Writer: Jordan Sprogis
Editor: Lillian Castro
Reviewer: Christina Lewis
As a devoted dog lover, I couldn’t resist incorporating my pup’s name into my first domain when I had the chance.
At the time, I wasn’t aware of the best practices for choosing a domain name (spoiler alert: using your pet’s name isn’t one of them).
While working on a school project about digital marketing, I decided to use my dog’s name as part of my website. Although it wasn’t the best choice for SEO, it highlights the advantage of having a custom domain with your hosting plan.
You can choose whatever you want.
In this review, I explored free trials, budget-friendly, and always-free hosting options to determine which offers included a complimentary domain registration. Keep reading to discover more about custom domain registration!
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Best Free Trials With a Custom Domain Name
Kamatera and Cloudways provide cloud hosting plans tailored for high-traffic websites or mobile applications. They offer free trials ranging from three to 30 days, allowing full access to their features and tools.
Check out our full reviews below to see if either of these cloud providers is right for you.
1. Kamatera.com
Monthly Starting Price $4.00
- Customize your cloud environment for FREE
- Work with a dedicated account manager
- Dozens of Windows & Linux OS choices
- Complimentary live chat support open 24/7
- Launch in less than 60 seconds
- Get started on Kamatera now.
Surajdeep Singh
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-day FREE trial | 20 GB SSD – 4 TB SSD | New or Transfer | 3 minutes |
Free Trial Duration: 30 days
Kamatera allows website administrators to change the DNS settings on their pre-registered domain names to test the platform services on their cloud servers for 30 days risk-free. The free trial offer includes $100 in first-month credits to test websites on more complex deployments.
If you are unsatisfied with Kamatera cloud servers within the first 30 days, you can request a refund without losing the registration cost for a custom domain name. This is the best way to get the most resources for free on advanced cloud hosting service products.
2. Cloudways.com
Monthly Starting Price $6.60
- Try managed cloud hosting for FREE for 3 days
- Optimize costs with custom server configurations
- Scale server resources up and down as needed
- FREE SSL certificates, site migrations, and CDN
- Use code HOSTINGADVICE for 25% OFF
- Get started on Cloudways now.
Jack Wallen
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-day FREE trial | 20 GB SSD – 4 TB SSD | New or Transfer | 8 minutes |
Free Trial Duration: 3 days
The Cloudways free trial offer allows you to bring your own domain for an initial test of platform services without any requirement to register a credit card for three days.
Although it is only a test drive, it guarantees you won’t lose money on a non-refundable domain registration.
When you are ready to upgrade to a paid web hosting plan on Cloudways, you can register a new domain, keep your test domain settings, or manage more third-party domain names that you own with other registrars.
Best Cheap Hosting With a Custom Domain Name
If you know the requirements of your web hosting project, the plans listed below are so cheap that they’re almost free. New users get a free domain name registration for the plan’s first year. Depending on the TLD, this value equals around $10 to $20 of an annual discount.
Free domain name registration is best for launching new sites with keyword-driven sales and marketing campaigns. Keep your company’s branded domain names registered with a third-party company for more security if you change between web hosting platforms frequently.
3. Hostinger.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.69
- Best overall value: Nothing at this price comes close feature-for-feature.
- AI builds your site in minutes — no technical skills needed
- Up to 3 websites with free SSL
- Weekly backups and managed WordPress
- 2 business mailboxes free for 1 year
- Get started on Hostinger now.
Sead Fadilpasic
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 20 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 3 minutes |
Hostinger is the best web hosting option for cheap multi-domain publishing with a free domain name registration included when you sign up for a new plan.
The Personal plan will support up to 100 websites for only $2.69 monthly. The Business plan has twice the storage capacity for only $1 more.
Hostinger’s proprietary control panel, hPanel, includes all of the website, domain name, email address, and file storage options as cPanel with no subscription fees, which is a huge money-saver. Use Hostinger’s free domain name bonus offer for even better pricing on a new web hosting plan.
4. IONOS.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.00
- Most affordable option: Pay just $12 at checkout
- 1-click WordPress install gets you online in minutes
- Unlimited websites, storage, and databases
- Daily backups, free SSL, and 24/7 support
- Free professional email included
- Get started on IONOS now.
