Web hosting free trials give users a chance to experience the host first-hand before committing. It’s an essential aspect of the purchasing process that some web hosts somehow neglect.
This omission isn’t necessarily out of malice, but some hosting providers are just that confident in their product. Today I’d like to share some of the hosting providers that offer a free trial – or some variation of it that’s similar.
* Want more choices? We have tested and reviewed over 70 web hosting services in the past 20 years. See our Best Web Hosting Picks of the Year or the full list of our hosting reviews.
1. Cloudways – No Credit Card & Free $10
Try Cloudways for Free
No credit card is necessary to signup > try Cloudways now.
About Cloudways
Cloudways isn’t your typical Cloud hosting service provider. Instead of selling complex plans that take special training to manage, they are experts in ease of use. The Cloudways advantage lies in their management interface that allows superb control system of toggles and levers.
The broad range of platforms it works with means lots of choice in price and capabilities. Regardless of your choice, they all offer many advanced and useful features that make them suitable for most audiences.
Great performance aside, help is never far away if you need it, and they provide 24/6 one-to-one expert support. That means you’re free to focus on your business needs at all times instead of worrying about minor technical problems.
Learn more in our detailed Cloudways review.
Other Notable Features
One of the most notable features of Cloudways (aside from the management panel) is its team management capabilities. You can group team members on projects but also create various groups, each with varying objectives.
Alternative: Free $10 Credit with Coupon “WHSR10”
If you signup (with a credit card) to Cloudways using our exclusive coupon “WHSR10”, you'll get $10 credited into your account instantly. The lowest Cloudways plan costs $12 per month – so basically you can test them at (almost) zero risk for 30 days.
Signup and test Cloudways now
2. ScalaHosting – Anytime Money Back Guarantee
ScalaHosting Unlimited Free Trial
Pay for shared hosting via PayPal and cancel anytime > try ScalaHosting risk-free.
About ScalaHosting
ScalaHosting is a Bulgaria-based web hosting company that offers a robust lineup of hosting plans. Much of this is anchored around their motto of providing affordable VPS hosting to customers worldwide.
However, if you sign up for their shared hosting plans you can take advantage of their “anytime money-back guarantee.” There aren't many brands willing to offer this deal anymore. It's a good deal though, you can cancel at any time and get a refund on prepaid or unused web hosting subscriptions.
This host has always been one that helps customers take care of their wallets. Their in-house goodies like SPanel allow them to move away from expensive licensing fees and provide equal or better options.
Learn more in our detailed ScalaHosting review.
Other Notable Features
ScalaHosting offers real-time security and a dedicated plugin that helps you manage all your WordPress websites under one roof. Think of it as a one-click control center that simplifies the drudgery of keeping your installations updated.
3. Linode – $100 Credit 60-day Free Trial
Linode 60-Days Free Trial
$100 free credit for 60 days – credit card required > Click here to try now
About Linode Hosting
Linode is a privately-owned American company founded by Christopher Aker. It offers Cloud hosting and virtual private server services from multiple data centers in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Singapore.
They're on a mission is to make Cloud computing accessible. That means affordable prices and simplicity of control. On the backend, Linode offers fast hardware and network infrastructure. All of this is complemented with 24/7 customer support and a strong community via free Bootcamps, Guides, and Forums.
Being Cloud-based means you get highly granular control over every service used at Linode. From the processes you run to getting charged only for what is used, Linode is the expert webmaster or developer’s dream come true.
Other Notable Features
Linode believes in the Open Cloud and won’t try to lock you into their service with proprietary services and applications. They offer a good range of specialized services aside from hosting, including network protection, developer tools, managed databases, and Cloud-based storage.
4. LiquidWeb – 14 Days Free Trials
What's the Deal with LiquidWeb?
Free trial for 14 days, no credit card required > Click here to try now.
About LiquidWeb Hosting
LiquidWeb has a range of powerful cloud, dedicated, reseller, Virtual Private Server (VPS), and WordPress server packages with much flexibility. Although this host doesn’t have the low-cost, shared hosting tier, they excel in managed enterprise-class solutions and target those that need high-availability mission-critical servers.
Because of this, LiquidWeb is better suited for larger businesses or professional users with the required budget in hand. Their packages are laden with impressive specs, and they host from a self-owned data center.
Their managed WordPress and managed WooCommerce hostings are powered by their own Cloud called Nexcess that delivers exceptional speed, scalability, and security. Last but not least, who wouldn’t like to enjoy the offered 14 days free trial with no credit card required?
Read Timothy's review on LiquidWeb for more.
