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

Yann

How may I contact you?

Thanks,

Hi PurpMe,

You can contact me via my website - send me an email. See the link in my signature.

Regards,

Yann

Just to remind everyone the "main list" Yann refers to is at the beginning of this thread - just click to page 1 and scroll up.

A Small Orange no longer offers free - only discounts

issuestv

A Small Orange no longer offers free - only discounts

The company has confirmed to me again today that it is still offering nonprofits a free Small hosting plan or a 10% ongoing discount on any hosting plan.  Nonprofits can choose whatever option they prefer.

Mahalo Techsoup for this excellent list and Forum.  

We currently are using DREAMHOST and have had incredibly terrible issues with our Email services with them over the last 2 months.

Here is a blurb from their support forum on the issues we are having: 

Update April 20th, 2016 11:00AM PDT: Our admins started noticing that mail services tied to Sub-4 are having load issues tied to a specific filer acting up again today. We are currently noticing webmail, IMAP, and POP connectivity issues for all accounts tied to this cluster. We are aware of the specific issue, and are already taking steps to alleviate the problem. We are already in the process of offloading this cluster to help! The status post here has more information tied to the offload. More updates to come as we have them.

Update April 19th, 2016 8:00AM PDT: Our admins started noticing that mail services tied to Sub-4 are having load issues tied to a specific filer acting up again today. We are currently noticing webmail, IMAP, and POP connectivity issues for all accounts tied to this cluster. We are aware of the specific issue, and are already taking steps to alleviate the problem. We are already in the process of offloading this cluster to help! The status post here has more information tied to the offload. More updates to come as we have them.

Update March 25th, 2016 10:00AM PDT: We have continued to monitor this issue, and have noticed much better performance with this cluster over the past few days. We are going to resolve this issue now, as we have not seen any further issues with sub-4 during our monitoring since the 18th. Thank you again to all our customers for their continued patience while we worked out all these issues. If you are continuing to notice problems and are on Sub-4, chances are the issue might be something else and you should contact support for further assistance.

Update March 18th, 2016 6:40AM PDT: Sub4 is still looking good. We are, of course, continuing to monitor its activity. We will update this post again if anything changes.

Update March 17th, 2016 9:00AM PDT: Things are looking good this morning with sub4’s performance. Our teams are closely monitoring the cluster’s activity. We will be updating this post with updates on sub4’s status, if there is a change in performance. We thank you for your patience!

Improvements to mail service: Status update!

Posted (April 14th, 2016 at 3:45 pm PST) by chalise

Over the next month we will be moving a portion of the mailboxes currently hosted on one of our mail clusters, “homiemail-sub4,” to a new, less-populated cluster. If this affects you, we’ve already notified you via email.

If you did not receive a notice about the move, nothing will change for you …except for better mail performance overall!  We are re-balancing user distribution throughout our mail service, placing users on better hardware across the board. This will allow your email services to run much more efficiently!

We’re well on our way to changing mail services for the better for every DreamHost customer, and we can’t wait to get your feedback on the improvements!  Now just sit back, relax, and get ready for better email.

Thanks again for your patience while we’ve worked toward resolving this!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact support!

2 Responses to “Improvements to mail service: Status update!”

These issues had been going on much longer than their acknowledgment, and by their 04/14/16 post on their dreamhost.com support forum -  they admitted we would be experiencing issues for at least another month.  

So I was hoping I could ask around and see how services from grassroots.org have been for folks out there in 5013c land, and get some feedback, as I have used Bluehost.com in the past from SLC Utah, they are great, and if they share server clusters with grassroots.org, I would be most happy to make the switch, but wanted to check with anyone out there that may have feedback first.

Thanks again, and in advance.

Gerald Taber

Hi Gerald,

I'm sorry for the problems you've been experiencing with Dreamhost. Have you tried speaking to someone there directly about your ongoing situation? They might be able to investigate further or escalate your email situation so that it gets fixed sooner.

You didn't mention what hosting plan you currently have, but I'm assuming you're using Dreamhost's free hosting plan since you posted to this thread. Remember that it's not uncommon to experience bumps in the road when it comes to using a free web hosting service. These companies are providing you with their service at no cost. While most companies strive to ensure they provide all their customers with a reliable web hosting service, outages and hiccups will always happen at times for everyone, including paying customers. However, paying customers often get faster and more reliable technical support than free customers. Also, the available support options are sometimes more limited for people using free plans.

You always have the option to move to another provider. But before you do that I would encourage you to give Dreamhost a chance to work things out. See if you can speak with someone there (by phone or via chat) who can help you directly. Explain your situation, let them know that you're frustrated with how long you've experienced your email problem, and that you'd like to stay with them if they can work this out for you. I'm sure you're not the only one experiencing this issue. Sometimes it's all about who you speak with that can make all the difference. They might not be able to get things fixed immediately, but at least you'll know how responsive they are to your matter.

If you're still unhappy, I'd start exploring other providers. Bluehost might be a good choice for you. I'd also take a look at A Small Orange, who offers a free hosting plan for nonprofits (see my first post in this thread for details). Both companies have a good reputation, and they both serve many nonprofit customers.

Hope things work out for you.

Yann

Mahalo Yann for your good advice,

Dreamhost has posted on www.dreamhoststatus.com their plan to upgrade all the hardware, which I am sure by the server name includes our FREE services as well as other clients.  Its up and down right now as SPAM floods their servers, things bogg down, they manually have to clear almost daily, things flow again for awhile so I think for now we will wait it out.

Was wondering if anyone knew what services GMAIL or google provide for non-profits, I know of some FQHC's that had switched to Google/Gmail and have not had to pay for their services, does anyone here know of or use Googles GMAIL services and if they are still FREE for non profits?

Thank you,

Gerald

Hi Gerald,

There's a free program for nonprofits called Google for Nonprofits. You might want to check it out. One of the products it includes is Google Apps for Nonprofits, which you can use to set up and manage unlimited Gmail accounts for your organization. It gives you the ability to make Google/Gmail the email provider for your nonprofit, free of charge.

If you have other questions, I encourage you to start a new topic in the appropriate forum. Thanks!

Best,

Yann

I've used Google for Nonprofits with clients before and can attest to its high level of quality. The only suggestion I have is to give yourself some time in the beginning (a few weeks to a month) as it may take a little while to register, confirm eligibility, and migrate your current email to the new platform. Adding new team members and apps is a breeze.

For what it's worth, I'm happy to host nonprofit websites and email for free.

If you're interested, just email help @ roger rustad . com 

An email to that address will autogenerate a ticket, and then I'll follow up with you on what you need to do with your DNS, domain registrar, etc.

(I freely host about 10 different Wordpress sites for various small nonprofits.  I probably have another few hundred email addresses. Happy to do it if you're a nonprofit. ) 

It has come to my attention that Grassroots.org is sadly no longer in operation, and it appears that Bluehost no longer provides free hosting to nonprofits as a result of this.

I wonder how nonprofits that were currently using the free hosting plan with Bluehost are affected by this change. Please let us know if you're one of them.

TSO Host and Digital Shift have been added today. See the main list for details.

I'm pleased to start off 2017 with a new addition to the list, hosting provider MightWeb.

InterServer.net offers a free web hosting plan for nonprofits. I've added them to the main list today.