Choose GoogieHost. GoogieHost offers completely free hosting with NVMe storage, PHP staging environments, and malware protection.
- For web apps: Use IONOS. IONOS delivers geo-redundant SSD storage, specialized deployment features, and enhanced database protection.
- For demo sites: Select FreeHosting. Its free cPanel licence gives you a good starting point to develop a project risk-free.
- For multiple free sites: Look at AwardSpace. It’s the only free host that allows you to host up to 4 sites at once on the free plan.
- For large-size-file hosting: Select InfinityFree. It offers 5 GB of free storage space on fully-free plans.
What We Look For in the Best Free PHP Web Hosts
Separating a good free or almost free hosting service from a bad one comes down to a few important factors. Regardless of whether a service was free or paid, this is what I focused on in my search:
- Security. We focused on a combination of firewalls, antivirus, and anti-malware tools for protection against DDoS and ransomware attacks. We also prioritized regular backups for site restoration if needed.
- Latest PHP versions. We focused on access to the latest PHP version, as well as PHP version control.
- Caching tools and optimized servers. Caching is a method by which your provider stores copies of frequently-accessed data in a high-speed storage layer for faster loading. Caching and features like LiteSpeed servers and NVMe can improve your site’s performance up to a 10x factor. Strong loading speeds improve your visitor retention, repeat visits, and SEO performance.
- Value for money. When we offer a paid alternative, we ensure that it delivers excellent value for what it costs.
- No ads. Site-side apps can have an extremely negative effect on your site’s reception and visitor retention metrics. We looked for options that did not force apps on your site or web application.
GoogieHost is a free PHP MySQL web hosting provider that uses LiteSpeed Web Servers for fast performance. It comes with an user-friendly proprietary control panel, multiple PHP versions (from 7.1 to 8.5), a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and 1 GB of NVMe storage along with 100 GB of bandwidth and CloudFlare integrations for free.
GoogieHost is also one of the few fully-free web hosts that offer security features like active malware monitoring and free SSL certificates. Due to its integrations with the Softaculous one-click installer, GoogieHost allows you to one-click install over 380 scripts.
| Best for | Not for |
|---|---|
| ✅ Students ✅ Low-budget long-term hosting ✅ Ad-adverse users |
❌ E-commerce sites ❌ High traffic sites ❌ Root-access |
Pros
- Ad-free. Unlike most free hosting services, GoogieHost doesn’t display ads on the admin OR user side of your site.
- PHP version control. GoogieHost allows you to use PHP versions 7.1 to 8.5 on your free hosting plan.
- Robust one-time-payment plans. GoogieHost offers premium plans on a one-time payment model, meaning you won’t have to pay for renewal costs regardless of how long you need hosting for.
- NVMe SSD Storage. GoogieHost is one of the few web hosts to utilize NVMe storage technology, which can deliver read and write speeds up to six times better than regular SSD storage.
- Included WordPress manager. GoogieHost includes a WordPress manager utility to all free plans.
Cons
- Strict CPU & RAM limits. Like all free hosts, resources are heavily throttled. If your PHP script has inefficient aspects like infinite loops, it could lead to CPU spikes and even account suspension.
- No developer support. Though GoogieHost offers free 24/7 support, free accounts don’t get priority technical support, which can lead to long wait times to solve server errors.
- Limited server locations. GoogieHost only offers servers in the US, the UK, and New Zealand.
Check out our in-depth review of GoogieHost for more information.
| PHP version | PHP 7.1 – 8.5 |
|---|---|
| Developer-friendly support | Composer support, SSH access (by request), Git integration, and cron jobs |
| Databases supported | MySQL |
| Starting price | $0 |
Hostinger’s PHP hosting plans strike the best balance between affordability and features. It includes full PHP version control, an access manager for multiple developers, and an optimized stack for the latest PHP and MySQL versions.