Other Notable Features with LiquidWeb
Liquidweb dedicated, VPS, Cloud, and reseller packages are robust and promote cross-platform scalability. They also have firewalls, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), malware scanning and removal, plus more. WordPress hosting here is fully optimized and includes free nightly backups keeping sites more robust.
5. A2 Hosting – Anytime Money Back Guarantee
A2 Hosting Free Trial
Anytime money-back guarantee > try A2 Hosting now.
About A2Hosting
A2 Hosting ticks most of the key checkboxes that are essential in a good web hosting provider. Coupled with having a good reputation, they offer solutions that are of a good mix of performance and features. Their anytime money-back guarantee literally means that you can kind of use their services for “free.”
A2 Hosting’s plans are developer-friendly, and the features are developer-oriented even on shared hosting. Aside from having fast loading speeds, their servers boast excellent uptime track records as well. Their pricing (learn more) aren’t cheap but come at a very hard quality to beat in respective categories.
If there’s an issue with A2 Hosting, though, it’s that when the time for downgrade comes around – you'll need to pay for server migration should you choose to downgrade your A2 Hosting plans.
VPS Hosting plans on A2 Hosting may seem very expensive, but that’s mostly due to management fees. For those with the necessary technical experience, they offer unmanaged VPS at attractive prices.
Learn more from our in-depth A2 Hosting review.
Other Notable Features
There are custom optimization tools available with free website migration and encrypted backup solutions. Along with the much-welcomed anytime money-back guarantee, there are very high sign-up discounts available too.
6. Hostinger – Free Trial with PayPal
What's the Deal?
Free trial through a 30-day money-back guarantee > Click here to try Hostinger.
About Hostinger
Hostinger promises an easy-to-use, reliable, and developer-friendly web hosting service that comes with stellar features, security, and fast speeds. Most of all, this service comes at a price that is affordable to everyone. If you’re looking for a cheap web hosting service, Hostinger could be it for you.
Their service is user-friendly and great for beginners. Having said this, Hostinger also caters to a wide range of users. You may think that since their pricing is cheap, you won’t get much, but this is far from the truth.
What we simply love about Hostinger is that you’re paying a low price while getting all the goodies as well. You also get a Git environment even on shared hosting alongside a free website builder for newbies.
Finally, their 30-day money-back guarantee will give you that peace of mind. So, even though you’ve paid upfront, it means a full refund if you’re unhappy. No hassles, no risks, and no credit card required too.
You can choose to pay via PayPal or crypto currencies if you’re uncomfortable using your credit card. In a sense, you’ll get a “free trial.”
Read our Hostinger review for more.
Notable Hostinger Features
Hostinger has a good spread of hosting plans available, which caters to a broader audience. Their hPanel is user-friendly, and Git environment is also available on shared hosting plans. Premium and Business shared hosting plan users get a free domain name for life.
7. InMotion Hosting – 90 Days Trial Period
InMotion Hosting Free Trial
“Free trial” via a 90-day money-back guarantee > Try it now.
About InMotion Hosting
In general, InMotion Hosting is a high-performing, reliable option and one of the best all-around web hosting industry options. They offer more freebies at basic levels, as compared to other bigger web hosting companies.
We highly recommend InMotion for any small and budding businesses, as their package pricing is pretty competitive. cPanel helps make their plans easy to use, and these plans offer unlimited disk space and bandwidth. It’s simply a must-consider host with excellent long-term prospects.
Armed with a substantial product range, InMotion manages to keep their plans at very good prices. This makes them very palatable, especially for those who are just starting out. If your website needs to scale up, InMotion gives you that room to grow with no migrations required.
Like most other web hosts, the ‘free trial’ offered by InMotion rides on their money-back guarantee. The main difference here is that InMotion offers one of the longest periods, at 90 days.
Find out more from our InMotion Hosting review.
Other Notable Features
InMotion has enjoyed a strong and excellent track record. Also, they provide a choice of website builders, free domain name, migration services & AutoSSL, safe application rollbacks and Google Apps integration. Their VPS plans come with three dedicated IPs.
8. Hostgator – $0.01 First Month
Try Hostgator for Just $0.01
$0.01 for the first month using promo code “HostgatorPenny”; no credit card required > Start Hostgator free trial now.
About Hostgator
The friendly gator offers very attractive packages for all levels of needs. That said, their marketing skew is highly attractive for newbies and personal website owners. Business owners seeking a more professional-looking hosting provider may have qualms about the cartoony graphics.
Yet despite their cutesy looks there’s nothing funny about HostGator packages. Their shared plans come in at decent rates starting from only $2.75 per month. This comes paired with everything that website owners will need to run most sites.
