Best Web Hosting Free Trials in 2020

Web hosting free trials are like those wonderful trips to the grocery store when you get to snack on free samples. Whether you’re meandering through one of those warehouse giants or an upscale local shop, the small bites give you a taste of some of the delectable flavors you could enjoy for a small fee.

Once you get your fill wandering around the store, you’re more likely to leave with a few tasty purchases. The same concept is at play in web hosting — free trials and introductory periods enable site owners to test a provider’s network, infrastructure, and customer support to make sure the host is a good fit to run their online presence.

Although some hosts offer more flexible month-to-month plans, most require customers to pay for a full year or more of hosting up front. Here are the best web hosting free trials to consider whenever you find yourself in the market for a new host.

Hosting & Domain | WordPress | Windows | VPS | Dedicated

And so begins our tour of the best free trials that require credit card information. First off, don’t fret about having to fight to get your refund — the web hosts we list in this article are trusted companies that honor their money-back guarantees and process refunds promptly, with no questions asked.

Worst-case scenario, you get your money back (minus any setup fees or domain registrations) and get to look for another hosting trial; best case, you don’t have to lift a finger to move into a more permanent, reliable, and well-supported hosting experience once the trial expires. Plus, the vast majority of hosts will prorate your refund if you choose to leave after the money-back guarantee.

In shared hosting packages, the free domain registration is nearly as ubiquitous as the 30-day money-back guarantee. And it makes sense — if you need hosting, you’re probably looking to start a website and will need a domain name anyway. If you already have a domain, this perk typically covers a hassle-free (and cost-free) domain transfer.

However, buyer beware: if you register a free domain name and cancel your plan, the host will deduct the cost of a domain from your refund. You will still own that domain name, though, so you’ll be able to use it with your next risk-free hosting trial.

We’ve listed our three favorite shared hosting free trials that offer affordable long-term plans, a free domain registration, and excellent domain management tools below, but we want to give a special mention to InterServer for just barely missing the cut. Instead of a truly free trial, the company charges only a penny for your first month of hosting and $1.99 for the first year of your domain name registration.

See more top cheap web hosts »

WordPress aficionados of all shapes and sizes have tons of great options to sample in the hosting world — which is good, considering WordPress-specific hosting can vary wildly from one provider to the next. Some plans simply offer the generic one-click installation of the ultra-popular content management system, while others have engineered powerful cloud-powered environments built for speed and scalability.

Given that WordPress is the platform of choice for nearly a third of the internet, attracting customers is a highly profitable and highly competitive venture. With the Software-as-a-Service industry seeing between 40% and 60% of free trial users converting into paying customers, free trials of all shapes and sizes seem to be a worthwhile tool for hosting providers.

Most WordPress users will be best served with one of these next three options, which balance WordPress performance with customer-friendly pricing formats. InMotion Hosting offers customers a legendary 90-day money-back guarantee, making it one of the longest risk-free trials in the industry, while Bluehost comes recommended straight from the WordPress core team.

See more top WordPress hosts »

Premium WordPress customers looking for managed hosting, more computing resources, and services tailored more specifically to businesses, developers, and web agencies, may prefer to look at these three options for free-trial web hosting with WordPress.

SiteGround appeals to beginners and experienced WordPress users with a 30-day trial period of plans with tons of optimized features and top-notch customer support. Flywheel offers a truly free trial by allowing potential customers to spin up a demo site and only pay once they’re ready to publish. WP Engine offers much longer money-back guarantee periods than the industry average, at 60 days.

See more premium WordPress hosts »

Even for beginners who probably don’t know the difference, web hosting is naturally predisposed to Unix-flavored operating systems. The open-source operating system powers more than two-thirds of all sites online, often under Linux, Fedora, Debian, CentOS, and Ubuntu branding. Linux-based operating systems are typically easier and more cost-efficient for hosting providers to run because the licensing fees are much smaller.

Developers and organizations who rely on programming languages such as ASP.NET or C++, however, need to use servers running the Windows operating system to run effectively and at peak performance. These services are typically a few dollars per month more expensive than their Linux counterparts, making a free trial all the more valuable.

We’ve already told you about AccuWebHosting’s free trial for Windows shared and their option for free Windows VPS hosting, so here are three other options from well-known hosts that rely on risk-free money-back guarantees.

