This article contains affiliate links. If you sign up for Hostinger through our links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Every Hostinger fact below was read on a Hostinger page on 13 October 2026, and I share my own experience only where I have it.

TL;DR

  • No, not for web hosting. Hostinger’s help centre says standard hosting plans “do not include an entirely free tier” (Hostinger help centre, 13 October 2026).

  • What it offers instead: a 30 day money-back guarantee on new hosting plans, a 7 day trial of its AI Builder (a separate product), and a free domain for the first year on yearly or longer plans.

  • The lowest priced Websites plan, Premium, is $2.99 a month on a 48 month term ($143.52 upfront) and renews at $10.99 a month (Hostinger pricing, 13 October 2026).

  • A refund deletes the site. Files, databases and emails are permanently deleted when you submit the request, so back up first.

No. Hostinger has no free plan for web hosting. What it calls free is a refund window, a trial of a different product and a domain. If a bill has ever come in higher than the plan you thought you bought, don’t judge this by the $2.99 promo rate (read 13 October 2026). The price section below is the part to read. Plan detail is in our Hostinger review for freelancers.

What does Hostinger offer instead of a free plan?

It offers three things. None is a free hosting plan.

  1. A 30 day money-back guarantee on new web, cloud, agency, KVM and Game Panel hosting plans and Hostinger Business Mail (help centre).

  2. A 7 day AI Builder trial. It “lasts 7 days”, and “websites cannot be published” during it (trial page). It is a separate product from hosting.

  3. A free domain for one year with a yearly or longer plan. Hostinger says “not all TLDs are eligible”, and the domain “must be registered within 12 months of acquiring the hosting plan, or it will be cancelled” (Hostinger pricing).

How does the 30 day guarantee work as a trial?

You pay first, then ask for the money back. The refund policy says products “may be refunded only if canceled within 30 days of the date of the transaction” (refund policy). Hosting is on the refundable list. Domain renewals, privacy protection and AI Builder credits are not, and cryptocurrency payments are not refunded. The help centre recommends a credit card or e-wallet for faster refunds.

Two limits catch people out:

  • The refund cancels the service. Hostinger says your files, databases and emails “will be deleted permanently” once you submit, and the request is “not reversible” (refund how-to). Download backups first.

  • Refunds are not unlimited. The refund policy lets Hostinger “unilaterally decline the request for a refund” if it sees abuse. Domain registrations also sit outside the guarantee and “have separate, restricted refund terms” (help centre).

Trying Hostinger hosting with the 30 day guaranteeFour steps. Day 0: pay for the plan, which starts the 30 day clock. Days 1 to 24: test the site against your own list. Day 25, your own rule: decide. Before day 30: either keep the plan, or back up files, databases and emails and then request the refund.DAY 0Pay for the planthe 30 day clock startsDAYS 1 TO 24Test itagainst your own listDAY 25, YOUR RULEDecidekeep it or cut itBEFORE DAY 30Actkeep, or back up then refundA REFUND DELETES FILES, DATABASES AND EMAILS. IT CANNOT BE REVERSED.

Source: steps and limits from Hostinger’s help centre and refund pages, read 13 October 2026. The day 25 checkpoint is my recommendation, not a Hostinger rule.

My recommendation: decide your test before you pay. Write down what the site must do by day 25, and put that date in your calendar.

What does the cheapest Hostinger plan actually cost?

Premium, the lowest priced plan on the Websites tab, costs $2.99 a month only on a 48 month commitment (Hostinger pricing, 13 October 2026).

Premium, USD, read 13 October 2026Amount
Promo rate per month, 48 month term$2.99
Charged upfront for 48 months$143.52
Regular price for the same 48 months$575.52
Renewal rate per month$10.99

The page text we read shows the 48 month term only, so we quote no 12 month price. The renewal rate is the one to plan around.

See Premium’s current price (affiliate link). It opens Hostinger’s plan page with our referral code.

Is there genuinely free hosting for a website?

Only for static files. Cloudflare Pages on its Free plan allows 500 builds a month. Each site can hold 20,000 files, and a single file can be 25 MiB (Cloudflare limits, 13 October 2026). Cloudflare’s static WordPress guide turns a WordPress site into static files and lists forms, comments and /wp-admin links as unsupported.

Who should just pay for the cheapest plan?

A freelancer who wants a WordPress portfolio on a custom domain with a work email. Premium lists 3 websites, 20 GB SSD and 2 mailboxes per website free for 1 year. I have run my own portfolio and client sites on Hostinger’s paid managed WordPress hosting (Business plan) and found hPanel easy to set up. That is a paid plan only: the refund and trial details here come from Hostinger’s pages, not my own use. To compare another host first, read Hostinger vs Bluehost or the WordPress setup walkthrough.

If you do pay, use the 30 days on purpose. Start Hostinger Premium (affiliate link) and run the day 25 test.

Frequently asked questions

Which Hostinger plan is best?

It depends on how many sites you run. Premium lists 3 websites and Unlimited lists unlimited websites (Hostinger pricing). We have not ranked plans here; the review covers plan detail.

How much is 1 year of Hostinger hosting?

The pricing page text we read shows 48 month terms only, so we cannot give a verified 12 month price. Checkout shows what you would pay for the term you pick.

Does Hostinger offer a free trial?

For its AI Builder, yes: 7 days. For hosting there is no trial. New purchases carry a 30 day money-back guarantee.

Can I host a WordPress site for free?

Not on Hostinger. A static copy can run on Cloudflare Pages Free, without forms, comments or /wp-admin.