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Host Your Domain with Free Apps
Posted by Gina Trapani at 4:00 AM on December 11, 2007
Want your very own web site address, but don't want to mess with pay-for hosting packages or server configuration? Today you can buy a domain name for around 10 bucks a year (or less) and map it to a variety of free web-based apps for no-mess and no-cost hosting. Typical commercial web hosting starts at around $100 a year and comes with clunky webmail and apps you have to set up yourself. Instead, you can have a full-featured web site with multiple spacious email accounts, blog or static web page hosting, and other services for free. You don't have to lease server space or run your own server to have your own URL. Let's take a look at how you can set up a complete domain name backend for free.
Why a Custom Domain?
Lots of web publishing and email services out there hand out web addresses for free. You can haveyou.wordpress.com for your blog, a freewebs.com/you address for your regular web page, and a you@gmail.com email address without getting any domain names involved. Plus, the domain name itself is not free; typically you'll pay $10 to $20 a year to register your URL.
So why get a domain name at all? Well, there are a few advantages to going the extra step and buying your own URL instead of using these addresses:
- It looks more professional. If you're an individual who's serious about your web presence, a freelancer, or a small business owner, a custom domain name is a must. It's memorable, permanent, and at first glance it appears a lot more legitimate than a
username.blogspot.comorfreewebs.com/usernameaddress that advertises the fact that you're using free services.
- It's a permanent pointer to your stuff online. Your domain name is a permanent pointer to your home online, that visitors (and the Googlebot) will refer to regardless of what tools you use on the backend. With your own domain, you can start out with a nameplate site, move onto a free blog, transfer to a pay-for hosted blog package, then opt for full-on commercial hosting without ever changing your URL. To have a say in what Google says about you, you want a custom domain that the Googlebot can find and rank as the best source of information about you over time.
YOU own it. While you may be using free services behind your domain, YOU own your domain name and you can point it wherever you please. So if any service you're using doesn't cut the mustard or goes bankrupt some day? You simply move to another service using your registrar's tools (which you do pay for in your registration fee), but your visitors don't have to change their bookmarks.
Host Your Web Page or Blog
Whether you want to set up a static nameplate (or "brochure") web site or a constantly-updated blog at your domain, there are a few services that let you do so. The following list is not exhaustive, but can definitely get you started:- Blogspot (weblog host)Set up your own blog at Google's hosted Blogspot service but ditch the
yourusername.blogspot.comaddress. Here's how to map your custom domain name to your Blogspot blog.
Tumblr (weblog host)Busier folks who want a quick-to-update, simple blog should check out the excellent Tumblr service, which also supports custom domains for free. If you're not familiar with Tumblr and tumblelogs in general, check out my previous feature on setting up an instant, no-overhead blog with Tumblr. (The blog at my personal domain, scribbling.net, is graciously hosted by Tumblr for free.)
- Google Page Creator (static web pages)If you use Google Apps For Your Domain (and you'll want to, more on that below), you can use Google Page Creator to put together your nameplate or brochure site that comes up when visitors type your domain into their web browsers. Offering 100MB of free storage space, Page Creator comes with an in-browser WYSIWYG editor for designing and managing your pages, and a in-browser upload tool for images and other files (no FTP access).
- Freewebs (static web pages)One of Lifehacker readers' favourite free web hosts, Freewebs supports custom domain names, too. When setting up a site for a friend, I found that while Google Page Creator doesn't let you use custom Javascript in web pages (like Lightbox 2, which is perfect for photo galleries), Freewebs did—but Freewebs only gives you 40MB of space, compared to Page Creator's 100MB. Like Page Creator, Freewebs does not offer FTP access, unless you pony up for one of their paid plans.
Get Gmail at Your Domain
While you can send messages from any address using regular old Gmail, in some clients your recipient will see "on behalf of soandso@gmail.com" in the message header. However, using Google Apps For Your Domain (GAppsFYD) Standard (read:free), you can have Gmail mapped directly to your domain name, meaning the messages you send from it offer no indication they're hosted at Google. That means you get Gmail's storage, spam filtering, labels, and the rest on the backend, and as far as your recipients know, you're using a commercial (or your own) email host. Gmail blows the typical web-based email that comes with most pay-for hosting packages out of the water (sorry SquirrelMail.) With IMAP and POP access, you can use it with your desktop email client of choice, from Thunderbird to Outlook. And you get all this with GAppFYD Standard Edition, not the pay-for Premier service.
