What students use free hosting for
A college brief usually asks for one of three sites. A PHP and MySQL app has to store rows. A portfolio or assignment is often only HTML, CSS and images. A club or fest page has to stay online through the event, then it can come down.
- PHP and MySQL project: a database, a user, and phpMyAdmin or another import tool.
- Static portfolio: HTML, CSS and images, and no database.
- Club or fest page: a URL that still loads on the day of the event.
Free trial versus permanent free hosting
A free trial is a paid account you can cancel. Permanent free hosting stays at zero rupees and limits disk, domains or support instead. WebJi® publishes no ₹0 student plan and no fixed trial length. A first-term hosting refund, counted from activation, is not a free month.
The rows below are what three other sites showed on 30 October 2026. WebJi® is not those companies. A price in dollars is not the same offer as ₹300 a month before 18% GST.
| Offer | Price read on 30 Oct 2026 | Useful for | Hard limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Static zip upload | Free to upload. No Pro price on the page. | HTML, CSS and images | Needs index.html. No PHP or MySQL. |
| India student plan | ₹0 per year, beside a ₹1,500 figure | PHP 7.x and 8.x, DirectAdmin, 1 GB SSD, one domain | College, university or polytechnic ID. Plan card lists 1 email. The FAQ says up to 10. |
| US university free year | $0 for one year, then from $2.50 a month | A timed year of hosting, not a permanent free account | Select US universities only, as the roundup states. |
| Permanent free with cPanel | $0, 1,000 MB SSD. Paid lifetime rows from $25. | A small PHP site after the host approves you | Disk cap. Approval can miss a deadline. Plan table lists 100 GB bandwidth. |
| WebJi® L-Basic | ₹300 a month or ₹3,000 a year, before 18% GST | PHP and MySQL on cPanel after you pay | Not free. GST is added on the invoice. |
Prices in the table were read on 30 October 2026. The static upload page at https://tiiny.host/web-hosting-for-students/ shows no Pro price. The India plan at https://www.studenthosting.in/ shows ₹0 per year and 1 GB SSD.
The roundup at https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/best-free-web-hosting-for-students/ is the source for the $0 cPanel row, the US university year, and a Wix free tier of 500 MB with a $17 premium start.
Where a page disagrees with itself, use the plan table. The GoogieHost $0 row in that roundup lists 1,000 MB of disk and 100 GB of bandwidth, while the paragraph above the table says unlimited bandwidth.
A static zip host will not run a PHP project. The ₹0 India plan is permanent free only if the college ID is accepted. The US university year is a timer, and a paid monthly price starts when it ends.
College PHP and MySQL checklist on free hosting
Use this checklist only on a host that offers PHP, MySQL and a way to import SQL. A static zip host will not run the project.
- Create the hosting account and note the database host. On cPanel it is usually localhost.
- Create a MySQL database and a user, then grant that user all privileges on that database.
- Upload the project to public_html with File Manager or SFTP. Extract a zip in the panel instead of uploading file by file.
- Import the SQL dump in phpMyAdmin.
- Put the database name, user and password in the project's config file, then open every page.
- Submit the live URL. A page that loads is worth more than a screenshot.
Free PHP accounts often freeze an old PHP version or a tiny database, and the demo fails on submission day. The paid route on this site is Linux shared hosting: L-Basic is ₹300 a month before 18% GST, with cPanel.
Portfolio sites: free hosting versus GitHub Pages
GitHub Pages and a static zip host both serve files you upload. They fit a resume or a design folio. They do not fit a brief that says the site must save form rows in MySQL.
A free portfolio link is often a subdomain on the host's domain. That is enough for a class. For a placement email, use a domain you control and a plan you pay for, so the link still opens after the free account is closed.
Custom domains on free hosting for students
Many free plans keep the site on a subdomain. The Wix free tier in that roundup, read on 30 October 2026, is 500 MB with SSL, and a custom domain is a premium feature there. The roundup shows a first-published date of 1 July 2024.
The India ₹0 plan does say it can host one domain. The domain is still a separate purchase on that site: .in at ₹499 a year and .co.in at ₹399 a year, as printed there on 30 October 2026.
On a paid WebJi® account the domain is also separate from the hosting bill. Create the account first, then point one DNS record, and open the site in a private window. If the site fails, undo that record before you change another.
When students should leave free hosting and pay by UPI
Move off free hosting when the project must survive the semester, when a placement officer or a client will open it, when the database is near the cap, or when the host suspends idle accounts.
WebJi® is the paid step, not a ₹0 coupon. Prices below were read on 30 October 2026, before 18% GST. The one-year column is not twelve times the monthly price.
| Linux shared plan | Monthly, before GST | One year, before GST |
|---|---|---|
| L-Basic | ₹300 | ₹3,000 |
| L-Unlimited | ₹400 | ₹4,000 |
| L-Developer | ₹700 | ₹7,000 |
At checkout you pay by UPI, a card or netbanking. GST at 18% is added on the invoice. The full grid is on the hosting prices page. Email support@webji.services if you want the amount confirmed before you pay.
A move from the free host is free only after terms and approval. Send the zip of the files and the SQL dump to that mailbox. Do not use the office phone as a support line.
Back up a free student host before semester end
Free accounts get closed. Some offers end on a date, and some hosts remove accounts that nobody logs into. Export in the last week of term, not after the results are out.
The survival kit:
- Export the database — in phpMyAdmin choose Export and save the .sql file at the end of every semester.
- Zip the files — in File Manager select the site files, compress them, and download the zip.
- Store both off the hosting account — use a cloud drive and a pen drive, because one copy is not a backup.
- Note the versions — PHP version plus the database name, user and password, so the project can run the same way on the next host.
With the zip and the SQL file stored off the hosting account, you can restore the project on any host that runs the same PHP and MySQL. The database export guide is the click path for the dump.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there free hosting for students in India?
Yes. One Indian plan read on 30 October 2026 is ₹0 per year with 1 GB SSD, one domain and DirectAdmin, if you have a college, university or polytechnic ID. WebJi® does not sell that ₹0 plan.
Can I host my college project for free?
Only if that free host runs PHP and MySQL and lets you import a SQL file. A host that accepts a zip of HTML, CSS and images will not run the project. Export the files and the database before the term ends.
What are the limits of free hosting?
On the free offers read on 30 October 2026, disk was 500 MB or 1,000 MB, the site count was one, and a custom domain was missing or gated. A vetted free plan can also arrive too late for a submission date.
Is free hosting good for a portfolio website?
It is good enough to show a class. It is a weak link to send to an employer, because the address is often a subdomain and the account can be removed. A paid plan plus your own domain avoids that.
Do free hosting sites provide cPanel and MySQL?
Some do, and some do not. The India ₹0 plan uses DirectAdmin, PHP 7.x and 8.x, and Softaculous. A free plan in the same roundup uses cPanel and MySQL with 1,000 MB. A static zip host has no MySQL.
Can I use a custom domain on free hosting?
Sometimes. The India ₹0 plan says it hosts one domain, and you still pay for the domain. The Wix free tier in the roundup connects a custom domain only on a premium plan.
Does WebJi® have a free trial for students?
No. There is no ₹0 WebJi® plan and no published number of free trial days. L-Basic is ₹300 a month or ₹3,000 for one year, before 18% GST. A first-term hosting refund is not a free month.
How do I pay for the upgrade with UPI?
Open the hosting prices, choose L-Basic or a larger Linux shared row, and pay in checkout with UPI, a card or netbanking. The table price is before 18% GST. Email support@webji.services if you want the invoice total before you pay.