I’m Kayla, and I build tiny sites for friends and clubs. I like Drupal. I also like free. So I spent a few weekends finding places where Drupal can live without paying a dime. Did it work? Mostly. Was it smooth? Eh, sometimes.
If you’d like the blow-by-blow version of this experiment—with extra notes, logs, and screenshots—grab a coffee and dive into my full Drupal hosting breakdown.
You know what? I learned a lot. And I’ve got real stories.
Pantheon’s Free Dev Site — My PTA Site That Naps
I set up a small parent–teacher site on Pantheon’s free tier. It used the pantheonsite.io domain. No custom domain on free, which felt a bit “student project,” but fine for a start. If you’re wondering exactly what’s included, their official FAQ breaks it down.
Setup was easy. I used their Drupal starter and pushed theme tweaks with Git. The admin felt quick. Cache was strong. But the site would “nap” after it sat for a while. First visit after a nap took a few seconds to wake. Not awful, just a little awkward when a parent texted, “Is the site down?” and then it popped up.
Email was the pain. The contact form didn’t send mail on free. I couldn’t fix it without an outside mail tool. I held off until we moved to a paid plan. On the plus side, auto backups were simple, and dev/test/live made sense even though I only used dev.
Best for: class projects, drafts, or training. Not great for a public site that must be awake 24/7.
000webhost — The Banner And The One-Hour Nap
I put a small youth soccer site on 000webhost. It was game schedules, a few photos, a calendar. I uploaded Drupal by hand over FTP, set up MySQL, and crossed my fingers. It installed, but it felt tight.
Two big snags:
- There’s a big banner on free plans. It’s tacky. Parents noticed.
- The site sleeps one hour each day. It shows a “sleeping” page. That was rough during sign-ups.
Admin was slow if I turned on extra modules. I had to keep the site lean: Olivero theme, core modules only, no heavy galleries. It ran, but I kept my edits short because timeouts were a thing.
Best for: a tiny site you don’t mind babysitting. Not for busy teams.
InfinityFree — No Ads, But Stubborn Uploads
I used InfinityFree for my aunt’s recipe blog (she makes killer peach pie, by the way). No ads on pages, which I liked. The cPanel clone was simple. I installed Drupal by hand again.
I hit two walls:
- File upload limits made themes and modules a chore. I had to upload zip files, then extract on the server.
- Email out was blocked, so contact forms didn’t reach me. I used cron-job.org to hit Drupal’s cron, which did help with updates.
The fix that saved me: I switched PHP versions in the control panel. After that, the admin stopped throwing random errors. Still, Composer wasn’t allowed, so adding modules took longer.
Best for: small content sites with few modules. Simple, clean, and no ads, but keep it light.
Freehostia — Cute Name, Tiny Disk
I tried Freehostia’s free plan for a book club site. I wanted events, book notes, and a cozy photo gallery. The install worked, but the disk space (it was small) ran out fast after I added one fancy theme and a couple of photos. I went back to the Olivero theme and crushed images before upload. It held, but barely.
Best for: super small sites and patient folks.
Oracle Cloud Always Free — It Works, But You’re The Admin
Then I went nerdy. I used the Oracle Cloud “Always Free” tier to run Drupal on my own VPS—this Oracle blog walkthrough mirrors many of the steps. I spun up an Arm instance, installed Ubuntu, Nginx, PHP, and MariaDB. Let’s Encrypt gave me free SSL. I pointed my real domain, set proper cron, and it just… ran.
It took a full evening with tea and a hoodie. I patched the server each week. I set up backups to object storage. It was solid and fast, and there were no ads or naps. But yes, I had to be the grown-up here.
Best for: tinkerers, students, and anyone who likes the command line. It’s free, but it costs time.
What About Acquia or Platform.sh?
I tried short trials and demo sandboxes. They felt smooth and pro. But they weren’t free for a live site I could keep. Good for learning. Not for a long-term free home.
If you lean toward e-learning instead of a classic CMS, I took the same free-vs-paid journey with Moodle as well—here’s how those hosts stacked up.
Real Moments That Stuck With Me
- I pushed a theme change on Pantheon from my couch during a storm. The site woke in 3 seconds, and I felt a little proud. Silly, but true.
- I hit the 000webhost nap page right when a coach posted a new schedule. He called me. I laughed, but also, ouch.
- InfinityFree made me redo my module upload three times—you know that feeling when the progress bar just freezes? I walked my dog and tried again. It worked after I switched PHP versions.
- On Oracle, I broke PHP-FPM with a bad config. White screen. I took a breath, rolled back, and learned to keep notes. That taught me more than any guide.
Quick Picks: Who Should Use What
- Pantheon free: a demo, a class site, or a playground.
- 000webhost: temporary or throwaway sites where ads and naps won’t hurt you.
- InfinityFree: small blogs without mail needs.
- Freehostia: tiny, tiny sites.
- Oracle Cloud free VPS: hobby projects that want a “real” site, if you don’t mind being the admin.
If you ever pivot to building a full-blown Ruby on Rails app instead of a CMS, I also shared what actually worked for me in Rails hosting; the trade-offs feel familiar but come with their own twists.
Tiny Tricks That Helped Me Keep Drupal Light
- Use the Olivero theme and skip heavy page builders.
- Compress images before upload. I keep them under 200 KB when I can.
- Turn on cache and keep logs low.
- Use cron-job.org to ping cron if the host’s cron is missing.
- Limit modules. If it’s “nice to have,” skip it on free.
- If your host allows it, switch PHP versions until errors stop.
- Add Cloudflare’s free plan for basic CDN and SSL on custom domains.
- On a VPS, set automatic updates and backups. Even a weekly tarball helps.
The Bottom Line
Can you host Drupal for free? Yes. For a budget option that skips the usual free-tier headaches, WebSpaceHost offers inexpensive Drupal-ready plans that many hobbyists swear by. For small sites, clubs, and school stuff, it’s fine. You’ll trade polish for limits. If you need steady email, a custom domain, and no naps, a cheap $5–$10 plan brings peace.
If you’re curious, start with Pantheon to learn, try InfinityFree for a simple blog, or go Oracle if you like control. And if you get stuck, take a walk, then try again. It’s funny how often that works.
Bonus tangent: some folks begin building a Drupal community site only to realize they simply want an easier way to meet like-minded adults nearby. If that sounds like you, skip the server setup entirely and visit Fuckpal’s “Get a Local Fuck Friend” page—there you can browse nearby profiles, chat securely, and arrange discreet meet-ups without ever touching a host control panel or worrying about uptime.
Likewise, if your audience is concentrated around Mississippi and you’d prefer a quick classifieds board over spinning up a whole CMS, the modern successor to the old personals scene can be found at Backpage Vicksburg—there you can post or browse local ads, meet new people in the Vicksburg area, and make connections instantly, all without battling file-upload limits or “napping” free hosts.