10 Best Free Web Hosting With cPanel in 2024

As much as the promise of a “free” hosting service is attractive, free hosts rarely deliver the best quality. Even the best free hosts have to cut corners somewhere, which can have a noticeable effect on your site. When you also consider that cPanel is a premium control panel with its own licensing fees, it can become a challenge to find reliable free hosting that also includes cPanel for free.

But while they can be hard to find, some free hosting providers with cPanel do offer worthwhile features for small projects. After testing the most popular free hosting services, I ended up with a list of ten hosts that provide the quality needed for an effective website.

There are free options on this list but I also included hosts that are so affordable they’re almost free. That’s because many free options are too limited for me to recommend in good conscience. They can’t meet the needs of a functional website and some are even potential scams.

My top recommendation is Hostinger, which not only offers cPanel hosting but also delivers outstanding performance scores for a very low price. You can try Hostinger for free with its 30-day free trial or keep reading to discover more free hosts with cPanel.

What We Look For in the Best Free Web Hosting With cPanel

To find the best free web hosting services with cPanel, I focused on features that any excellent free hosting provider should have.

• cPanel options. Naturally, the best free hosting with cPanel should involve cPanel. All of the hosts on this list either offer cPanel hosting by default, or have cPanel as an option in addition to their own easy-to-use control panels.
• Free or extremely affordable plans. Hosting shouldn’t break the bank, so I looked for services offering free plans, free trials, or truly affordable options. This ensures you can start your online presence without significant upfront costs.
• Reliable security. Robust security features are crucial to protect your website and data. While free hosting may not necessarily offer the best security features, I still looked for hosts that offer sound security measures such as SSL certificates, firewalls, and regular backups to keep your site safe.
• Excellent performance. A fast-loading website improves user experience and your search engine ranking. I focused on hosts that offer great uptime and page loading speeds, ensuring your visitors have a smooth browsing experience.

1. Hostinger: A Cheap cPanel Hosting Option With a User-Friendly Control Panel Alternative1

Hostinger stands out for its budget-friendly hosting plans that deliver solid performance. Hostinger is very affordable, with a starting price of $2.99/month – and the first 3 months are free. cPanel plans are even slightly cheaper than this and include premium features like NVMe SSD storage, 1 TB of bandwidth, automatic backups, and 24/7 support. You can host up to 50 websites on the cheapest plan.

You’re probably looking for cPanel hosting due to its flexibility, strong security features, and ease of use. While you can get all of that with Hostinger’s cPanel hosting plans, you could also opt for Hostinger’s proprietary hosting panel, hPanel. hPanel lets you do everything you can do with cPanel while providing a much more intuitive and less cluttered interface.

Hostinger also stands out for delivering performance on a budget. In our independent tests, Hostinger delivered some of the best performance scores for shared hosting while remaining significantly more affordable than the competition.

Features

• cPanel plans with premium security. Hostinger offers two dedicated cPanel plans that cover all bases. You’ll get Imunify360 to prevent malware attacks, Jetbackup for reliable site backups, and Cloudlinux CageFS for site isolation.
• LiteSpeed optimizations for WordPress. Hostinger’s LiteSpeed server technology ensures fast loading times and improved performance for WordPress sites.
• Free domain and privacy. Not only do paid plans come with a free domain for a year, but domain privacy is also included for free. Many hosts offer free domains but charge extra to shield your identity from the publicly accessible domain database.
• 30-day money-back guarantee. Hostinger provides a 30-day money-back guarantee on all paid plans, allowing you to try its services risk-free.

Take a look at our Hostinger review to learn more about its plans.

2. InterServer: cPanel Hosting With Unlimited Resources and a Worthwhile Monthly Plan1

Starting at $2.50 per month, InterServer’s hosting plans are highly affordable – and unlike most hosting providers, InterServer doesn’t charge you more for paying monthly instead of prepaying for a longer billing cycle. That means that you don’t have to make a long-term commitment to get the best pricing for your hosting.

