There’s a free hosting site out there that promises you unlimited use of resources to do whatever you want with it. But you know as well as I do that the promises are not true.
You have limitations that are placed by these companies to compel you to look for paid options on their platforms.
However, is there any free hosting site that I can use to test my WordPress theme before I upload it on my paid site?
Yes, there is!
If you don’t know how to use WordPress, then you can learn WordPress for free here.
I have introduced a new thing that I will be doing on the Fruitfulujah Podcast and on my site, namely: answer questions from people. I will pick random questions from listeners or readers on this site or across the web and answer them on this site from now on. Watch out for it!
Free Hosting Site
Today, I will answer a question about a free hosting site to experiment and learn. Here is the question.
Hi, I am not a techie or a developer but would like to experiment with a new theme for my website. Please advise on a good free hosting site to construct my website so I can experiment and learn. If it works out, can I migrate to a paid hosting easily?
A.S.A
They are times you will need a place to experiment a new theme or plugin before you use it on your WordPress site. In fact, I do that quite often. I have discussed that in today’s episode of the Fruitfulujah Podcast!
Let me start by saying, I don’t recommend free hosting for testing your theme or plugin, because they are a lot of limitations. If you are testing a product, you will like the testing ground to be the same with the actual environment the product will be used on. However, a free hosting cannot give you that.
So, I recommend that you use the following options instead to test your theme or plugin.
1. Local Server
Use a local server. If you don’t know, WordPress can be installed on a PC or Mac using a local server like WAMP/XAMP. You can configure WordPress on your PC and test your plugins and themes before you upload them or the site to the hosting account that you might have paid for.
2. Use WordPress Development Environment
You can also use a WordPress development software on you computer, for example:
These two software are much easier to use than WAMP or XAMP because they are designed specifically for WordPress development. They are quite straight forward and much easier to upload your site to a live server when you have finished working on it.
3. Use a Staging Environment
Most modern web hosting site offer a staging environment where you can develop your website before you make it live. Staging simply implies you create your site on a subdomain of main site where all the changes are made. With a push of a button, you can send the new content of your site to the live site where everyone can see it. It’s quite cool, right?
Ask your hosting company if they offer staging with their hosting plan. Even if they don’t, you can create one by yourself. However, it will be much easier for you if you get a hosting plan with a company that already has staging tool.
There’s free hosting site out there, but I will not recommend any of them to you. Use the above methods to build, test and experiment your website before you launch it.
Another way is to get cheap hosting. Yes, cheap hosting is different from ‘free’ hosting. iPage offers $2 per month plan or Interserver offers $1 for 3 months promo price. These are enough time to check whatever you want on a theme before you use it.
Conclusion
In summery, you can use the above methods to experiment and learn WordPress without spending money on expensive hosting.
Send your questions and answers, and your question might be the next one I will answer on this site or in my next podcast episode.
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