But before you go moving from vanilla Gmail to GAppsFYD Gmail, there's one thing you need to know: Google rolls out Gmail feature additions and updates to @gmail accounts faster than GAppsFYD accounts. As of writing, while a free @gmail account is now rockin' coloured labels, a fabulous Java-based mobile app, an improved Contacts manager, and faster performance, GAppsFYD Gmail does not.
More Google Apps For Your Domain
While Gmail is the most well-known tool in Google Apps for Your Domain, there are a bunch more services you can enable for your GAppsFYD account as well, including Google Calendar, Google Docs, a personalised homepage (ala iGoogle) and Google Talk. Remember, you can create up to 50 usernames@yourdomain.com for the services you enable on your account, too, so folks at your organisation can share calendars and chat with their usernames at your domain name. Click to enlarge this screengrab of the GAppsFYD administrator control panel.
Here's more on what you can do with Google Apps for Your Domain (great comments and testimonials from Lifehacker readers on that post, too.)
In fact, if Google Apps For Your Domain seems to be all you want and need, and you don't already own a domain name, the Name.com domain registrar has a cheap deal for first-timers using Google Apps. For $7 a year, register your domain at Name.com and get it automatically configured to work with Google Apps, no setup on your part required. Note: we haven't tried Name.com's service ourselves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wait, how does this work exactly? How does the free service provider know about my URL?
In order to point your domain at the service of your choice, you'll have to change its settings at your domain registrar AND set up the free service itself to know you're using it with your domain. For example, here's Google Apps For Your Domain's extensive Help section on getting your domain name set up. Consult the help pages at the service of your choice (or use the links above) for more details.
I already paid for web hosting, but now I realise I paid for more than I want. How do I move over to a free service?
All you have to do is configure your domain and the free service to work together. Once the domain is migrated over to the free backend tools, you can cancel your web hosting account.
I already paid for web and email hosting. I want to keep my web pages as they are, but I just want Gmail for email instead. Can I do that? How do I move over?
You can do that. Google Apps For Your Domain is a buffet situation: You can use as many or as few of the offerings as you'd like. To just get Gmail for your domain, just configure the Gmail-specific settings at your registrar and in GAppsFYD. Then you may want to POP the messages from your original provider into Gmail once you've moved over to keep your past messages. When you move your email to Gmail, it's hosted completely on Google's servers—ending the need for email space and accounts on your original provider.
I don't have my own domain, but you've convinced me to invest in one. What should I know before I do that?
Most domain registrars have search tools that check to see if that perfect domain name you want is available. However, a few other non-registrar domain check tools are pretty good, too. Check out Bust a Name and Domain Hacks. See also Lifehacker reader recommendations for good domain registrars, too.
Don't You Get What You Pay For? (The Drawbacks to Free Apps)
The biggest difference between hosting your web site and email with free apps and pay-for apps is support. With a commercial hosting package, if your site goes down or you're not getting email, you call an 800 number and get a human on the line who will help you get through it. This isn't so with free webapps. While GApps is especially stable, I've had troubles in the past with free hosting services, and it's frustrating when your web site is down and you've got no recourse. My advice would be to avoid hosting critical domains on free services, for that very reason. But readers looking to set up a personal weblog or nameplate site? Go for it.Do you have any tales of success or failure with free domain hosting? Got any domain registrar recommendations or free web hosting services you love? How do you host your domain for free or cheap? Tell us about it in the comments.
