10 Best Free PHP Web Hosts (Secure + Fast) for 2025

The best things in life are free, but they should also come with no strings attached. Unfortunately, this is the case for freePHP web hosting. You’ll find many services offering free PHP hosting. However, in most cases, you are much better off choosing an almost free hosting provider that provides additional functional features in its paid plans.

Free hosting providers often rely on other ways to make money. This may result in a lack of customer support or incurring add-on costs for features that you really need. The host could also force you to display ads on your site or resell your personal information to third parties. Worse still, free plans may lack updated security or the latest PHP versions, affecting your website’s safety and function.

For a very small investment, you can avoid these issues with an affordable web hosting provider. There are many to choose from so to help you decide, I’ve tested dozens of free and paid PHP web hosts to find the best providers. I found some decent free hosts, but my #1 recommendation is Hostinger. Its super affordable plans support multiple PHP versions while providing impressive performance and features.

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. Up-to-date security is important for all websites. A combination of firewalls, antivirus, and anti-malware solutions will protect your website from DDoS attacks and secure your customers’ data. Regular backups are also important for data recovery and website restoration in the case of an attack.
• Latest PHP versions. Having the most recent version of PHP is important for better website security and performance. However, you may need to access other versions if you have an older site or multiple websites with different PHP versions. For this reason, I prioritized hosts with customizable settings and support for multiple PHP versions.
• Caching tools and optimized servers. Caching is vital for PHP performance as it stores static versions of pages of your website for your visitors, instead of building them each time someone visits. This speeds up your website loading speed and improves overall performance. I looked for hosts that offer caching solutions and optimized servers for the best performance.
• Value for money. Some free hosts offer very bare bones plans. That’s why I prioritized options with generous extras like free SSL certificates, a domain name, email accounts, and other useful features. However, do note that you’ll generally get better features (and performance) with paid hosts.
• No ads. Ad revenue is one of the top ways free hosts make money. These ads are displayed on your site, and you often have no control over the content of the ads. None of the web hosts on my list display ads on your website, including the free hosts.

1. Hostinger: Low-Cost PHP Hosting With All the Features You Need

While it’s not a free service, Hostinger offers discounts on affordable PHP hosting starting from $2.49 per month for up to four years, and pricing remains low on renewal. It supports multiple versions of PHP, which is important if you need to support web pages running on a legacy version of PHP. Of course, you’ll also get access to the most up-to-date PHP version, which is vital for security and stable performance.

Caching is a default setting on Hostinger’s LiteSpeed web server and it offers free LSCache plugins for a range of PHP-based content management systems (CMS). In my opinion, these features offer excellent value because they improve visitor experience and website speed.

Additionally, there’s a range of other awesome features that improve your website performance and offer real value for the cost. Hostinger serves web content fast and includes generous storage and bandwidth – even on the basic plan. For developers, Hostinger offers useful features like SSH and Git access, phpMyAdmin, cron jobs, and more.

Features

• Multiple CMSs support. Hostinger has optimized servers and one-click installation for a number of PHP-based CMSs, including Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress.
• Proprietary control panel. Hostinger’s hPanel has a minimalist design and intuitive interface to make managing your hosting easy.
• Superb performance. In our tests, Hostinger posted impressively fast loading times and superior reliability – especially when compared to the free and budget hosts we tried.
• Generous freebies. 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.

Read our expert Hostinger review for more on performance.

2. IONOS: Older PHP Versions Supported at a Low Cost

IONOS offers PHP 4.0 to the most recent version as part of its PHP Extended Support service. Normally, PHP versions have a four-year life span for updates and patches. For example, support for PHP 8.0 ended in November 2023. As part of IONOS’ PHP Extended Support service, you get critical security checks and updates for versions that are no longer offered by the PHP community.

In addition to its PHP support, IONOS also has low-cost plans and generous discounts starting from $1.00/month for the first year of a Plus plan. This plan includes unlimited storage and websites. You can also try out IONOS’ Deploy Now plans for static sites and single page apps. Its Membership Plan is free for your first month and includes support for PHP frameworks like Symfony and Laravel.   

While there are generous discounts, IONOS’ hosting prices do increase after the one-year promotional period. Support also isn’t the most helpful for beginners. Still, it’s a good fit If you need full PHP support but don’t want to spend a lot of money upfront.

Features

• Uptime guarantee. IONOS offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee and achieved 100% in our independent tests.
• 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.
• Stellar security. IONOS offers enhanced data, website, and email protection, including a DDoS shield and malware scanning with all plans.
• $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.

For more on PHP hosting, check out our expert IONOS review.

3. GoogieHost: 100% Forever-Free LiteSpeed PHP Hosting With No Ads

Not to be confused with Google, GoogieHost is a free PHP web hosting provider that uses LiteSpeed Web Servers for fast performance (the same servers used by Hostinger, in fact). GoogieHost supports multiple recent versions of PHP and doesn’t impose any limits on PHP memory.