The basic plan comes with 10 GB SSD NVMe storage, free SSL certificates, 5 AI credits and unmetered bandwidth. If you upgrade to the Business plan, you also get up to 5 managed Node.js web apps, which is ideal for developers and larger projects. Hostinger is also ideal for long-term projects, as you can sign up for billing periods of up to 4 years, which provides the lowest monthly prices.
| Best for | Not for |
|---|---|
| ✅ WordPress sites ✅ PHP beginners ✅Projects that need consistent performance |
❌ Zero-budget users ❌ Custom server stacks ❌ Free cPanel hosting |
Pros
- Multiple CMS support. Hostinger offers one-click installations for a series of PHP-based CMSs like Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress.
- Proprietary control panel. Hostinger’s hPanel is much easier to use and navigate than traditional management panels. It also supports PHP up to version 8.4 and below.
- Excellent performance. Hostinger’s shared hosting returned an A grading on our own tests and delivered loading times below three seconds worldwide even without a content delivery network (CDN) enabled.
- Generous free add-ons. All plans come with malware scanning and an AI website builder. 100 email accounts are featured in the Premium plan, while a free domain name for one year is included with all annual plans.
- Easy PHP extension toggles. You can enable or disable extensions like BCMath, cURL, Mbstring and more directly from hPanel, without having to modify the .ini files.
Cons
- No free tier. Hostinger offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans, but it doesn’t offer a fully free plan.
- Strict inode limits on shared hosting. Entry-level shared hosting plans have inode limits of about 200,000 inodes, which might not be sufficient for complex PHP applications.
- High renewal rates. Hostinger’s prices can increase over four times after your first renewal period.
Read our expert Hostinger review for more on performance.
| PHP version | PHP 7.3 – 8.4 |
|---|---|
| Developer-friendly support | SSH access and Composer support (Premium and Business only), Git integration, cron job, and custom PHP module support |
| Databases supported | MySQL and MariaDB |
| Starting price | $2.49 |
IONOS doesn’t offer a free plan, but its hosting plans offer very cheap rates for your first renewal period. These premium plans come with powerful resources like geo-redundant SSD storage, up to 896 MB of PHP memory and 19 GB of RAM, and GDPR-compliant security measures.
IONOS is also the best hosting provider for older PHP versions. While other providers let you configure your PHP version starting at 7.1, IONOS offers full support for PHP versions 4 to 8.3. Even though there’s no longer any community support for PHP versions 4 – 8.1, IONOS provides in-house support through its PHP extended support feature.
Who should use IONOS (and who should skip it)?
| Best for | Not for |
|---|---|
| ✅ Web apps ✅ Multiple database projects ✅ Older PHP versions |
❌ cPanel loyalists ❌ Low-price multi-year projects ❌ Complete beginners |
Expert Tip: Set an 11 Month Reminder!
IONOS’s low introductory rates increase sharply after your first renewal period. As you sign up, create a reminder on your calendar app exactly 11 months from your sign-up date. After 11 months, you’ll get the option to consciously choose if the renewal rate is worth it for you or not, and get enough time to cancel your renewal if you choose to.
Pros
- Deploy Now service. IONOS’s Deploy Now service gives you easy-to-use tools for app deployment, geo-redundancy and DDoS protection, automatic connections to Git repositories, automatic framework detection, and more features to help you deploy your web apps.
- Stellar security. IONOS offers enhanced data, website, and email protection, including a proprietary DDoS shield and malware scanning with all plans.
- Free domain name and hosting. All annual shared plans include a free domain name for one year. If you opt for a 36-month term (US only), you can also get the first year of hosting for free.
- $1 domains. IONOS offers .com, .org, .online, and .icu domains for $1 for your first year of hosting. You can add this deal to any plan that doesn’t offer a free domain.
Cons
- Forced 12-month contracts. Even if you choose monthly billing, IONOS forces you into a 12-month contract at sign up.
- Confusing control panel. IONOS’s proprietary control panel is not easy to navigate for beginners.
- Lots of upsells. SEO tools, Deploy Now memberships, premium security, and extended PHP support all comes with an extra cost at sign-up.