Gina Trapani, the editor of Lifehacker, loves that anyone can have their own URL without messing with their own server. Her weekly feature, Geek to Live, appears every Tuesday on Lifehacker. AU.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
minus19
Posted 3:20 PM 10/12/07
@Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor:
Erm, nearly every free host offers FTP, i'm amazed that the editor of such a prominent sites actually knows so very little.
look at freewebspace.net you'll find, oooh, hundreds that offer ftp.
minus19
BackDoorAngel
Posted 3:12 PM 10/12/07
oh no! you forgot the absolutely wonderfull [wordpress.com]! it's a really great alternative to blogger and is based on the open-source wordpress platform.
definitely check it out before you just hop onto blogspot!
BackDoorAngel
binaryspiral
Posted 2:55 PM 10/12/07
FTP Access? Dreamhost web hosting offers SSH, SFTP, and plain FTP access. They offer more storage space and bandwidth than you'll ever be able to legally use.
Check them out here: [www.dreamhost.com]
binaryspiral
binaryspiral
Posted 2:52 PM 10/12/07
MEEDUCATED: you can export contacts by dumping them to a csv file from your old account, then import them into the new account.
binaryspiral
binaryspiral
Posted 2:51 PM 10/12/07
Great write up. For those of you who are new to domain name services, I would suggest using a registrar (the folks that you pay to secure your domain name) that offer identity protection.
Godaddy charges you an extra fee, but it keeps your name, address, and contact information out of the WhoIs database.
Dreamhost provides this service for free. Your mileage may vary, but check around. It's worth the costs.
binaryspiral
MeEducated
Posted 2:32 PM 10/12/07
@Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor: Thanks Gina, I may well try that.
MeEducated
danielo
Posted 2:26 PM 10/12/07
I'm using freehostia.com and have had no complaints. FTP access - YES.
danielo
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor
Posted 2:13 PM 10/12/07
@MeEducated: Well, you could use IMAP or POP to download all your mail from your original Gmail account. Or, you could use Gmail's internal POP fetcher on the GApps account to grab your old mail. Someone in an earlier thread said it takes some time, but that Gmail will get all of it eventually.
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor
MeEducated
Posted 2:11 PM 10/12/07
@edythemighty:
Thanks, that makes sense. Does anyone have any ideas on the emails front? I've about 3-4 years of email on there which I'm not really willing to forgo to lose the 'sent on behalf of' problem.
MeEducated
edythemighty
Posted 2:00 PM 10/12/07
Compatibility*!
edythemighty
edythemighty
Posted 2:00 PM 10/12/07
@MeEducated: You can export contacts as CSV or vcard. It shouldn't be any problem to export/import contacts. Gmail even has it's own CSV format for better compabitibility
edythemighty
edythemighty
Posted 1:51 PM 10/12/07
@reswob: ANHosting seems pretty good. Although I'm on Godaddy right now :P Everyone I meet says Dreamhost is also among the top hosts in terms of features.
edythemighty
Ken
Posted 1:50 PM 10/12/07
Being a computer consultant, I've been putting my clients and also friends on my 16x Quad core Opteron processors (64 cores)web server.. I've also completely removed any restriction on the hosting service. So they get unlimited everything, from storage to bandwidth usage.. Try to beat that, all those low end web hosting companies.
Ken
MeEducated
Posted 1:44 PM 10/12/07
A key issue for me to transfer from plain vanilla Gmail to Google Apps is whether I can transfer emails and contacts from my existing gmail account.
Does anyone know whether I can do this? It's kind of a dealbreaker for me.
MeEducated
brucifer
Posted 1:40 PM 10/12/07
@reswob: I've been using 1and1.com for years and they tend to run from $4 a month and up. I think I have the $4.99 a month package and host something like 8 different domains on it. Granted, I lot of their "value add" software and stuff is pretty crappy, but its easy to put up a Joomla site or something. The google apps are pretty cool. I think I might play around with some of them on a new domain I'm putting up.
brucifer
Mr Handsome B Wonderful
Posted 1:34 PM 10/12/07
Nearly psychic, Gina - I've just needed to switch hosts, and as I'm seasonally cash-short looked at 'free' hosting options. 110mb.com seems pretty good - 5Gb space, domain hosting, all ad free, etc. I've only just started using it, but all seems good so far - don't know if anyone else can attest to longer term reliability?