You also get a ton of value-added features across all plans. This includes unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts, making it ideal for scaling your website on a budget. You can also get a free website migration service and free SSL certificates. Our tests have shown that InterServer has strong performance in the US, so even the cheapest plan has a lot of value.

While InterServer offers plans with cPanel, it also provides DirectAdmin as an alternate control panel. DirectAdmin is the default for the shared hosting plans, but you can buy a dedicated cPanel hosting plan with the same features. cPanel has a better user interface, while DirectAdmin is lighter on your disk space.

Features

• Inter-Proxy Caching. InterServer’s Inter-Proxy caching improves your website’s speed by storing frequently accessed data. This feature reduces server load and enhances user experience.
• Free security suite. The InterShield security suite protects your website from threats with malware scanning, a firewall, and DDoS protection. It’s included in all plans.
• Free malware clean-up. All web hosting plans come with Inter-Insurance. In case of a security breach, this service provides automatic recovery and restoration.
• Free CDN available. InterServer includes a free CDN to speed up your website by distributing content globally. This reduces latency and ensures fast loading times for visitors worldwide.

For more on performance, read our in-depth InterServer review.

3. A2 Hosting: Budget Plans With Free cPanel1

A2 Hosting includes cPanel with all shared web hosting plans, and you can add more cPanel licenses if needed. Though it doesn’t offer a free plan, it does provide a 30-day money-back guarantee, which ensures that you can try its services without a long-term commitment.

If your website becomes more successful and you want to scale up, cPanel is also available for free for managed VPS and managed dedicated server hosting plans. This variety makes A2 Hosting a versatile choice whether you are running a small blog or a high-traffic e-commerce site.

A2 Hosting is also notable for its impressive security features. All hosting plans include proactive security measures like security patches, automatic updates, and comprehensive protection against malware. This helps to keep your website secure without requiring too much management on your end so you can focus on growing your business.

Features

• “Turbo” plans. A2 Hosting’s Turbo Servers (with advanced caching features) offer a lot better performance compared to its standard hosting. The Turbo plans hit a sweet spot: while pricier than A2 Hosting’s standard plans, they cost much less than comparable options from other hosts.
• A2 Optimized. All plans include A2 Optimized software, which configures your software for speed and security, including application-specific enhancements for Joomla, WordPress, PrestaShop, Magento, and more. This ensures your site runs efficiently and remains secure without manual adjustments on your part.
• Easy site migration. A2 Hosting provides free and easy site migration, simplifying the transfer of your website from another host. Expert support is available to ensure a seamless transition.
• FutureServe Green Hosting. A2 Hosting’s FutureServe Green Hosting initiative offsets its carbon footprint, promoting environmentally friendly web hosting.

To learn more about Turbo plans, see our expert A2 Hosting review.

4. GoogieHost: Completely Free Hosting With cPanel for Beginners1

GoogieHost offers forever-free cPanel hosting, ideal for small projects, test websites/applications, or beginners who want an easy way to start a website. Although it has limited resources with only 1 GB SSD storage and 100 GB bandwidth, it’s enough for a small static website, landing page, or blog. The free plan also includes an SSL certificate, enhancing your site’s security.

GoogieHost also throws in a no-code website builder and a WordPress manager to make building and managing your website as easy as possible. You also get Cloudflare protection, which secures your site from DDoS attacks.

What’s more, GoogieHost does not display ads on your website and allows unlimited subdomains. This is a significant advantage over many free hosting services that require ad placement. Just note that GoogieHost may not provide the level of performance that you’ll want if you intend to use your website to promote yourself or your business.