For more on PHP hosting, check out our expert IONOS review.
| PHP version | PHP 4.0 – 8.3 |
|---|---|
| Developer-friendly support | Composer support, SSH access, PHP Extended support, Git integration, and cron jobs |
| Databases supported | MySQL and MariaDB |
| Starting price | $1.00 |
FreeHosting offers fully free hosting with a custom version of cPanel, 1GB of SSD storage, and unmetered bandwidth. You also get one free email account, ad-free hosting on your site, and one free MySQL database.
FreeHosting advertises its PHP as having “all functions enabled” (though there is no version control), and you can enable the PHP mail function for a one-time-payment extra fee.
| Best for | Not for |
|---|---|
| ✅ cPanel beginners ✅ Simple PHP deployments |
❌ Sensitive information websites ❌ Free WordPress hosting |
Pros
- OPcache. OPcache keeps an in-memory copy of compiled code on cache, allowing for faster loading times.
- FPM. FreeHosting includes FastCGI Process Manager (FPM) which provides resident PHP processes for each user, reducing startup delay on PHP processes.
- One time paid add-ons. FreeHosting doesn’t demand subscription payments for more functionality like other hosts. A single payment gives you permanent access to features like automated cron jobs for WordPress, CGI binaries, and more.
- Ads-free website. FreeHosting doesn’t display ads on your website.
- Own domain hosting. If you have a registered domain, you can connect it to your FreeHosting account.
Cons
- No PHP version control. You cannot customize your PHP configuration on FreeHosting’s free servers.
- No advanced security tools. FreeHosting doesn’t offer free SSL certificates or advanced malware protection options.
- Slower server-side resources. FreeHosting’s Apache-based servers and regular SSD storage (as opposed to NVMe storage) could make your site over 10 times slower.
Our full review of FreeHosting has more on features and support.
| PHP version | PHP 5.6 – 8.4 |
|---|---|
| Developer-friendly support | SSH access and cron job (paid add-ons) |
| Databases supported | MySQL |
| Starting price | $0 |
5. AwardSpace: Best for Multiple Free Websites
AwardSpace is the only free host that allows you to host up to four free sites without updating to a paid plan. It also comes with a 100% ad-free guarantee, a 5,00 monthly visit limit, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
You can add up to three free subdomains on the free plan, and you get full access to AwardSpace’s proprietary control panel. You get the option of three different CMSs for install: WordPress, Joomla, and GRAV. If you need some assistance, AwardSpace is one of the few free hosts to offer 24/7 customer support.
| Best for | Not for |
|---|---|
| ✅ Test websites ✅ Static sites with minor PHP includes |
❌ Latest PHP versions ❌ Email apps |
Pros
- Essential PHP/MySQL combo included. The free plan includes 1 MySQL database, full PHP support, and phpMyAdmin, making it functionally complete for basic database-driven applications.
- Web-based file manager & FTP. You get FTP access and a decent web-based file manager, making it easy to upload your .php files and manage your directory structure.
- Server clustered hosting. Even on the free tier, AwardSpace uses an advanced clustered server network, which slightly improves uptime compared to single-server free hosts (guaranteeing 99.9% uptime).
- 24/7 free support. AwardSpace offers 24/7 real-time support even to free accounts.
- SPAM/virus protection. AwardSpace runs the ClamAV antivirus directly on its environments, protecting users from virus attacks and spam.
Cons
- Disabled PHP functions. To maintain server security and prevent abuse (like spamming), highly utilized PHP functions like mail are often heavily restricted or completely disabled on the free tier.
- Slow execution times. Even among other free shared hosts, AwardSpace can be exceptionally slow to execute PHP scripts.
- Lacking paid plans. AwardSpace’s paid upgrades are priced on a monthly basis, not a one-time payment like GoogieHost, what’s more, the paid plans are still too limited for complex applications.
Don’t forget to check out our in-depth AwardSpace review.
| PHP version | PHP 5.3 – 8.4 |
|---|---|
| Developer-friendly support | Customizable dashboard, custom CMS installer, and web-based file manager |
| Databases supported | MySQL and PostgreSQL |
| Starting price | $0 |
6. InfinityFree: Free Sites with High-Resolution Media
InfinityFree offers a generous 5 GB of storage on its free plan. You can add up to 50 subdomains to your site, and get full .htaccess support.