Oh, and a heads-up: I think it's fairly standard for free hosts to specify in their t&c's that you can't use the space for online file storage.
Mr Handsome B Wonderful
jarhead
Posted 1:32 PM 10/12/07
@jarhead: jarhead you crazy guy... scratch that!
That's only if you pay $237.60 and covers a 4 year period.
jarhead
Bakari
Posted 1:31 PM 10/12/07
Good idea. I'm thinking about getting a domain name for my son and daughter, so I can start teaching them how to develop a web site.
Bakari
williamk
Posted 1:31 PM 10/12/07
I'm happily using GAppsFYD and recommend it all the time to people who are using Gmail already. Its cheap to buy your domain and even if you dont stick with Google, you keep your address no matter where you go or what else changes.
Also, Microsoft offers a similar free hosted domain system using Windows Live. [domains.live.com] is the url. I havent used it since I'm a happy Google Kool-aid drinker :)
williamk
engtech
Posted 1:29 PM 10/12/07
If you're using OpenID at all and it's not on a domain name you own -- you're asking to be locked out of your accounts.
Also, consider buying your domain name in 5 year increments... it prevents losing it if you forget to renew. Those domain name squatters will grab it if you miss by even a day.
engtech
jarhead
Posted 1:27 PM 10/12/07
AN Hosting has a holiday special going for $4.95 (normally $6.95) per month with all kinds of crazy stuff included (including free domain name for life). I don't use them but for $5.00 a month can you really go wrong?
jarhead
sumocat
Posted 1:27 PM 10/12/07
@Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor: I think TommySez is referencing the preponderance of Google mentions, as if it's your fault they offer so much free stuff.
BTW, I didn't realize your personal blog was at scribbling.net. If either domain was available, I'd be using scribbles.com or scribbles.net (for Sumocat's Scribbles), but they unfortunately seem to be lying dormant under squatters.
sumocat
holymogwai
Posted 1:26 PM 10/12/07
awardspace.com is a LOT better. Has 200mb space (i believe), ftp access, hosting, php, mysql, 5 gb monthly traffic, etc etc. a lot better than these.
holymogwai
Kaobear
Posted 1:24 PM 10/12/07
name.com for domains, has Google Apps built in
Kaobear
Andrew Heiss
Posted 1:16 PM 10/12/07
The closest host I've found to "free" is NearlyFreeSpeech.net - I pay about 2 cents a month. If I start a MySQL process and store more files there, I'd pay maybe 45 cents a month. They have full services, an excellent support forum, and have been around for a while, so they're not going to disappear one morning. Domain registration with them costs around $8 a year.
You can set up Google Apps for e-mail and avoid the 1 cent a day charge for NearlyFreeSpeech's e-mail hosting.
It's a killer combination - NFS and Google Apps
Andrew Heiss
ogman
Posted 1:07 PM 10/12/07
I tried Google Apps. I had problems with the service, tried to get help, and was very disappointed in the available support. I understand that when you are using free or low cost services help is limited, but the limited assistance was not able to solve the problem. Instead of giving up on the service (for which I had paid a small amount), I finally called Google and I was treated like I was committing a crime simply for trying to get hold of someone who could answer a question. The whole experience changed my opinion of Google, for the worse.
ogman
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor
Posted 1:02 PM 10/12/07
@TommySez: Ad? Wha? Where?
@reswob: As far as I know, no free host offers FTP access (though I hope someone can correct me!) Of course, you can always set up your own FTP server at home, but that doesn't help you in terms of web hosting, unless you're hosting your web site at home (also possible, but most likely limited in the speed dept.)
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor
agroom
Posted 12:59 PM 10/12/07
Does anyone know any good places to purchase a domain from? I tried Yahoo a few years ago and was not very satisfied, though it was only $4/year!
agroom
reswob
Posted 12:58 PM 10/12/07
@tommysez: Where are you paying $4/month for hosting?
Also, Gina, this sounds good, but I also have a need for ftp services. Any suggestions there?
reswob
cmherskovic
Posted 12:52 PM 10/12/07
I have been using Gmail for my business for about a year now, and couldnt be happier!
cmherskovic
TommySez
Posted 12:35 PM 10/12/07
Wow! Nice ad.
