Domains are an integral part of setting up your website, but they all come at a cost. Don’t let this cost deter you—there are secret ways to get domains for free, and some alternatives.

Free domain with hosting

Often, when you purchase a hosting plan a year in advance, the hosting provider might bundle in a free domain for a year. Unless you opt for free hosting, you’re going to have to pay for hosting regardless, so why not take advantage of this offer?

iFastNet bundles a free domain name forever with all of its plans, as long as you keep paying each year. You can also pay monthly with iFastNet and still be granted a free domain, but you receive a lesser-known extension (such as .info or. space), and you only get to keep it for a year.

Downsides of this

Unless you opt for iFastNet, hosting companies usually only provide their domain free for a single year. Afterward, renewal prices are quite expensive, because they need to make up for lost profit. Additionally, most hosts also require you to pay at least a year in advance before giving you a free domain.

Free subdomain

While subdomains aren’t exactly domains, they are still a viable option for a hobby website or if you are just looking to experiment. Most free web hosts generally give a free subdomain to their users.

For example, when you sign up for Gilect’s free hosting, you are given a free .gilect.net subdomain. After you sign up, you can change your subdomains for free, and opt for an extension as .iblogger.org or .66ghz.com.

Super cheap domains

Cheap isn’t free, but it’s the closest you can get to free. Domain registrars such as NameSilo offer some domain extensions for very cheap prices. For example, .xyz is available for $2.39 for the first year, and .top is available for $1.88 for the first year and $4.88 each year after that.

Actually free domains

You read this far, you deserve the truth. There is an actual way to get a free domain. By signing up at Freenom, you can register a domain for free, and you get to keep it—forever.

Now, before getting your hopes up too much, there are some things that you should know. While Freenom does offer free domains, they are probably not the domain extensions that you want. Instead, they offer obscure country-code domains, such as .TK for Tokelau.

Also, while you do get to keep the domain forever, you have to remember to renew it each year. Freenom does not offer automatic renewal, if you let your domain expire, you will lose it and it will start redirecting to ads. This is how Freenom makes its profits.

As you can imagine, because these domains are free to register, they are often used by scammers as an easy way to set up a fake website. TK domains have a terrible reputation, and as such, they are heavily penalized in Google searches and banned on most hosting services (including Gilect.) But, Freenom offers four other domain extensions that have better reputations, including .ML  and .CF. These can be set up and used on Gilect’s free hosting for free.

(Please note that we are not in any way affiliated with Freenom. If you choose to sign up to their service, we strongly recommend you review their terms of service and privacy policy.)

If you consider your options, forking over ten dollars a year for a .com domain is the best option, but if you just want a hobby site or a test site, then free domains will suffice.