Christina Lewis
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
$1.00 gives users a free TLD registration on its hosting plans for the first year of services. The available TLD extensions are .com, .net, .org, .biz, .me, .online, .us, and .ca domains. Registration isn’t limited to your domain name but also includes email, subdomain, SSL certificate, and privacy protection.
IONOS hosting plans with free domain name registration start at only $1.00 per month. Web publishers get a suite of bonus tools for WordPress development and unlimited storage. The $1.00 per month offer is valid on shared web hosting plans for the first six months with an AI Site Builder option. You can use the AI service to generate unique designs for your websites.
5. HostArmada.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.99
- Cloud-based NVMe SSD servers across 11 global data centers
- 7 daily backups, free SSL, and Imunify360 WAF protection
- Free cPanel, Softaculous 1-click installs, and website migration
- 45-day money-back guarantee — longer than most hosts
- 24/7/365 support via phone, chat, and tickets
- Get started on HostArmada now.
Christina Lewis
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 days | 15 GB NVMe SSD | FREE (1 year) | 3 minutes |
HostArmada is another budget web host distinguished by its PHP, Python, ASP.NET, Ruby, and Node.js application development support. WordPress developers get free themes, WPl-CLi, and WooCommerce extensions, while Drupal programmers enjoy pre-installed PHP Composer and Drush.
With shared hosting plans, you get 12 popular TLD extensions for free domain registration, offering you more choices than just sticking with a .com extension.
HostArmada provides flat renewal pricing on domain names to avoid price gouging after the first year of free services. You can manage DNS settings, IP address assignments, SSL certificates, and email addresses in the HostArmada Domain Administration panel.
The hosting company also offers domain privacy protection to mask your private contact information in the WHOIS database.
6. Bluehost.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.99
- Beginner-friendly setup with free domain for the first year
- AI-powered site setup with 1-click WordPress install
- Free CDN, malware scanning, WAF, and DDoS protection
- Weekly backups + 99.99% uptime SLA
- WordPress.org recommended host since 2005
- Get started on Bluehost now.
Sead Fadilpasic
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB NVMe SSD | FREE (1 year) | 5 minutes |
Bluehost is one of the leading hosting service providers to make a free domain registration standard with cPanel administration on all its plans.
cPanel on Bluehost shared hosting plans supports up to five websites, while VPS and dedicated hosting platforms offer unlimited domain names. Bluehost is one of the oldest and most respected names in the web hosting industry.
The ability to lock in savings with the first year of web hosting services makes Bluehost a popular choice with small business owners and eCommerce store publishers. Rely on Bluehost’s tools to launch new websites quickly with a custom domain name.
7. InMotionHosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.79
- FREE BoldGrid site builder and templates
- FREE website, domain, and cPanel migrations
- SSD storage makes your site load up to 20x faster
- Security suite includes SSL and hack protection
- Unlimited bandwidth and email accounts
- Get started on InMotion now.
Dave McQuilling
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 days | 100 GB SSD – Unlimited SSD/NVMe | Select Plans | 5 minutes |
InMotion Hosting is a high-performance cPanel web host with free domain name registration on every new sign-up. It supports a range of popular TLD extensions, including .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, and .us.
The domain name registration renews on the higher end at $19.99 per year compared to other options. You can get cheaper prices on TLDs at third-party registration services like Namecheap.
InMotion Hosting platform services run with cPanel for domain name administration. You can add unlimited addon domains and subdomains, register email accounts for each address, install databases, and manage your scripts in one unified command center.
What impresses us the most about InMotion Hosting is its NVMe SSD hardware for better page load speeds on website applications.
8. HostGator.com
Monthly Starting Price $3.75
- Free domain name, SSL certificate, and CDN included
- Unmetered bandwidth — no limits on traffic or storage
- 1-click WordPress install and easy cPanel control panel
- 30-day money-back guarantee, no long-term contracts
- Get 66% OFF by buying 36 months upfront
- Get started on HostGator now.