All HostGator shared plans offer unmetered (within limits, read their Terms and Conditions) bandwidth, storage space, SSL certification, and access to a website builder. If you use our special code to sign up, you can take a HostGator account for a 1-cent free spin before signing on for an extended plan.
If you’re moving to HostGator from another service provider, do note that they also offer free migration services for both websites and domain names. Take advantage of that since some hosts charge over $100 for it.
Other Notable Features
HostGator shared plan freebies don’t stop at merely SSL and domain transfers. You also get $150 in Google Ad credits and $100 in Bing Ad credits. If you need more powerful hosting there is lots of room to grow – from VPS to dedicated servers.
Find out more from our Hostgator review.
Web Hosting Free Trials Explained
Before you snort in disgust, don’t take the term “Web Hosting Free Trial” quite so literally. There are many ways that web hosting companies offer this, even if they don’t state it directly.
Remember that these companies have to weigh the benefits of offering the “free” experience against those who try and game the system. So keep your eyes open for how they word the offers – a money-back guarantee, for example, is almost as good and fair to both parties.
It can be more challenging for those seeking more advanced hosting like Cloud or VPS to find a host offering free trials. This rarity is because most users will take on shared hosting first before moving on to better plans.
Take your time to experiment with a few hosts and see which suits your needs before committing to a three or even five-year plan. That way, you’ll know if the host is good and can maximize your savings with a more extended subscription.
Is a Credit Card Always Required?
Some web hosting companies that offer free trials do indeed want you to provide a credit card first. This helps them ensure that you’re a serious buyer and can afford to subscribe for a more extended plan.
However, this isn’t always the case, and some don’t put forth this requirement. This is especially true for web hosts that accept various payment methods such as PayPal. To be safe, though, if you want to avoid using one, make sure you look for a host that states explicitly that “no credit card is required.”
Bottomline: Make the Most Out of Hosting Service Trial Period
Not all web hosts are equal, and this is especially true when it comes to user experience. While you may tell some generics from user reviews, all of us use web hosting in our personal style. That’s why first-hand experience is so important.
This experience is especially needed when considering a host that offers custom applications such as Hostinger’s hPanel. Choose your host wisely and remember, sometimes just pay attention to the wording of their offer.
Frequent Asked Questions
Yes, Bluehost does offer a provisional free trial. You can sign up for a web hosting plan and enjoy the first 30-days free, following which your account will be billed at the introductory rate. If the plan is canceled within 30 days you will not be charged > Try BlueHost now, risk free.
A2 Hosting does not technically offer a free trial. However, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee that works in a similar way. Sign up for the plan you want and if you cancel it within that period, you’ll get a refund. Partial refunds apply for cancellations after the mandated period > Try A2 Hosting now, risk free.
HostGator has no free trial but makes use of an extended 45-day guarantee for refunds. In addition, the company frequently offers numerous coupons to be used for steep discounts on services that are on offer. For example – you can try out Hostgator at $0.01 for the first month using promo code “HostgatorPenny” > Start Hostgator free trial now.
WordPress websites can be hosted for free at WordPress.com but there are also other free web hosting providers. Some, such as Hostinger offer free plans with an option to upgrade to those with better features as your site grows. For more advanced users, many Cloud providers like Amazon Web Services and Google have extended free trials for use.
Many web hosting service providers are willing to accept alternate payment methods for those without credit cards. Payment options will vary between hosts but often include PayPal, money transfers, or even cryptocurrency such as BitCoin.
Namecheap doesn’t offer free hosting but has many promotions that may come up on occasion. They do offer freebies for domain names bought via their site – for example, the inclusion of privacy protection with all purchases.
Some domain names are available for free, such as .tk and .ml. However, these are often used for spam and are not suitable for legitimate users. You can also get a free domain name with some web hosting packages. One example is Bluehost, which provides a free domain name for one year with its web hosting packages.
GoDaddy doesn't have free hosting but offers users a no-payment one-month trial. They have a complete range of services from the sale of domain names and SSL to various types of web hosting. This includes shared hosting, VPS hosting, and even dedicated servers.
Yes, it is possible to buy a domain name without a credit card. There are several service providers who support domain name purchases via different methods. Namecheap, for example, also accepts PayPal, BitCoin, and BitCash for domain name purchases.
Yes, the .tk domain extension is free. However, many free domain names have been abused in the past. This has led to blanket bans on numerous free domain names, including by search engines like Google. It’s better to register for a regular domain name since providers like Namecheap often have sales that see prices drop to as low as $0.99.
Technically yes, you can host your own website. However, hosting your own website is often a stopgap measure and unsuitable for long-term use. The services offered by web hosting providers are more secure, reliable, and much cheaper in context. Hosting your own website will also require more technical experience than using shared hosting.
