List of companies offering free Web hosting to 501(c)3 nonprofits and other charities [Updated September 2018]

While MyHosting.com provides free web hosting, I just noticed their free plan is not available for nonprofits at this time.  If you visit this page on their site, it says "Applications Closed".  For this reason I will not be adding this company to the list of free hosts above.

For a company to be included in the list, they must CURRENTLY offer a free web hosting plan for nonprofits/charities.

Hi Yann,

Our company,  Hood Web Management, offers free shared hosting plans to 501(c)3 organizations based in the Pacific Northwest. Full info can be found on our website at www.hoodwebmanagement.com/free-web-hosting-for-non-profits - we also offer discounted management services to these organizations if requested.

Thanks for your time,

-Kane Jamison

Hood Web Management
(206) 905-4053
info@hoodwebmanagement.com

Has anyone used any of these services for more than a year or two? I have yet to hear anyone have much confidence regarding Dreamhost. While free is great, having our website down at certain times can cost us a lot more than what we pay for decent web hosting. Our last service provider had horrible timing for their outages & they occurred too often. I'm using GoDaddy right now & I wouldn't mind jumping ship, but they've been very dependable.

"I'm using GoDaddy right now & I wouldn't mind jumping ship, but they've been very dependable. " I really can't say enough great things about HostGator. The pricing is excellent, the customer service is excellent (love the live chat), and given how techno-inept I am, it's been a great service for my web site. I've been with them for years. And unlike GoDaddy, their CEO has never gone elephant hunting.

I'm rather passionate about nonprofits NOT going with free web hosting - I won't repeat myself about why (it's easy to find my comments about such here).

I may have to give HostGator a try again. I had them in the past with a different company and they were pretty reliable. We ended up leaving them for a dedicated server at another company.

Didn't GoDaddy get bought out? Either way, it seems GoDaddy is always doing something that is upsetting Reddit users and causing them to attack GoDaddy.

It's true that paid web hosting offers several advantages over free hosting.  It's also true that using a free web host does not guarantee that you will receive reliable service or support when you need it.  The quality of service/support you receive can vary greatly depending on the hosting company.

That being said, I want to remind people to use this thread wisely.  There are many cash-strapped organizations out there that simply can't afford the cost of basic web hosting, so hopefully they'll find this thread useful.  Refer to this thread as a general list of companies that will offer your organization free web hosting services.  But please make sure you understand that my list of companies says nothing about the quality of the service or support you'll receive from any company mentioned here.  Again, this is just a list.

Please remember to do your research by taking the time to understand your own hosting needs.  I also recommend you read online reviews about these (and any) hosting companies, and then contact them directly to learn more.  You might discover that their free hosting plans do not meet your requirements in some way.  If this is the case, and you can afford to pay for a web host, choosing a suitable paid plan is probably your best option.

For UK you can even checkout WebHost UK  they offer free hosting for schools and charity websites.

As of April 2013, EZPZ no longer offers free hosting service. Just FYI.

Wow, this is exactly what I am looking for.  We, of course, have a great mission, but a small budget.  Being able to get our website up and running will be awesome.  Thanks for sharing this valuable information.

"FriendsandStars", really hoping you aren't going to go with a free web site - these sites are notorious for just suddenly going away, or for not giving you FULL control over your web site (being updated by you, whenever you want), and not letting you have your own custom URL *or* not allowing you to keep such if you move your site.

HostGator offers hosting for less than $5 a month. You can also buy a custom domain name through them. I use them, and I'm not in their affiliate program, so I'm not promoting them in return for any money at all - I'm recommending them because, in the many years I've been with them, I've had almost perfect customer service from them, their prices are reasonable, and the CEO has never killed an elephant for fun. 

And a personal opinion, entirely my own and in no way an official position of anyone who pays me: Stay away from GoDaddy - you don't want your nonprofit to be associated with a company that promotes such sexist images of women, that's run by a CEO that kills elephants for fun, and that supports SOPA.

Thanks Jayne, I was hoping on going for a free site, but will take you advice.  Would hate to get everything up and running and loose the valuable service overnight.  I thought about going to Grassroots.org   What do you think?

friendsandstars

Thanks Jayne, I was hoping on going for a free site, but will take you advice.  Would hate to get everything up and running and loose the valuable service overnight.  I thought about going to Grassroots.org   What do you think?

I can't comment about Grassroots, but maybe Jayne or others can give you feedback.

However, if you choose to go with paid hosting, I strongly recommend Hostgator.  I have a few clients hosting their sites with this company and they could not be happier.  Very reliable service and Hostgator's tech support is consistently outstanding: I deal with them on average every few months on behalf of client websites and to date they have never let me down once.  In addition, Hostgator's web hosting plans are very affordable as pointed out by Jayne, which makes them a very attractive option (especially for nonprofits).

To be safe, keep your web hosting service separate from your domain name: Company A is your web host and Company B is your domain name registration company.  Many web hosts will offer to register your domain name with them.  I never recommend using the same company for both services.  It's much safer to keep both services separate because this can avoid potential problems.  For example, if you ever get into some kind of dispute with your web host, your domain name might be held hostage should you decide to leave.  So it's best to use a different company for each service.

Couldn't agree with Jayne's last paragraph more.

And I couldn't agree with Yann's last paragraph more.

A new hosting provider (A Small Orange) has been added to the main list today.  Please refer to the main list for details.