So basically I'm going to be starting up multiple websites soon for the purpose of activism and practicing my coding skills, i have an idea of a website, "howtobeanactivist.com" which is hoepfully going to lure people from all over the Internet, then they train to be activists and then eventually we have a whole army of activists that know what they're doing.

 

Basically I want to get a server running for now for our movement but I don't want to dish out money to see the website left abandoned with low traffic, but at least we're moving. So basically I want a good host that free.

 

Would the free hosting be able to handle random traffic from all over the Internet before we get big enough? The we can switch to paid hosting right? What do you recommend that I do?

You get what you pay for with hosting. If you want something fast and reliable then you won't get it for free. The best you will get is shared hosting on a server filled with 1000's of other websites, and would likely have adverts or no uptime guarantee.

 

If you're looking to start off small, look into some of the packages from TSO host or A Small Orange. They are relatively cost-effective and reliable, and should cater for what you need.

You won't get much for free but if you want a "free speech" web host have a look a http://www.hacker10.com/other-computing/list-of-free-speech-and-offshore-hosting-companies/

Chances are, if you go with a free host your websites will not be able to grow much and stand online - you are prone to having a lot of issues, like frequent downtime, your website might end-up in a blacklist because someone else on that free server was abusing or sending spam, etc.

I would suggest you sign up with a budget host and scale up / upgrade when needed.

Well if you want a completely free server hosting, prepare yourself for a lot of struggle with crashing and other issues. I'd suggest finding a cheap server host rather than a free one.

Yeah, free hosting is a false economy.

 

If you want your site to get traction just opt for a starter web hosting package. For around £3 per month or £30 per year you can get good starter web hosting with a free domain, 24/7 support, with good performance and crucially things such as a 99.9% uptime guarantee and a reliable home for your website, which you won't get with free hosting.

 

You can then easily scale up if your idea takes off.

 

If it's something you believe passionately about then that's hardly much of a financial commitment to do things properly.

 

You'll need to purchase the domain anyway, so you're only looking at another £22 or so per year on top of that for proper performance, support and reliability.

 

Best of luck