Features

• Extremely cheap paid plan. If you do need more resources, GoogieHost offers a single paid plan at a very low price, which gives you access to unlimited resources, WordPress acceleration, and 100 business emails.
• FTP accounts and MySQL databases. The free plan has access to 2 FTP accounts and 2 MySQL databases. It’s perfect for using this as a testing ground if you’re starting to get into web development.
• Online file manager. The online file manager feature lets you easily manage your website files from your browser. It’s a convenient tool for quick edits and updates.
• Hotlink protection features. GoogieHost includes hotlink protection to prevent other sites from using your bandwidth by linking directly to your files. This ensures better performance and resource management.

Check out our in-depth review of GoogieHost for more information.

5. FreeHosting: Free cPanel Hosting With Basic Features1

FreeHosting offers a completely free cPanel hosting plan, making it a practical choice if you’re just starting out or want to build a lightweight website. On the downside, it doesn’t include a free domain name or subdomains. That means you’ll either need to buy a domain from FreeHosting or use one you’ve purchased elsewhere. Also, getting basic site protection with SSL will cost you extra.

FreeHosting’s plan offers 10 GB of SSD storage, one free email account, and one free MySQL database. While it’s not a lot, it’s a good starting point if you’re just experimenting with web design or development. On the other hand, FreeHosting’s lackluster performance and overall limitations mean that if you have a long-term project in mind, you’ll probably want another hosting provider.

Features

• One-time paid add-ons. FreeHosting offers one-time paid add-ons, allowing you to enhance your hosting plan with extra features as needed without recurring fees.
• 400+ app installation. With over 400 apps available for installation, including PrestaShop, phpBB, and WordPress, FreeHosting makes it easy to add functionality to your site.
• Complete Apache and PHP options. FreeHosting provides comprehensive Apache and PHP options, giving you full control over your server environment.
• Built-in site builder. The built-in site builder feature helps you create a professional-looking website without needing to code. Its user-friendly interface and templates make website creation quick and easy.

Our full review of FreeHosting has more on features and support.

6. Kamatera: cPanel Hosting With Usage-Based Pricing and Scalable Resources1

Kamatera offers fully customizable cloud hosting solutions with a unique pay-per-usage billing model. This means you can adjust your resources independently to get exactly as much storage, RAM, and CPU as you need (and only pay for what you use). This is ideal for websites or applications with fluctuating demands, as you can scale your server resources up or down with ease​.

Kamatera’s platform supports a wide range of server images, including those with pre-installed applications and control panels like cPanel. Its robust infrastructure also ensures high performance and reliability, with features such as load balancers, built-in firewalls, and disaster recovery options.

This comprehensive suite of tools and services makes Kamatera a well-rounded choice if you need customizable and scalable cloud hosting​. However, its power and customizability also makes it less suitable for beginners. It’s a decent option if you have a lot of web development experience and want to run a side project without investing too much capital.

Features

• Hourly-based billing. With Kamatera’s hourly-based billing, you only pay for the resources you use. This flexibility helps you manage costs efficiently, especially for short-term projects or variable workloads.
• Great variety of OS options. Kamatera offers a large selection of server operating systems, including various Linux distributions and Windows.
• Load-balancing technology. Kamatera’s load-balancing technology ensures optimal performance by distributing traffic across multiple servers.
• Worldwide data centers. With 21 data centers located globally, Kamatera provides low-latency connections and fast load times for users around the world.

Take a look at our in-depth Kamatera review for more.

Other Notable Free Web Hosts With cPanel

7. GreenGeeks1

GreenGeeks offers affordable hosting with a focus on eco-friendliness. Thanks to its implementation of wind power credits, efficient server technology, and cooperation with other agencies, GreenGeeks is a great hosting solution if you’re looking to minimize your environmental impact while enjoying reliable hosting services.

Beyond just being eco-friendly, GreenGeeks has proven to be a dependable hosting provider, with a 99.99% uptime guarantee and LiteSpeed server technology for consistent loading speeds. But since GreenGeeks’ storage capacity ranges from 50 GB to 150 GB, I don’t recommend this host for larger websites. Plus, while it provides good value for its prices, it’s not as much of a budget option as the other hosts on my list.