One of GoogieHost’s biggest advantages is that it won’t post ads to your website. Another is that you don’t need to link a card to access your free hosting service. Googiehost also has a 99% uptime guarantee, though as with other free plans, it doesn’t come with any service credits if that target isn’t met. You should also consider that since it’s a free service, you may have to wait longer for activation than you would with a paid provider.

The host also offers Lifetime hosting plans that require a one-time payment. You’ll want to consider these if GoogieHost’s 1 GB of storage and 100 GB of bandwidth on its free plan isn’t enough. However, I find that GoogieHost’s security features are limited. You can get a free SSL certificate and malware protection, but you’ll get better security options from other web hosts.

Features

• Impressive speed. If you’re using WordPress, you can take advantage of the LiteSpeed Cache (LSCWP) plugin included in the Lifetime plans. This plugin boosts your site’s loading speeds.
• Cloudflare CDN. The free plan comes with access to Cloudflare’s content delivery network. This will help your site to load faster for international visitors and offer some extra security.
• Free subdomain. The free plan offers subdomains with short, anonymous, and SERP-friendly extensions like “cu.ma,” “c1.is,” and “thats.im.” You can connect your own domain name if you have one.
• Control panel. The free plan lets you choose between the DirectAdmin control panel or GoogieHost panel. With DirectAdmin, you can easily install WordPress with the Softaculous installer.

Read our Googiehost review to see if it’s right for you.

4. FreeHosting: Free cPanel and PHP Support

FreeHosting, like the name suggests, offers free PHP hosting. While some features are limited, it does offer nice perks like unlimited bandwidth, cPanel control panel (with Softaculous), and a 100% ad-free experience.

As with many other free hosts, site uptime is not a guarantee and loading speeds can be slow. There are also add-ons that most hosts include for free, like SSL certificates, domain connection, and SSH access. Freehosting has paid packages, but I’d recommend the low-cost plans from Hostinger for better performance and value for your money.

Still, FreeHosting offers 10 GB storage, unmetered bandwidth, and a premium cPanel control panel, which is more than most free hosts. Just remember that if you opt for the free plan, you’ll still have to pay to register your own domain name and FreeHosting doesn’t offer free subdomains.

Features

• Automatic app installation. The free plan includes cPanel with Softaculous installer, which lets you easily install hundreds of apps with one click.
• Low-cost premium features. A variety of features can be purchased with a one-time fee, like SSH, subdomains, SSL, PHP mail, additional MySQL databases, and more. It’s important to mention that if you pay for all of these features, you’ll get more value for your money from a paid plan.
• No ads. FreeHosting is 100% ad-free so you don’t have to worry about unwanted ads on your website.
• Free resources. A free email account and user-friendly website builder are other nice-to-have inclusions.

See our expert review to learn more about FreeHosting.

5. AwardSpace: Free PHP Hosting Plan Includes 24/7 Support

AwardSpace has free and paid premium plans. While it supports multiple versions of PHP, it can be slow to include the newest versions. The free plan offers a one-click installer for three different CMSs: WordPress, Joomla, and GRAV, but you can manually add others.

AwardSpace’s free hosting plans are a good option for beginners or anyone wanting to test a new website idea. However, it doesn’t offer the performance and reliability needed for a more professional site. The paid hosting plans have better features than the free ones, but the costs are much higher than my top-rated PHP hosting provider, Hostinger.

AwardSpace offers 24/7 customer support, which is unusual for a free web host, but the response times may be slow. Free users also get 1 GB of storage and 5 GB of bandwidth, and more is available on the paid hosting plans.

Features

• No ads. AwardSpace does not automatically install unwanted ads on your website.
• Proprietary control panel. The control panel is easy to use and has the Zacky website builder, with lots of themes to get your website ready in minutes. You can install WordPress or Joomla in less than 5 minutes.
• Host multiple subdomains. The free plan supports 1 main website (domain not included) and up to 3 free subdomains.
• Firewall protection. The free plan comes with automatic firewall protection – an important security feature for protecting your website.

For more pros and cons, check out our in-depth AwardSpace review.

6. InfinityFree: Ad-Free Hosting With the Latest PHP Versions

If you’re looking for a forever-free and no-card-required PHP host, InfinityFree fits the bill. This host offers a decent amount of features, including an SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth, and cPanel hosting. Like AwardSpace, InfinityFree will also let you add a domain or use up to 50 subdomains. The best part is that you get all this for free – and InfinityFree won’t show ads on your site.

InfinityFree offers a truly free hosting experience. The only real limitation is the 5 GB of storage and you won’t get to choose your PHP version (it’s currently 8.2). There’s also an uptime guarantee of 99.9% (no SLA though) that InfinityFree struggles to meet.