(Personally, I'd rather fork over a whole 4 bucks a month for hosting.)
TommySez
teqsun.com
Posted 4:30 PM 10/12/07
im sorry... but these free hosts arent going to give you FTP (or if they do very limited) or SSH! If I cant get SSH access to my webserver I wont bother.
I know most people out there want an easy hosting solution... They don't want to think about html this or PERL that... but what business are they doing on the web then?
It's like those lose fat or get rich quick commericals... everybody wants to take the easy way out... Why dont you spend a weekend looking over some html and build your own damn page?
teqsun.com
HarrisonHopkins
Posted 4:23 PM 10/12/07
@Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor: There are quite a few free hosts that allow FTP access. I use [www.phpnet.us]
HarrisonHopkins
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor
Posted 4:14 PM 10/12/07
@BackDoorAngel: Yes indeed, I did mention it above! Except you do have to pay to get domain mapping at Wordpress.com.
@binaryspiral: I've heard Dreamhost is good too, but not free, which is why I didn't include them in the article.
@minus19: Which one specifically do you recommend from that list?
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor
sanjman79
Posted 3:57 PM 10/12/07
Is there any site that helps host pictures online, like gmail does with email? I'd prolly want to be use my family name as the domain and allow for each member to be able to contribute an album at any time. Any suggestions on how to do this?
sanjman79
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor
Posted 5:57 PM 10/12/07
@greenbot: I slowly transferred all my domains from Register.com to GoDaddy in the past year or so, mostly because there was a huge price difference (GoDaddy was cheaper, but of course Register.com broke out the deals and discounts when they realized they were losing me. Too late!)
In terms of service, neither one of them impressed me. The whole process seems to be studded with annoying advertising (like that NASCAR woman, spare me!) and "Add these extra crappy services to your cart before you check out!"ness. Also, the price they advertise for a domain will be super low ("10 bucks a year!") but when all's said and done, if you want something other than a .com, or if you want a domain for only a year, or if you don't want your email address publicly listed, the price is ALWAYS higher. In short, it kinda blows.
I remember Matt Haughey (of MetaFilter) talking about using Dotster and Joker once, and he seems to have a lot of experience with these things, so next time I'm up for renewal I may go that route.
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor
greenbot
Posted 5:50 PM 10/12/07
I'd like to hear people's experience with registering a domain name. I was thinking about registering with GoDaddy, but I've heard mixed reviews about them. I also had Yahoo Domains in mind, but they're such a huge mega-corp, I wonder what quality of their customer service is like.
greenbot
martinmcd
Posted 5:27 PM 10/12/07
@williamk: I am using Windows Live for mail on a few sites I run, and I don't have any complaints. I also like being able to use it to pull together those old hotmail and MSN accounts that I use for spam dumps.
martinmcd
jason724
Posted 6:45 PM 10/12/07
I know we're talking about hosting domains and all but..
Dot.tk offers a great re-direction service for free. For example I have the domain techgofer.tk, which redirects to my google webpage. All of the .tk domains are free, but have a small banner. For $2.99, you can remove the banner (for life). And you can even do that through a simple text message. In other words... you don't even need to use a credit card or check or anything... just text message a certain number and type in the activation code. I even use .tk for my personal sites. It's so much easier to use and best of all it's free (or $2.99 in my case).
jason724
BackDoorAngel
Posted 6:08 PM 10/12/07
@Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor: oh there it is! I'm ashamed...
BackDoorAngel
wantnana
Posted 9:47 PM 10/12/07
I use Google Apps for Your Domain for my 50-person outsourcing company with offices in the US and Philippines. Its hard to imagine creating a similar setup 5 years ago or even 2 years ago. Thank you Google.
wantnana
A3sthetix
Posted 10:39 PM 10/12/07
@edythemighty: Dreamhost = yuck
Google it and you'll see why.