Lynn Cadet
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD – 100 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
HostGator includes free domain name registration on all shared, dedicated, VPS, and reseller hosting plans. The available TLD extensions for registration are .biz, .club, .co, .com, .host, .info, .me, .net, .online, .org, .sit, .space, .store, .tech and .website addresses.
HostGator is a favorite choice for professional web developers wanting bargain-rate hosting services with free cPanel licensing for domain name administration. The HostGator free domain registration offer is designed for new site owners to launch WordPress and other open-source scripts for web development quickly.
Best Always-Free Hosting With a Custom Subdomain Name
If your project requires completely free hosting on a long-term basis, the companies listed below are some of the best options available on the market. However, the downside to always-free hosting is using a subdomain instead of a custom domain.
A subdomain won’t look as polished as a custom domain, but you can still customize part of it by choosing your URL structure to include keywords or your brand-name.
9. WordPress.com
WordPress.com is the canonical free hosting service for the world’s most popular web design solution. Automattic gives users the ability to publish on a [username].wordpress.com subdomain for the life of your account. You only need to add a credit card and order a paid upgrade if you use your TLD address with professional WordPress hosting.
Subdomain hosting at WordPress.com is industry standard and is used by millions of web publishers for niche and hobby sites that are entirely free.
WordPress.com is one of the best ways to maintain a free blog online, with paid upgrades recommended for WooCommerce plans if you need custom branding for an online store. If you ever decide to use a custom domain name instead, you can easily upgrade to a paid plan.
10. Google Sites
Google Sites is the website-building platform Google offers as part of its suite of productivity and collaboration tools. Many people and small business owners turn to Google Sites to get a free, bootstrapped site on the web in less than an hour.
If you’re a fan of Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, chances are you’ll enjoy the user experience of Sites.
The platform is free to use and comes with a subdomain at no cost. The standout feature is its collaboration support.
Unlike most other site builders that only allow a single user to work on a website, you can collaborate with team members to build a site together in real time.
11. InfinityFree
InfinityFree offers free hosting on subdomain accounts that are not time-limited and do not expire — even after years of service. The subdomain options available for free accounts are [username].epizy.com, [username].freecluster.eu, or [username].rf.gd depending on availability.
Although these subdomains are not as good as wordpress.com, they are not limited to database use or script installation. If you need completely free hosting for hobby sites, eCommerce stores, blogs, or forums, InfinityFree is one of the most respectable options on the market.
Use custom DNS settings with an account upgrade to bring your own domain name to the platform.
12. ByetHost
ByetHost has the most unique domain names available of all free hosting options. Users can choose from options like [username].10001mb.com, [username].22web.org, [username].2kool4u.net, [username].a0001.net, [username].html-5.me, and 20+ other options. Although these are not premium domains, they are free for use with ByetHost plans.
The advantage of ByetHost is the ability to manage up to 5 database-driven websites for free with VistaPanel and Softaculous.
Web developers can choose from more than 300 open-source scripts for free deployment on LAMP servers. Hosting plans are entirely free at ByetHost, with no time limits. However, ByetHost does limit the total amount of data processing, bandwidth, and storage you can use.
13. x10Hosting
x10Hosting provides its own domain name for branding on its free hosting accounts. Your site will appear under the URL format [username].x10hosting.com. This type of branding is great for niche or hobby sites and for those learning web development through blogging, as a custom domain name isn’t essential.
x10hosting differs from other free services in that it includes a site builder platform with more than 150 free themes. You can transform a free HTML template into a static site for SEO promotions or digital marketing.
x10Hosting free plans include the DirectAdmin control panel and will support up to three domain names with “always free” hosting options.
14. Zoho Sites
Zoho isn’t just for email. Although the company is best known as one of the industry’s biggest email clients, it also released its very own website builder in 2012, Zoho Sites.
The website builder lets you create a custom, single-page site that’s free for one year. After that, you can upgrade to a paid plan that costs $5 per month, billed yearly.
If you have significant email needs, you can’t go wrong with choosing Zoho as your site-building platform. All of its email tools integrate seamlessly with its site builder, giving you access to the best communication and marketing features the email industry has to offer.
What Is a Custom Domain and Do I Need One?