See more top Windows hosts »

A virtual private server, or VPS, offers site owners a sweet spot between crowded shared hosting and high-powered (and super expensive) dedicated servers. The added resources and flexibility are extra appealing to developers, agencies, and small businesses that require high availability, fast page loads, and room to grow.

Even more so than free shared hosting services, though, companies offering free VPS hosting are largely considered scams. You know the saying, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is”? Meet free VPS plans. Services are promised and rarely delivered as the companies dangle free VPS plans while requiring you to refer the company to others, click on ads, and enter personal data the companies can later resell.

For VPS solutions, you’ll be much better served by signing up for a free trial with a trusted host. Sure, you’ll have to enter your credit card number (usually — don’t forget AccuWebHosting’s free trial for Windows VPS), but the hosts below give you ample time to request a refund or cancel service without paying an arm and a leg.

See more top VPS hosts »

Free trials at web hosting’s top echelon can be quite challenging. Configuring and deploying a dedicated server often requires a lot of individualized, manual attention from the hosting provider, even with their highly automated systems. Orders for dedicated servers often come with high degrees of customizations, meaning hosts understandably don’t want to do all the setup only to take it all down a few weeks later. Plus, dedicated hosting is usually a more permanent solution when compared to shared or cloud services — you’re looking for top-notch power, reliability, and room to grow.

However, cautious site admins and business owners may want to make sure the specific hardware performs as advertised and is worth the larger budgetary investment. Here are three companies with the resources and processes in place to support free trials and money-back guarantees on dedicated servers:

See more top dedicated server hosts »

In the world of web hosting, free trials are largely broken down into two categories: those that don’t require a credit card or other payment information to get started, and those that do. We’ll call that latter category “risk-free trials” because, while you’ll have to pony up some money up front, you’ll have at least 30 days to test the hosting services and request a full refund.

Free trials are an age-old tactic for businesses to attract new customers — but they don’t always work. Certain types of businesses, especially those with offline, in-person presences, are predisposed to more success with truly free trials, while online companies that rely on recurring billing and payments typically require prospective customers to enter their credit card information when getting started.

The truly free trials that don’t require payment information are, of course, more appealing to customers. How many times have you typed in your credit card info to take advantage of an appealing introductory period, only to forget to cancel your account within the allotted time and get charged anyway?

Truly free trials that don’t require payment information can be rather hard to find. We’ll dive into the deep pool of risk-free trials and money-back guarantees in a bit, but here are some of the best free trials we’ve uncovered — from big names like GoDaddy, WordPress, Shopify, and others — that don’t require your credit card number.

#	Host	Service	Trial Period	Get Started
19	GoDaddy	Website Builder	30 Days	GoDaddy Free Trial »
		eCommerce Store	30 Days	GoDaddy Free Trial »
20	AccuWebHosting	Windows Shared Hosting	90 Days	AccuWebHosting Free Trial »
		Windows VPS Hosting	30 Days	AccuWebHosting Free Trial »
21	Flywheel	WordPress Hosting	14 Days	Flywheel Free Trial »
23	Shopify	eCommerce Store	14 Days	Shopify Free Trial »
24	Volusion	eCommerce Store	14 Days	Volusion Free Trial »

Other free trial options: WordPress, Wix, Weebly, and AccuWebHosting all offer free plans for life. Upgrading to a premium plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee for WordPress, Weebly, and AccuWebHosting, and a 14-day refund policy for Wix. Look here for more free web hosting options.

From Bing Crosby to Janet Jackson, crooners around the world have sung about how “the best things in life are free.” While that may not hold true for long-term web hosting solutions, free trials and leveraging money-back guarantees are the best way to ensure your hosting happiness. Don’t let supplying your credit card number at signup deter you from trying out hosts that don’t offer truly free trials. Companies like InMotion Hosting and DreamHost give customers a full three months to inspect and test every feature of their service and still be able to request a full refund.

Free trials are a great way to open your mind to new companies and products — but please be wary shoppers and remain vigilant to any potential scams or shady upsells. Although the hosting providers we’ve highlighted here are highly regarded and well-respected industry veterans, smaller and sometimes international hosts aren’t as upfront about the conditions of their free trial. The Federal Trade Commission lays out the steps you can take to protect yourself.

All that said, however, happening onto a free trial that exposes you to a company or product that helps your company or online presence scale quickly and easily is a score that’s tough to beat. You’ll certainly want to shop around for the best options — just like with the free food samples at the grocery store.