Hey there,
I’ve been struggling to find a solution for a problem I’m facing, hope someone here can lend a hand.
Here’s the situation: I want to start developing WordPress sites using themes purchased from ThemeForest.
However, I want to be able to showcase these sites to potential clients without having to purchase a domain upfront. My goal is to approach clients and offer them a website I’ve created for them, free of charge, just to build up my portfolio.
But here’s the problem: I haven’t been able to find an easy way to upload WordPress sites online using free tools, like free hosting and domains, solely for the purpose of showing them to clients.
I’ve experimented with various options. I tried using Netlify (which made the most sense until now), downloading HTML/CSS/JS files from the WordPress site I’m working on, but certain elements, like carousels and maps, didn’t display properly.
DevKinsta didn’t work for me, and while LocalWP is a great tool, sharing the site with someone else requires my computer and connection to be on all the time.
So, my questions are: is it possible to showcase a website to a client without any upfront costs, by simply creating and transferring the site to a temporary or free hosting platform? Alternatively, are there any free hosting services similar to Netlify where I can host the website indefinitely? Or maybe a more technical solution is needed to achieve what I’m looking for?
I’d greatly appreciate any insights or suggestions you may have!
Thanks a lot.
**TLDR**: Want to showcase WP sites to clients without buying a domain upfront. Tried free tools like Netlify, DevKinsta, and LocalWP but facing issues. Seeking advice on free hosting options or technical solutions for showcasing websites to clients without upfront costs. Appreciate any insights or suggestions. Thanks!
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Simply static plugin and then upload to CloudFlare pages
I’ll be honest, I don’t think it’s possible. I was going to suggest WPLocal, as you can create temporary links from it, but it seems to be giving you issues.
Subscribe to any hosting that allows staging environments at no additional cost. No, it isn’t free (but could be cheap), but it’s the cost of doing business and should be factored into the cost of development billing to your client.
If you have a personal website, check to see if your current hosting includes free staging and then use that since it’s already been paid for. Or even allow multiple sites; you could temporarily create sites, create subdomains `yourclient.dev.yourdomain.com`, and slap basic auth on there. Remove them when not needed.
You can also try Digital Ocean; you could spin up and down sites and only pay for the time used.
I fear that any free solutions out there, if you find one, will be very limiting or insecure / a scam.
Use a subdomain and a cheap option for hosting from EC2 or DO. Otherwise convert to static and then Amazon s3.
There are hostings for 2$ per month and then you’ll need one cheap domain you can buy foe 0.99$.
After that, use Cpanel to create subdomains and install wordpress on each.
So, for 3$/month you are all set.
EDIT: I check your profile and the time you lost to find something for free is insane, just go w the above.
You could develop locally with localWP. Keep your plugins to a minimum. Package your theme and demo data. Create a site with app.zipwp.com. Install plugins, import data and install the theme. If you sign up for a free account the site will stay live for 24 hours.
We use a subdomain of our own website for that when we still dont have the new domain (or access).
i have 3 solutions, and some suggestions, im starting the same thing (the algo knows, thats why it showed this post to me lol) im from Argentina, and i have next to 0 budget, i have a job that has nothing to do with this, so i had to look out for solutions (im 6 months in to the project, still learning obviously, no prev experience/knowledge):
1st, the one i chose, need some money and the domain, i know, im sorry: build a server, i bought 4 old proliant g6 for 150usd, took one with 2 cpu, all the ram, etc, i have spare parts for years, installed proxmox, made a lemp lxd container, with wordpress blank, if you have a client spin up a ct, install your theme, potential customer logo, good to go.
buy a domain name for your agency, then use cloudflare free 1 domain DDNS to deal with dynamic public ip (this is until you make some money) use subdomains to showcase your site.
Whenever you make 2 bucks, buy some decent isp with static public ip, you can offer hosting to your clients fi they are small business, with easy to build static landing pages (first year or so), buy some old pc, some intel nic and setup a pfsense box for security.
2nd, facetime: use video call to show the client what is like to work with you and there you can showcase the site, without sending any links, this is great because is free, safe, low energy cost, etc. but you have to talk to clients, in my case i love to talk with clients, end result is better than you can imagine, but is not for everyone, you could work with some sales people and you do the developing.
3rd, local lemp or xampp on a laptop: you could start with local business, and set up personal meetings, show the site, talk to the people, networking, this is amazing, you can watch how they react, their corporal language, great option.
Finally, about buy themes, i found that starting with divi is great, you have a lot of niches covered, buying only one theme, 90$/y i think, amazing. A domain name is really cheap, make some site to showcase your work, you do not need to do free sites up front. If you still want to do it for free, do it, but charge a monthly fee until you build your porfolio. hope i made some sense, english is my second language obviously.
Doubtful you can get it done for free, but several ways to get it done for a low cost
I’ve done basically the same thing with Siteground. Buy one domain with hosting. Build whatever site you want and then create unlimited sub domains or staging sites.
You can get free wordpress hosting from Infinityfree, and either export your sites for LocalWP and upload or just develop the site there.
You’ll have a site on one of their subdomains, but if you’re fine with that then you won’t need to pay anything.
I wouldn’t mind creating a free google account for each client and host their demo site on the following.
The f1-micro instance in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is free for up to 720 hours (1 month) in supported regions. GCP shows the cost per hour because it doesn’t know how many hours you’ll use.
Yes, the f1-micro instance is part of Google’s “always free” products. The f1-micro instance and a 30 GB magnetic disk are included in the free tier. The free usage limit is equivalent to the number of total hours within the current month. For example, March has 744 hours (31 days x 24 hours), so you receive 744 instance hours of free usage for the month
You can find the f1-micro instance by going to “Series”, choosing “N1”, and putting “f1-micro” as the “Machine Type” in the VM instance creation.
or try the e2 micro