Are you looking for the best free hosting providers to deploy your React application? If yes, then you are in the right place! React is one of the most widely used JavaScript libraries for creating highly responsive user interfaces. According to a survey conducted by Statista, 40.14% of developers prefer using React. However, hosting a React application is not as easy as deploying a simple HTML or JS program. The selection of the best free hosting provider for a React app is a complicated task.
In this informative guide, we are going to share with you the top ten free hosting providers for React apps, based on our research and expertise. We will provide you with a brief overview of each hosting provider, their core features, and their pros and cons. By the end of this guide, you will be able to select the best hosting provider for your React app.
What is React?
React is an open-source JavaScript library that is used to create user interfaces for web and mobile applications. It was initially developed by Facebook in 2011 and 2012 to handle Instagram Stories and Facebook’s News Feed section. React is based on a component-based architecture that enables developers to create reusable UI components.
React Advantages
There are several advantages of using React for your app development needs. Here are the top advantages of React:
Saves Time
React allows developers to work independently on both the backend and client sides. This means that developers are only responsible for their part of the app, instead of the entire stack. Additionally, React facilitates businesses with code reusability features. Its components are reusable, and their reusability doesn’t influence or change other elements of the React application. This saves a lot of time in app building and updating.
Improves User Experience
React emphasizes building applications with highly dynamic user interfaces. To achieve this goal, React uses Virtual Document Model (DOM). Unlike typical DOM approach, Virtual DOM conducts the updates without influencing other elements of the user interface. The use of Virtual DOM enhances the speed and improves the user experience.
Stable Coding
Stable coding is another advantage of React. This framework works on a downward or one-direction data flow. Due to this, child structure modifications do not alter the parent’s formation. Facebook has converted this MVC model into a pure View Approach for the sake of stable coding.
Open-Source Library & Friendly Community
React is one of the most beneficial open-source libraries of JavaScript. Developers can find numerous free resources to build React applications. GitHub alone has more than 176k stars and 35.6k forks for React. Additionally, React has a large and friendly community. More than 95,582 developers mentioned on StackShare that they are associated with React. It also has big community support on platforms like Stack Overflow, Hashnode and Dev.
SEO-Friendly
React provides an SEO-friendly interface to build applications. It makes the development of SPA (single-page applications) easier, which means that your app can be crawled and indexed by search engines.
React Limitations
Although React is a great choice for building web applications, there are some limitations you should be aware of. For example, it is not suitable for building complex animations, and it requires a certain level of expertise to get started. However, these limitations are minor compared to the advantages that React offers.
Top 10 Hosting Providers
Here are our top 10 hosting providers you can use for your React app:
- Netlify: Netlify provides free hosting for your React app with features like continuous deployment, custom domain support, and SSL certification.
- Firebase: Firebase offers a free hosting plan with features like automatic SSL certification, custom domain support, and easy deployment with Firebase CLI.
- Surge: Surge is a simple, static web publishing platform that offers free hosting for React apps with custom domain support.
- GitHub Pages: GitHub Pages provides free hosting for static websites, including React apps. You can host your app on GitHub and access it via a custom domain.
- Heroku: Heroku is a cloud-based hosting platform that offers a free tier for React apps. You can deploy your app easily with Heroku CLI.
- Vercel: Vercel is a platform for static and Jamstack websites that offers free hosting for React apps. It has features like custom domains, continuous deployment, and built-in SSL.
- InfinityFree: InfinityFree is a free web hosting service that supports PHP, MySQL, and more. You can use it to host your React app and access it via a custom domain.
- HelioHost: HelioHost is a free web hosting service that offers unlimited storage and bandwidth. You can host your React app on HelioHost and access it via a custom domain.
- AwardSpace: AwardSpace is a free web hosting service that supports PHP, MySQL, and more. You can use it to host your React app and access it via a custom domain.
- 000webhost: 000webhost is a free web hosting service that offers features like PHP, MySQL, and easy website builder.
| Hosting Provider | Price (Starting from) | Bandwidth | Storage | Domain | SSL Certificate | Database | Control Panel | Server Locations |
| Netlify | Free | 100 GB/month | 300 MB | Custom | Free | Built-in Git integration | Netlify dashboard | Global |
| Firebase Hosting | Free | 360 GB/month | 1 GB | Custom | Free | Firebase Realtime Database | Firebase console | Global |
| Surge | $13/month | Unlimited | 1 GB | Custom | Free | No | Surge dashboard | Global |
| GitHub Pages | Free | Unlimited | 1 GB | GitHub subdomain | Free | No | GitHub repository settings | Global |
| Heroku | Free | Unlimited | 512 MB | Heroku subdomain | Free (with paid plans) | PostgreSQL, Redis | Heroku dashboard | Global |
| Vercel | Free | 100 GB/month | 1 GB | Custom | Free | No | Vercel dashboard | Global |
| InfinityFree | Free | Unlimited | Unlimited | Custom | Free | Yes | InfinityFree dashboard | Global |
| HelioHost | Free | Unlimited | 500 MB | Custom | No | Yes | HelioHost dashboard | Global |
| AwardSpace | Free | 5 GB/mo | 1 GB | Custom | Free | Yes | Custom control panel | Global |
| 000webhost | Free | 10 GB/mo | 1 GB | Custom | Free | Yes | Custom control panel | Global |
Note: The data in this comparison table is updating as frequently as possible, but you should verify on the company page requirements before any purchase