Features

• 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. Free hosting with a paid domain kind of defeats the purpose. With InfinityFree, you get free subdomains, and you can select from various generic, SERP-friendly subdomain extension options like ct.ws, fwh.is, and rf.gd.
• Domain connection. InfinityFree not only welcomes external domains but will also connect it for free.
• Free website builder. InfinityFree offers a free version of Site.pro to help you build a code-free website. While Site.pro is not the most comprehensive site builder on the market, you can choose from 200+ templates to get your website started.

Is InfinityFree right for your project? Read our review for more.

Other Notable PHP Hosts With Free Trials

7. Kamatera

For high-resource PHP projects, I’d definitely recommend Kamatera. While it doesn’t offer a free plan, it has a generous 30-day free trial with a $100 credit. Aside from the credit, there are no other limitations on your setup and your server is completely customizable. Kamatera also has an impressive selection of over 20 global data centers across most continents, and you’ll be able to choose your data center during your free trial.

There are two ways to pay for your services: per usage or monthly. If you’re familiar with server setups, you can stand to save a lot. Keep in mind that if you exceed the $100 limit during the 30-day trial period, you’ll have to pay the difference.

8. DigitalOcean

Taking a page out of Kamatera’s generous trial, DigitalOcean offers a 60-day free trial with a $200 credit. Sure, you’re limited to its Basic Droplets (maximum 10) with shared resources and have to add your card details – but it’s still not a bad offer for what you can do, as long as you can stay within limitations. This trial is not nearly as powerful as Kamatera’s trial, but it’s perfect if you want to build a low traffic site or blog.

DigitalOcean also has 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. DigitalOcean also throws in DDoS mitigation and a global CDN.

9. InterServer

InterServer offers an intriguing trial. Though it’s not entirely free, you’ll only need to pay a single cent for your first month. The trial is available for its VPS service (Linux, 1 core), after which standard rates will apply. While there’s a price jump, VPS plans still remain very affordable. If you’re unhappy with the service, you can cancel during the 30-day trial period.

As far as PHP hosting goes, InterServer supports the latest 8.3 version and a variety of PHP apps, including php.JS, phpwcms, FuelPHP, CakePHP, and more. You can install any of these on InterServer’s unlimited shared hosting plan, which also comes with a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee. Unlike the other hosts on my list, though, InterServer’s web hosting plan lacks some free features like backups and a domain name.

10. Amazon Web Services (AWS)

If you’re a developer, Amazon’s Free Tier is worth exploring. A Free Tier membership includes free trials of EC2 cloud hosting (1 year) and Lightsail VPS hosting (90 days), as well as forever-free hosting on a serverless Lambda setup. While Lambda doesn’t natively support PHP, you can use a custom or third-party solution to run PHP and other programming languages.

AWS also offers its own Lambda runtime API that allows you to run PHP. You’re limited to 400,000 GB-seconds or 3.2 million seconds per month (there are around 2,628,288 seconds in a typical month). However, if you’re new to hosting, coding, or server setup, this highly technical platform may not be the best fit.

Choose a PHP Provider Based on Your Needs and Be Aware of the Limits of Free Plans

The best PHP hosting provider is the one that meets all of your requirements. Personal projects and prototypes can be refined with free plans. If you want to reliably meet the needs of your audience, there are some real benefits to choosing a low-cost provider over a truly free plan.

For the best low-cost, long-term PHP host, Hostinger is my top recommendation. It has very affordable plans that remain budget-friendly on renewal, plus it offers many premium features. Best of all, Hostinger’s LiteSpeed servers and LSCache plugins offer top performance for PHP-dependent sites.

If you want unlimited resources, 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.

On the other hand, if you want a truly free PHP hosting provider, 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.

FAQ

Which is the best free PHP web hosting provider?

My top free recommendation is GoogieHost, as it has good performance and doesn’t force ads on your website. However, I suggest selecting an affordable PHP web host like Hostinger because it has better performance and reliability.

Should I pay for PHP web hosting?

While there are some decent free PHP web hosts, there are also worthwhile low-cost alternatives. If you’re a hobbyist or dipping your toes into hosting, then a free web host is perfectly fine. But if you have an e-commerce or business website, you’ll definitely want a paid plan. Hostinger is a top-quality but low-cost PHP host with lots of features to enhance your website presence and performance.

Is it important for my web host to support multiple versions of PHP?

Yes. PHP is updated regularly and having the most recent version is crucial for improving your website performance and security. That said, access to older versions can be beneficial. Having the option to change the version of PHP you are using may be important if you have an older website or multiple websites using different versions of PHP. IONOS supports multiple PHP versions and offers PHP Extended Support for older versions.

Does it matter which PHP hosting provider I choose?

Yes, it does. Many of the best PHP web hosts in 2025 offer very similar features and services but some will have a better combination to meet your needs. Key factors to consider beyond cost are uptime, support for the most recent PHP versions, and other important features like strong security.