InfinityFree doesn’t allow you to choose your PHP version, but it provides one of the latest PHP versions by default. If you need to upgrade, you can quickly sign up for an iFastNet premium plan with no downtime.
| Best for | Not for |
|---|---|
| ✅ Hobbyists testing open-source scripts ✅ Free blogs with high-resolution media |
❌ High-traffic applications ❌ Users who need Cron Jobs |
Pros
- Latest PHP versions. Despite not allowing PHP version selection on its free plan, InfinityFree does try to keep up with the latest PHP versions so it should be fairly secure.
- Free SERP-friendly subdomains. InfinityFree offers free subdomains from a selection of generic, SERP-friendly subdomain extension options like ct.ws, fwh.is, and rf.gd.
- Free website builder. InfinityFree offers a free version of Site.pro to help you build a code-free website.
- Cheap paid plans. InfinityFree’s paid plans (from iFastNet) come at low monthly prices.
- Abundant MySQL databases. InfinityFree allows up to 400 MySQL databases, that’s plenty for modern PHP applications.
Cons
- No SSH or terminal access. Developers cannot access the command line. This means you cannot use WP-CLI, Git deployments, or PHP dependency managers like Composer directly on the server.
- Restrictive inode limits. InfinityFree has a strict limit of 80,000 inodes per account.
- No integrated email hosting. InfinityFree doesn’t offer integrated email hosting options for free.
Is InfinityFree right for your project? Read our review for more.
| PHP version | PHP 8.3 (more on paid options) |
|---|---|
| Developer-friendly support | .htaccess |
| Databases supported | MySQL and MariaDB |
| Starting price | $0 |
Other Notable PHP Hosts With Free Trials
While these hosts don’t offer free PHP hosting, they offer free trials or money-back guarantee periods which you can use to decide if it’s worth it to go for a longer-term solution. Some of these hosts offer additional developer resources, more customization, and further upgrade paths for PHP applications.
7. Kamatera
Kamatera offers a generous 30-day free cloud VPS trial, providing developers with complete root access to build highly customized PHP environments. You can instantly deploy specific PHP versions, necessary extensions, and your preferred web server stack like Nginx or Apache.
Its unique pay-per-usage model ensures that you only pay for the resources you use, so you won’t get charged any extras if you decide to cancel your service.
Kamatera features a highly scalable infrastructure, allowing developers to instantly allocate additional CPU and RAM to handle sudden web traffic surges. Once the free period concludes, its flexible pay-as-you-go billing model ensures you only pay for the exact compute resources your PHP applications consume.
Pros
- Highly customizable. Kamatera offers complete customization over your server configuration.
- Generous 30-day free trial. Offers a full month (up to $100 credit) to test enterprise-grade cloud servers at zero cost.
- High performance. Dedicated cloud resources ensure consistently blazing-fast execution speeds for demanding PHP applications.
Cons
- Steep learning curve. Servers are unmanaged, meaning you need technical system administration skills to set up, optimize, and secure your PHP environment.
- No free extras. Kamatera doesn’t offer free SSL certificates, domains, or backups.
- Credit card required. You must provide valid billing details upfront just to create an account and access the free trial.
8. InterServer
InterServer offers a price-lock guarantee on all plans above its standard web hosting. This means that unlike other hosts that increase your monthly subscription after your first renewal period, InterServer’s prices remain fixed for as long as you use the service.
InterServer also offers unlimited storage and bandwidth even on entry-level plans, which allows you to deploy larger applications without spending a ton of money. You also get detailed PHP analytics regarding your utilization and your site’s traffic.
Pros
- Unlimited resources on starter plans. You get unlimited storage and bandwidth on all entry-level plans.
- Price-lock guarantee. The ASP.net plans and above have no price increase after the first billing period.
- Easy cPanel installation. You can connect a cPanel licence to your server with ease.
Cons
- No datacenters outside of the US. InterServer only offers US-based datacenters, potentially slowing down the performance of worldwide sites.
