Free Hosting for PHP Projects – Complete Guide (2025 Edition)

Free Hosting for PHP Projects - Complete Guide

Deploy your PHP applications without spending a dime - comprehensive comparison and setup guide

Getting your PHP project online doesn't have to cost money. Whether you're a student learning web development, a developer building a portfolio, or working on a side project, free hosting services can provide the perfect platform to showcase your work. However, not all free hosting services are created equal, and choosing the wrong one can lead to frustration and wasted time.

In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore the best free hosting platforms for PHP projects, compare their features and limitations, and provide step-by-step deployment instructions. You'll learn which hosting service fits your specific needs and how to get your PHP application online quickly and efficiently.

1

Heroku

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) with Git deployment

Heroku is one of the most popular platforms for hosting web applications, offering a generous free tier that's perfect for PHP projects. It supports automatic deployments from Git repositories and provides a professional hosting environment with excellent documentation.

Key Features:

• Git-based deployment workflow
• Automatic scaling and load balancing
• Free SSL certificates
• Add-ons for databases, caching, and monitoring
• Support for multiple PHP frameworks
• Custom domain support

Limitations:

• Apps sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity
• 550 free dyno hours per month (about 18 days)
• No persistent file storage
• Limited database storage (10k rows for PostgreSQL)

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ Best for professional projects and portfolios

Best Use Case: Professional portfolios, API backends, and applications that don't require persistent file uploads. Perfect for Laravel, Symfony, or custom PHP applications with database requirements.

2

InfinityFree

Traditional web hosting with cPanel interface

InfinityFree offers traditional shared hosting with unlimited bandwidth and storage, making it ideal for content-heavy websites and applications that need persistent file storage. It provides a familiar cPanel interface and supports most PHP applications out of the box.

Key Features:

• Unlimited bandwidth and disk space
• Free subdomain or bring your own domain
• MySQL database support
• File Manager and FTP access
• One-click WordPress installation
• No forced ads on your website

Limitations:

• Limited to 400 MySQL databases
• 10GB daily data transfer limit
• 50,000 files per account limit
• No email hosting included
• Performance can be inconsistent

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ Great for content sites and file-heavy applications

Pro Tip: InfinityFree is perfect for WordPress sites, file sharing applications, or any project that needs to store user uploads permanently. The unlimited storage makes it ideal for portfolio sites with lots of images.

3

000webhost

Popular free hosting with modern interface

000webhost by Hostinger provides a clean, modern hosting experience with a user-friendly control panel. It's particularly popular among beginners and offers good performance for small to medium PHP applications.

Key Features:

• 1GB disk space and 10GB bandwidth
• Modern website builder included
• Free SSL certificates
• MySQL database support
• PHP 7.4+ support
• Clean, intuitive control panel

Limitations:

• Limited storage (1GB)
• 1 hour daily downtime for maintenance
• Limited customer support
• No email hosting
• Advertisements may appear on free accounts

Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆ Good for beginners and small projects

Perfect for: Learning projects, small business websites, and testing applications. The modern interface makes it beginner-friendly, but the daily downtime can be problematic for production use.

4

Railway

Modern PaaS with generous free tier

Railway is a newer platform-as-a-service provider that offers a generous free tier and modern deployment experience. It's designed with developers in mind and provides excellent performance with minimal configuration.

Key Features:

• $5 monthly credit (covers most small projects)
• Git-based deployment
• Automatic HTTPS
• Built-in database solutions
• Environment variables management
• No sleeping applications

Limitations:

• Credit-based system (usage may exceed free tier)
• Newer platform with smaller community
• Limited documentation compared to Heroku
• May require credit card for signup

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ Excellent for active development projects

Pro Tip: Railway's $5 credit typically covers small to medium projects entirely. Unlike Heroku, your apps won't sleep, making it perfect for APIs or applications that need to be always available.

5

Vercel

Serverless platform optimized for frontend frameworks

While primarily known for JavaScript frameworks, Vercel offers excellent support for PHP through serverless functions. It's particularly powerful for static sites with dynamic PHP components and offers impressive performance worldwide.

Key Features:

• Global CDN with edge functions
• Automatic deployments from Git
• Custom domains with free SSL
• Excellent performance and caching
• Built-in analytics
• Serverless PHP functions

Limitations:

• Serverless model limits traditional PHP apps
• No persistent file storage
• 100GB bandwidth limit per month
• Learning curve for serverless architecture
• Limited database options without external services

Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆ Best for static sites with dynamic components

Ideal for: Portfolio sites, landing pages, and static sites that need some dynamic PHP functionality. Not suitable for traditional PHP frameworks but excellent for modern JAMstack architectures.

Quick Comparison Guide

Platform	Best For	Storage	Bandwidth	Database	Custom Domain
Heroku	Professional projects	Temporary	Unlimited	PostgreSQL (10k rows)	✓
InfinityFree	File-heavy sites	Unlimited	Unlimited	MySQL (400 DBs)	✓
000webhost	Beginner projects	1GB	10GB	MySQL	✓
Railway	Active development	1GB	100GB	PostgreSQL/MySQL	✓
Vercel	Static + dynamic	Temporary	100GB	External only	✓

Step-by-Step Deployment Guide

Here's how to deploy a PHP application to Heroku (the most popular choice):

1Prepare Your PHP Application

Ensure your project has a proper structure with an index.php file in the root directory. Create a composer.json file even if you're not using Composer:

{ "require": { "php": "^7.4.0" } }

2Initialize Git Repository

If your project isn't already in Git, initialize it and make your first commit:

git init git add . git commit -m "Initial commit"

3Create Heroku Application

Install the Heroku CLI and create a new application:

heroku login heroku create your-app-name heroku buildpacks:set heroku/php

4Configure Database (Optional)

If your app needs a database, add the free PostgreSQL add-on:

heroku addons:create heroku-postgresql:hobby-dev

5Deploy Your Application

Push your code to Heroku to trigger deployment:

git push heroku main heroku open

Pro Tip: Create a Procfile in your root directory to specify how Heroku should run your app: web: vendor/bin/heroku-php-apache2 public/ (if using a public folder) or web: vendor/bin/heroku-php-apache2 for root-level index.php.

Choosing the Right Platform

Choose Heroku if:

• You want a professional hosting environment
• Your app doesn't need persistent file storage
• You prefer Git-based deployment
• You're building APIs or web applications
• You want good documentation and community support

Choose InfinityFree if:

• You need unlimited storage for files/images
• You're building content-heavy websites
• You prefer traditional hosting (FTP/cPanel)
• You're migrating from shared hosting
• You need multiple databases

Choose Railway if:

• You want apps that don't sleep
• You're actively developing and testing
• You prefer modern deployment workflows
• You need reliable uptime
• You don't mind potential costs for high usage

Final Recommendations

Free hosting for PHP projects has never been better, with multiple excellent options available depending on your needs. For professional portfolios and production-ready applications, Heroku remains the gold standard. For content-heavy sites and learning projects, InfinityFree provides the most generous storage. Railway offers the best balance of features and performance for active development projects.

Remember that free hosting comes with limitations, but these platforms provide excellent stepping stones. Start with the free tier that matches your project requirements, and consider upgrading to paid plans as your applications grow and require more resources.

Ready to deploy your PHP project? Choose your platform based on your specific needs, follow the deployment guide, and get your application online today. The web development community is waiting to see what you'll build!