Is There a FREE Web Hosting Service For Testing Purposes?

13 years ago

Why do you need to test them on the server? Are your websites powered by PHP?

If this is your case, you can install something like WAMP server on your computer and test the website on localhost. Believe me, it may be quite boring to upload file to the server, test is, make necessary changes, upload it again, etc.

Another good reason why to test the PHP powered websites on your comuputer is the fact that you have under the control the PHP settings. Most web hosts will not display the errors causes by your PHP script (it is ok, because it is for security reasons). However, when testing you need to see the errors in order to debug your script.

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Jill Carpenter 13 years ago

If you have one "shared hosting" account then chances are good you can have a hundred database installs going at once and make one of those a testing site (through creation of a subdomain).
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brentb

13 years ago

I have cheap web hosting, its like $60 for 3 years, where I keep low traffic sites and do my builds on. Then when I site launch, if its big, I move it to a dedicated server or cloud hosting depending on traffic expectations.

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pdrs

13 years ago

Yeah I'll just chime in and say go with a cheap shared hosting solution instead of 100% free, it will be far less likely to give you problems like the one you were using and the cost is very minimal.

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AndrewStark

13 years ago

A lot of free hosting restricts what you can actually put online, so it's probably going to give you some false positives if you are testing something out.

Much better to get a test domain or use sub domains of your existing sites.

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gpwilson

13 years ago

If you are trying to test in free hosting then you would not get exact result. Most importantly you would not get the best outcome. So it would be better if you test in in paid testing. You need outcome and accurate result.

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GarrieWilson

13 years ago

Most web hosts will not display the errors causes by your PHP script

Not true. I've never seen a major host not display the errors or at least log them to an error file.

To the OP:

I use WAMP on my PC to test/create. It makes it fast but after you upload to the live server you still need to test all the functions as security settings may need to be modified or your code changed.

However, if you do want a free host, use 000webhost.com.

Garrie

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webhosting

13 years ago

Originally Posted by GarrieWilson

Not true. I've never seen a major host not display the errors or at least log them to an error file.

To the OP:

I use WAMP on my PC to test/create. It makes it fast but after you upload to the live server you still need to test all the functions as security settings may need to be modified or your code changed.

However, if you do want a free host, use 000webhost.com.

Garrie

Not sure if I was clear in my answer - I was talking about "display_errors" in php.ini. It is set off by default and this settings are usually not changed by the web hosts if they know something about the security. You are right with the testing the functions on the server. If you have different PHP settings on the server and on the localhost it may happen something will not work. I usually make sure the settings are the same before I start to write the code - this way of working saved me a lot of time.

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evilsaigon

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Viremia

I always prefer to build websites while testing them live on a server and sometimes I build a website before I purchase the domain, so FREE web hosting comes handy then.

I used to use twomini,com during the past few months and was fine, until it became really unreliable lately.

I would highly appreciate your suggestions.

I'm just going to answer the question straight. Try 3owl.

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Alexa Smith

Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Viremia

I would highly appreciate your suggestions.

There are many.

One that seems to have a very good reputation, as free hosts go, is Byethost.com

They put no avdertising on their clients' pages, and unlike many free hosts their business model seems to be based on impressing people so much with the free service that they'll stay for the long term and buy various upgrades, etc. I know people - including professional marketers - who've been there happily for many years (even if they originally started there "for testing purposes"!).

Others are 000WebHost and Freehostia.

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Viremia

13 years ago

Wow thanks for the very useful hard to find information.

You rock!

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

There are many.

One that seems to have a very good reputation, as free hosts go, is Byethost.com

They put no avdertising on their clients' pages, and unlike many free hosts their business model seems to be based on impressing people so much with the free service that they'll stay for the long term and buy various upgrades, etc. I know people - including professional marketers - who've been there happily for many years (even if they originally started there "for testing purposes"!).

Others are 000WebHost and Freehostia.