If you’re looking for a free VPS, I have some disappointing news. There aren’t any free VPS hosting companies that aren’t a scam, so instead I’ve found the best free VPS trials and almost free VPS hosting providers that you can use.
These high-quality VPS services have been selected by me after signing up to a lot of companies to find out which ones were actually decent. There are some hosts out there that offer free trials but make it an absolute nightmare to cancel.
All of the VPS solutions recommended in this article have been tried and tested, allowing you to try a free VPS service without any risk.
Table of Contents
Best Free VPS Trials
If you don’t have time to read the whole article, here’s a list of the best web hosts that offer free VPS trials in 2023:
- Kamatera (30-day free trial on a Cloud VPS with $100 credit)
- DigitalOcean (60-day free trial with $100 credit)
- Hostinger (30-day money-back guarantee and cheap VPS options)
What To Look For In The Best Free VPS Hosting Solutions
- Long trial – We look for hosting companies that offer a decent length of time for you to try out their services, with a recommendation of at least 30 days
- Easy cancellation – As I mentioned earlier, some hosts like to make it a pain to cancel your free trial, so all our recommendations let you cancel easily
- Good support – VPS hosting is very different from shared hosting, so if you’re not familiar with it, a good customer support option is essential
- Flexibility – VPS hosting is highly customizable, making it suitable for a wide variety of industries. These trials let you test out multiple configurations
- Fast setup – The last thing you want is to wait days for your server to be set up. These hosts provide a quick setup which is why we recommend them
1. Kamatera (30-day Trial Cloud VPS)
Kamatera’s cloud VPS hosting is ideal if you’re looking to host a high-traffic website and require more control and scalability. Instead of your website being hosted on a physical server, your site will be hosted on a cluster of cloud servers worldwide.
You can scale your resources instantly, meaning if you get a sudden spike in traffic or you need more storage, you can add resources when it suits you.
Their 30-day free VPS trial is very generous, offering access to a cloud VPS server with $100 credit for the month if you need to expand your resources. As long as you stay under the limits set out in each plan, you can do what you please.
If you exceed the $100 free credit, you will be charged, which is fair enough. However, I think Kamatera’s free VPS hosting will give you a good idea as to whether it’s the right hosting type for you.
Kamatera features data center locations in New York, Texas, California, Toronto, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Hong Kong, Petach Tikva, Rosh Haayin, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem.
Their servers are fully customizable up to 72 vCPUs, 512GB RAM, 4000GB SSD storage, and 5000GB bandwidth per month.
2. DigitalOcean (60-day Trial Cloud VPS)
DigitalOcean offers cloud VPS services which are deployed very quickly. They offer a wide selection of hosting services, but we’re focusing on their customizable cloud VPS, referred to by DigitalOcean as Droplets.
Their free VPS trial is extremely generous, giving you 60 days to change your mind. Like Kamatera, you’ll also get $100 free credit to play around with.
If you do decide to stick with DigitalOcean, I think their cloud VPS services are reasonably priced, starting from $5 per month. Of course, this is just for their Basic Droplets, and the price increases if you want more resources.
With your $100 free credit, you can set up to ten different VPS servers, run up to 20 static sites, and lots more. If you’re a beginner, I would recommend staying away from DigitalOcean as it can get a little confusing.
But, for developers and professionals, DigitalOcean’s unmanaged VPS servers are very powerful and flexible and could be the right thing you’re looking for.
Unless you pay a premium fee, DigitalOcean’s customer support only offers a ticketing system which is pretty slow. Once you get past the speed, their support services are good, just not instant – another reason I don’t recommend them for beginners.
DigitalOcean offers data centers in New York, San Francisco, Toronto, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Singapore, and Bangalore. Their server resources are fully customizable up to 40 vCPUs, 256GB RAM, 2400GB SSD storage, and 12000GB bandwidth.
3. Hostinger (30-day Money-back Guarantee)
Hostinger is one of my favorite web hosts as they offer high-quality, fast, and cheap servers. If you’re on a budget, then Hostinger is a great choice, as they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Their VPS hosting plans start from as little as $3.95 per month. While they are one of the best cheap VPS hosting services, they are also incredibly powerful.
Uptime, speed, and performance are one of Hostinger’s main features, which is honestly surprising given how affordable they are.
Hostinger’s VPS hosting is classed as semi-managed, so while they won’t directly manage the maintenance and security of your VPS, they are available 24/7 to help with any issues.
Some of the other features Hostinger boasts are:
- Quick refunds – Hostinger accounts can be canceled via their control panel, receiving a full refund within your first 30 day period
- Linux OS – You’ll get to choose between CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and Suse Linux operating systems
- Auto-installer – Popular web scripts like WordPress are included with all of their plans
Their free VPS trial lasts for 30 days and offers to host in the following locations: US, UK, Netherlands, Lithuania, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brazil.
You can choose between multiple server configurations including 1-8 vCPUs, 1-8GB RAM, 20GB-160GB SSD storage, and 1-8TB bandwidth.
4. AccuWebHosting (1-month Free Windows VPS)
You can get free Windows VPS hosting with AccuWebHosting for one month. You won’t need a credit card to sign up, and it’s not a free trial.
Their initial setup includes the latest ASP.NET frameworks, Microsoft SQL, and other software you might need. If that all sounds like jargon, then it’s probably not the best free VPS option for you, and I’d recommend looking at Hostinger first.
AccuWebHosting is a reliable and trustworthy free VPS host, with a hard to come by an offering of Windows hosting. They’ve been in business for over 14 years and have more than 15,000 VPS on their books.
Their free VPS plan includes 2 CPU cores, 1GB RAM, 35GB storage, 500GB bandwidth, Windows 2008 or 2012, and 1 IP address.
5. A2 Hosting (Best Cheap VPS Hosting)
A2 Hosting is well known for its great customer support and Turbo Boost shared hosting servers. However, when it comes to VPS hosting, A2 definitely excels in this area.
With prices starting from $4.99 per month, it wouldn’t feel right not to mention them on this list as an “almost free vps host”.
Depending on your needs, A2 Hosting offers managed and unmanaged VPS hosting. If you’re a beginner, I highly recommend managed hosting, as you’ll have a support team behind you to set things up and be on hand.
For developers and professionals, unmanaged VPS hosting may be a better requirement, and a cheaper option. All VPS plans include 99.9% uptime guarantee, perpetual security, and a money-back guarantee.