- Few extras. InterServer doesn’t offer extras like proprietary plugins or control panels.
- No price lock on standard web hosting. InterServer’s most affordable plan is the only one that doesn’t offer a price-lock guarantee.
9. Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers a 12-month Free Tier that provides developers with robust, enterprise-grade cloud computing resources for PHP deployment. Through services like Amazon EC2 or AWS Elastic Beanstalk, you can seamlessly deploy scalable virtual servers customized with your exact preferred PHP version and web stack.
Thanks to its massive, global selection of servers, AWS delivers excellent performance and uptime worldwide. It also offers auto-scaling capabilities, ensuring your PHP applications efficiently handle unexpected traffic surges without performance bottlenecks.
Pros
- 12-Month free tier. AWS offers a full year of free access to a micro EC2 instance, making it excellent for long-term development and testing of PHP apps.
- Flexible deployment. You can run PHP exactly how you want, whether on a raw server (EC2) or via an easier platform-as-a-service (Elastic Beanstalk).
- Enterprise reliability. Provides industry-leading uptime, security, and global infrastructure for your projects.
Cons
- Very complex. The ecosystem and intricate dashboard can be intimidating for beginners.
- Risk of hidden fees. Free tier limits are strictly enforced (e.g., bandwidth limits); exceeding them will result in unexpected automated charges.
- Free tier expires. Compute resources (EC2) are only free for the first year, meaning it is not a permanent solution for zero-cost hosting.
10. DigitalOcean
Though DigitalOcean isn’t free, it provides new users with a 60-day free-trial and up to $200 in credits. Developers can choose between deploying custom Linux Droplets with full root access or utilizing the fully managed App Platform to automate parts of their deployment.
DigitalOcean also has a forever-free Free Tier that supports up to 3 apps with static sites, plus up to 1 GiB bandwidth per static site and a free domain connection. It also throws in DDoS mitigation and a global CDN.
Pros
- Massive trial credit. Highly generous 60-day, $200 free credit, allowing you to deploy high-spec servers for your PHP apps at zero initial cost.
- Extensive documentation. Some of the best tutorials on the web, making it incredibly easy to learn how to set up a LAMP or LEMP stack from scratch.
- Developer-friendly dashboard. Features a clean, intuitive interface that makes launching “Droplets” (cloud servers) and deploying code a fast, frustration-free experience.
Cons
- Strictly a trial. There is no “always-free” compute tier; once your 60 days are up or the credit is spent, you will be billed to keep your PHP site live.
- Unmanaged servers. Droplets are bare-bones, meaning you are completely responsible for your own PHP updates, system security, and web server configuration.
- Payment method required. You must link a valid credit card or make an upfront PayPal deposit to verify your identity before accessing the free promo credit.
Be Aware of the Limits of Free PHP Hosting Service Plans
Hostinger is my top recommendation for low-cost, long-term, high-quality PHP hosting. It also offers affordable plans that remain somewhat budget-friendly on renewal.
For a fully-free alternative, go with GoogieHost. It’s user-friendly and offers updated versions of PHP. It’s also completely ad-free, so you won’t have to worry about the content of your site.
If you want more deployment-friendly features, consider IONOS. It supports multiple versions of PHP and has lots of great security features, which help to keep your site secure and ready for visitors.
| Standout feature | Caching | Latest PHP version | Starting price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoogieHost | Ad-free hosting and free SSL | LiteSpeed cache plugins | 8.5 | $0 | |
| Hostinger | Excellent performance on budget plans | LiteSpeed cache plugins | 8.4 | $2.49 | |
| IONOS | Plans with unlimited resources and strong security | Full page caching | 8.3 | $1.00 | |
| FreeHosting | Free cPanel with Softaculous and optional paid add-ons | ✘ | 8.4 | $0 | |
| AwardSpace | Free 24/7 support and 99.9% uptime guarantee | Free cache plugins | 8.4 | $0 | |
| InfinityFree | Connect a custom domain or choose a subdomain for free | ✘ | 8.3 | $0 |