A custom domain allows you to create a URL for your website that’s entirely unique to your brand. It’s made up of your unique domain name and extension and looks like this: www.mywebsite.com. This differs from a non-custom domain, where your site uses a subdomain like this: www.mywebsite.wordpress.com.
Using a custom domain name is important for businesses and professional services that need to foster user trust and brand recognition. Not only does it make your site look more polished, but it also lets you customize your business email address. This is a must for communicating with customers online.
As a personal blogger or hobbyist, subdomains can work just fine for your site. If keeping costs down is more important to you than having a custom domain, a free hosting plan will fit your needs perfectly.
Pro tip: Many web hosting plans include a free domain name registration with your initial purchase. Choosing your domain name wisely is essential, as web hosts cannot change or refund these terms.
What Is a Subdomain?
A subdomain is what you typically get with a free hosting account. It looks something like this: www.mywebsite.wordpress.com. In this case, the “mywebsite” portion is the subdomain of the URL.
Though subdomains aren’t ideal for businesses, they’re perfect for student projects or personal sites. These websites don’t need to meet the same professional standards as corporate ones, so a custom domain isn’t as beneficial.
Can I Use My Existing Domain With a Free Hosting Plan?
The best free web hosting plans allow anyone to bring their pre-registered domain names to the platform. You just need to change the DNS settings with the domain name registrar company and wait for the changes to propagate. Usually, this takes a few hours.
If you’re running a website for your business, bringing your domain name to a free web hosting service is essential. This is because your Google site rankings depend on your brand identity. Most shared hosting plans allow you to register a custom domain name for free with a new account but do not offer “always-free” services.
How Do I Get a Free Website With a Custom Domain Name?
Finding free web hosting is relatively easy. However, most options only provide a free subdomain instead of a free top-level domain. This means your website URL might look like “www.MySite.Weebly.com” rather than “www.MySite.com.”
AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud all offer “free tier” products that allow you to bring your own domain name to develop cloud-native applications. But these options will not remain free forever.
If you’re planning to stick with a free plan over time, think about using a custom subdomain from one of the free web hosting options we discussed earlier.
Alternatively, you can choose a cheap web hosting plan that includes a free domain name for your first year of service. But note that after that year ends, you’re responsible for paying domain renewal fees, which may range from $10 to $20 for most .com extensions.
Extensions like .io or .ai might have higher renewal fees, so be sure to review the details before you commit to a plan.
Tip: Students and non-profits can ask organizations like Google Cloud, AWS, & Azure for access to datacenter resources for academic reasons. If you’re granted access, you’ll get a free custom domain.
Does GoDaddy Offer Free Hosting With a Domain Name?
GoDaddy currently doesn’t offer any free hosting plans, but it does provide a free domain name for your first year when you purchase 12 months of hosting.
If you’re concerned about committing to a host for a year, you can use GoDaddy’s 30-day money-back guarantee. However, you should know that the refund policy does not cover domain registrations.
Companies that offer free hosting (with subdomains) include ByetHost, FreeHostia, and WordPress.com. However, paying for a hosting plan that supports a free custom domain is worth a few dollars a month.
Affordable shared hosting plans come with ample features and add-ons that make the cost well worth it.
Which Hosting Providers Give You a Free Custom Domain?
Many hosts on this list give you a free domain for your first year of hosting on a shared account. Hostinger, IONOS, and HostArmada are a few of our favorites that include this perk.
Among a free domain name, new customers also get features like:
- A free content delivery network
- Support for unlimited websites
- Unlimited subdomains
- One-click WordPress installations and FREE themes
The intense competition in the shared hosting arena has resulted in hosting plans loaded with free features to draw in customers. This is great news for budget-conscious site owners as they don’t need to skimp on hosting tools and features.
Choose a Custom Domain Name to Establish Brand Identity
Google Cloud hosting and other free tier accounts on AWS offer the most access to free hosting services for students and non-profits. But if you don’t have any luck securing a long-term free plan from one of these providers, you can still opt for a free plan with a subdomain from WordPress.com or InfinityFree.
At the end of the day, you may decide it’s worth it to pay a small monthly price for a hosting plan with a free custom domain name. These plans are easy to come by and include all the features you need to build a beautiful, professional-looking site.
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