A Best Free VPS (known as Virtual Private Server ) is generally an intermediate plan between the classic shared hosting that we all know, and dedicated servers. They are usually ideal to have privacy, security, and guaranteed resources for our applications and websites.
Although VPS has lost a bit of ground to the new Cloud VPS (also known as Cloud Hosting or Cloud Servers ), there are providers that continue to offer free VPS aka VPS gratis, without you having to pay a dollar for them.
Having a free VPS is possible, although you will have to bear in mind that you will not have the same performance as a traditional VPS, with a premium connectivity and support service as in paid services.
We recommend using a free VPS only if your goal is to test personal developments, applications that are not in production, test a VPS with new technologies, etc.
Before moving on: if you have some money to invest, it is always better to go for a cheap VPS instead of a free one. And if you are looking to host your WordPress for free on high-performance shared servers, we recommend you read: Free Hosting with WordPress.
What is a VPS?
A VPS is a virtual private server, that is, a virtualized operating system that runs inside a dedicated server along with other virtual servers.
This virtualized system is 100% independent from the other VPS that are hosted in the main node, which allows it to have independence of resources (RAM, CPU, and Disk), dedicated IP addresses, and allows to improve the security of the applications and webs that they run inside him.
In general, VPSs do not usually have large amounts of RAM, Disk or CPU, but are small servers that are used for specific tasks, which is why they are usually much cheaper than traditional dedicated servers.
What is VPS for?
When you hire your first VPS you can have something that you never had in shared hosting: full access as a server administrator. That is, you will be given access to your VPS with SSH credentials and if you have a control panel like cPanel and WHM, also access to it.
A VPS allows you among other things:
Manage your applications and domains quickly, all from a single server.
Restart processes, services and stop applications.
Create email accounts, ftp , databases, etc.
Install applications like WordPress, Joomla or PrestaShop.
Image hosting and static files like CSS or Javascript.
Send emails from dedicated IPs.
Improve the security of your server.
Set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to browse privately, without exposing your IP.
Use it as a P2P download server, and store all the content you want there.
Now that we have seen what are the most common uses of a VPS, let’s see what are the best free VPS on the Internet.
Top 5 Best Free VPS
\We have researched the internet from top to bottom and made a list of the places where they offer free VPS today. You can find both free VPS hosting providers with Linux operating systems (which abound), and some that even offer access to Windows Server.
InstaFree
InstaFree is a hosting provider that offers plans at no cost, but also paid plans, as this is where they really maintain their business. They offer shared and VPS hosting.
Their main Datacenter is located in Dallas, although they also have servers located in New York, Seattle and Los Angeles.
InstaFree Free VPS Features
- 5 GB SSD Disk
- 50 GB Transfer
- 256 mb RAM
- 256 mb vSWAP
- 1 CPU
- NAT IPv4 Address
- 1 IPv6 Address
- DDoS Protection
How is the InstaFree service for the free plan?
Well, it is worth noting that they offer 5GB of disk and 50GB of transfer, although very little RAM for any application in production. You will have full control of your VPS as root, and the good thing is that they do not ask you for anything in exchange for the VPS. They take some time to approve your account, but if they do it then, you will have your VPS totally free.
VPSWALA
Vpswala is a cloud-based web hosting company focused on server virtualization technologies. They offer both shared and VPS hosting without having to pay a dollar.
Features of your free VPS service
2 CPU
2GB RAM
500MB Disk
3 Domains Maximum
Unlimited transfer
Free SSL certificates
1 IP address
CPanel panel
As we can see, they offer good resources to be something totally free, good RAM, CPU and a lot of disk, although it is not SSD, but SATA. And they offer you “unlimited transfer”, something that is already a lie, because that does not exist, it is just a marketing strategy.
AlaVPS
AlaVPS is another company that offers free virtualized server resources.
Over time it has managed to establish itself as one of the most recognized companies in the field of free virtualization based on Linux.
Features of your free virtual private servers service
- 1 CPU
- 10GB Disk
- 75GB Transfer
- 512 MB RAM
- 1 IP address
- SSH root access
- CentOS, Ubuntu and Debian Linux
- Virtualizor panel
It allows you to have complete control of the VPS server, it is very good that they provide unrestricted shell access, and also 75GB of transfer is very good for hosting medium traffic websites. Of course, 512 MB of RAM and 1CPU will not do wonders, to take that into account.
Nothing is free in life: to have this VPS in your hands they ask you to join their community of developers and webmasters, and to post 25 posts in their forum, only then can you qualify for a free server.
OHosti
OHosti is located in our ranking of the best free vps server providers.
While they offer three types of VPS at no cost, the one that is really 100% free is the first.
Free Virtual Private Server Features They Offer
0.5 CPU
512MB RAM
25 GB Disk
Transfer: 500GB
IP addresses: 1
SWAP memory: 256MB
Operating System: CentOS
Control Panel: Virtualizor
Free web domain
Not bad for free, but you won’t be able to host high-data processing apps either, keep that in mind.
Almost no CPU, acceptable RAM, and 25 GB of Disk. It serves as we always say, to test, but never to host something in production.
Once you apply for this plan, they will do a manual review of your account, and if it goes well then you will have your server for free.
Amazon
We have included Amazon’s free VPS in this official list in position 5 because they are not actually VPS themselves, but rather they are Cloud Servers, so it would be unfair competition.
Amazon allows you to try its service for 1 year at no cost, however, it has many disadvantages that most users do not know:
They have the speed of the discs limited.
If you go over the allocated resources, they charge you an arm and a leg for the surplus.
They are not clear enough what things are charged and whatnot, and many times you activate an addon or functionality, and then charges appear on your card.
The setup process is not easy for newbies, in fact, the entire AWS dashboard is complicated.
They lack human support, it is all 100% automated.
It is our selection as the number 5 provider of VPS at no cost, they offer:
1CPU
1GB RAM
20GB SSD Disk
15GB Transfer
Comparison table of free VPS hosting
Now that we have analyzed each and every free VPS hosting service, let’s make a comparison of their resources like CPU, RAM, Space and Transfer in a comparison table.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that WoomHost tends to offer the best OS to network resource ratio, yet they don’t have as much of a reputation as InstaFree, which is why they came in second place.
What is the best free VPS service then?
As you can see, the options to get your VPS for free are many. What you should always keep in mind is that in almost all of them you will never have an optimal service as you would in a company where you pay for the VPS, even Amazon’s virtual servers tend to give many failures, and have slow reading/writing in comparison to other Cloud VPS or traditional VPS.
Although there are many free offers, we have chosen InstaFree VPS as the most “serious”. Although remember that they will not be able to assist you if you have bugs, it is a free plan and without any guarantees, today your VPS can be online, and tomorrow out of nowhere can disappear.
WoomHost also ranks as one of the most serious free virtual server providers, as we learned that they have bought from the old providers such as 5 Jelly, Yocats, Fork Host, and Guhat.
If what you are going to host are your clients’ applications or production websites and you need a quality VPS, keep reading.
If that is your scenario, then without a doubt the best thing we can recommend is a paid plan, such as the Infranetworking Cloud VPS, which comes with SSD disks that make them super fast, in addition to having exceptional human and technical support.
Never put your customers’ trust in the hands of a free service provider.
What about you? What are the free VPS that you have chosen to host your projects?