8. DigitalOcean1

DigitalOcean is ideal for developers that want the usability of cPanel but need a wide variety of advanced tools. It offers managed and unmanaged cloud hosting with excellent speeds and reliability. Thanks to features like scalable SSD storage and powerful API integrations, DigitalOcean provides a robust environment for building and maintaining complex applications.

On the downside, DigitalOcean is one of the more expensive services on this list, and it’s really meant for experienced users seeking custom solutions. But it does have a lot of freebies for new sign-ups – like hosting credits worth $100 or even $200 – that can keep the cost of a short-term project pretty low.

9. ScalaHosting1

ScalaHosting offers affordable shared web hosting plans and high-quality VPS plans. Whether you choose pre-built configurations or opt for fully customizable VPS setups, ScalaHosting delivers excellent performance. You can opt for cPanel, but its intuitive SPanel is an alternative that offers enhanced control in a very similar user-interface.

Overall, ScalaHosting’s great flexibility, scalable resources, and any-time money-back guarantee make it a good choice if you’re looking for something with a little more power. The only reason it’s not higher on my list is that its shared plans don’t stand out as much as its VPS plans.

10. InfinityFree1

InfinityFree offers completely free web hosting without ads, providing an attractive option for personal projects or small websites. You get 5 GB of storage and access to 400 MySQL databases, which is generous for a free service. InfinityFree also lets you use an unlimited number of free subdomains.

As far as free hosting goes, InfinityFree is pretty good. What sets it back are its upgrade options. Like 000webhost with Hostinger, InfinityFree is the free alternative to a premium option, iFastNet. While iFastNet is decent, I wouldn’t recommend it for its price – especially when compared to the other recommendations on my list. And it would be a pain to migrate to a different host if you want to scale things up.

Consider These Options for the Best Free Web Hosting With cPanel

While free hosting is often limited, there are some free hosts that do deliver decent quality for small projects. For the most part, good cPanel hosting options require paid plans, but you can still keep costs down with an affordable host. Many even come with money-back guarantee periods so you can test them without any risk.

My top recommendation is Hostinger1. Hostinger’s cheap plans offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, 99.9% uptime, and a free domain for the first year. You can get cPanel hosting for extremely discounted pricing when you sign up for a year or more.

InterServer is ideal if you need flexibility1. Its affordable monthly rates (with a price lock guarantee that means you’ll never pay more than what you signed up for) and unlimited resources make it a great choice that delivers high value for its low price.

If speed and security are crucial, A2 Hosting is for you1. It provides Turbo Boost servers for optimal performance, free site migration, and a 30-day money-back guarantee,

FAQ

What are the best free web hosting providers that offer cPanel?

If you’re looking for completely free hosting with cPanel, your best choice is GoogieHost. GoogieHost is trustworthy and offers more resources than most free hosts. However, if you need more resources or extra features, you should consider going with an almost-free service instead.

What limitations should I expect with free web hosting services?

The first thing you should keep in mind is that there are a lot of fraudulent free hosting services. Secondly, even the legitimate and trustworthy ones like 000webhost or GoogieHost offer very limited resources in terms of storage space, bandwidth, MySQL databases, and more. If you’re looking for affordable hosting without limitations, I recommend checking out InterServer instead.

Can I upgrade from free cPanel web hosting to a paid plan without losing my data?

That depends on your host. If you’re using the free version of a paid hosting service, then the upgrade process should be relatively easy. Even if not, most worthwhile paid hosting services offer free site migration, though it could take some time and involve a bit of extra work. If you’re planning on using a free service and want to know what you can expect, take a look at our top 10 best free web hosting services in 2024.

Is free cPanel hosting suitable for small business websites?

In general, free hosting is not suitable for business websites because these require better security, resources, and support than what free hosts can deliver. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find an affordable alternative though. If you’re looking for an affordable hosting option for your business, I recommend taking a look at our list of the best web hosting services in 2024.