A3sthetix
luke holder
Posted 11:49 PM 10/12/07
@sanjman79: google's picasa - and picasa web albums.
luke holder
3typesofskincancer.info
Posted 9:50 AM 11/12/07
I try to use Gmail because it is more agile, the page to subscribe the account is faster with less complications. And, most important, less amount of Spam!
3typesofskincancer.info
iprox
Posted 3:01 AM 11/12/07
Anyone know how GoDaddy.com domain name registrations are? I was thinking about going through them, but wasn't sure. NearlyFreeSpeech sounds really great. Anyone else use them?
iprox
BEN
Posted 11:21 AM 11/12/07
I use GMailFYD for a few domains that I own, and they work very well. As Gina mentioned, GMailFYD is slower at adopting GMail updates. I used to use the other Google products like Pages for my web space, but it was very buggy. You tend to be limited to very simple web pages, and if you try to get fancy things don't work as expected. For example using a favicon for your page. Every time you edit the page, the lines that define your favicon are removed and need to be manually entered again.
I no longer use any of the free Google products FYD except the email portion. The docs and spreadsheets are still too beta for anything serious. Hopefully they will make these web utilities more robust.
BEN
vamshy
Posted 1:15 PM 11/12/07
Can I use Google apps for domain in my blogspot account?
vamshy
cybergrace
Posted 12:37 PM 11/12/07
A couple tips:
(1) For small sites I like DirectNic.com. If you buy a $15 domain name you get free hosting that includes FTP. However, free = ads, although not as ugly as most. If you want to take the ads down, it is only $15 a year. Careful though, email is $10/account.
(2) Warning about buying domain names through GoDaddy.com. They keep records of searches done on their website on the "Domain Name Search" section. If you don't buy it right away they often do -- and then when you come back in a day or two they hold it hostage at a much higher price!! Infuriating and it should be illegal.
(3) My favorite host if Lunarpages.com. As an advanced user I appreciate the huge amount of space, unlimited emails, telephone support, unlimited MySQL databases and fantastico scripts & lots more geeky stuff, and cheap $7/month cost.
I am excited to try Google webpages and Apps, especially now that nonprofits get pro services free.
cybergrace
jrrservice
Posted 2:48 PM 11/12/07
Regarding the GAppsFYD gmail not being as feature-rich as "plain old" gmail: I forward several of my domain accounts to my original gmail address. You can use the choose From: feature to appear to reply from those domain accounts if you wish.
jrrservice
Charles Duffy
Posted 4:30 PM 11/12/07
@Andrew Heiss: I agree -- NearlyFreeSpeech + Google AFYD is a great combo (yes, people who're asking, they offer SSH, SFTP and the like), but I can't use them for everything I'd like to until they get SSL support working.
Yes, they need to get to Apache 2.2.x before they can do individual SSL certificates per site in a way that's compatible with using virtual hosts -- but I most sincerely hope that won't take too long to do.
Charles Duffy
jadams
Posted 3:36 PM 11/12/07
[www.wikidot.com] is a free wiki service that offers custom domains also
if you wanted to have a personal / family wiki also
jadams
terceiro
Posted 9:54 AM 12/12/07
Sorry I'm late...
I've used joker.com for registering domains for years and never had any problem. They seem to be very up-and-up.
terceiro
kiwinerdgrrl
Posted 11:28 PM 13/12/07
I've been authoring web sites (using Apache, WordPress, Drupal, and Plone) for several years. My two fave web hosting providers in the US so far are GrokThis.Net and A Small Orange.
N.B.: the wisest way to start your hunt is to recognize well your own actual (not fantastical) feature needs.
kiwinerdgrrl
jayen
Posted 7:45 AM 16/12/07
Yes, you can use Google Apps for Your Domain with Blogspot. Just register a domain via GAfYD, and in your blog dashboard, just change the setting to use a custom domain name, enter the url, and voila!
(and don't forget to disable the Google Page Creator so that your domain will be configured correctly with Blogger)
jayen
vamshy
Posted 10:33 AM 17/12/07
Thanks for the reply Jayen, My question is can I use GAfYD to my blogger url, say www.lifehacker.blogspot.com.
vamshy