Servers&Hosting

Category: Tips&Tricks

  • How to Get the Most Out of a Free Hosting Account (With Cloudflare and WordPress Setup Guide)

    Free hosting accounts are a great way to start your online journey, especially if you’re launching a personal blog, testing an idea, or learning web development. While free hosting comes with limitations, you can still build a fast, secure, and functional website—if you know how to optimize your setup.

    In this guide, we’ll show you how to get the most value from a free hosting plan by:

    • Maximizing performance with Cloudflare
    • Setting up a WordPress site efficiently
    • Staying within the limits of your hosting account

    Let’s dive in.

    Step 1: Choose a Reliable Free Hosting Provider

    Before anything else, choose a provider that offers a generous free tier. Look for the following features:

    • PHP & MySQL support
    • Custom domain support
    • One-click WordPress installer
    • Basic control panel (e.g., DirectAdmin or cPanel)

    Once your account is active and your domain is connected, it’s time to start setting things up.

    Step 2: Connect Your Domain to Cloudflare

    Cloudflare is a free CDN (Content Delivery Network) and DNS manager that also improves your site’s speed, security, and uptime. It’s a must-use for any site—especially on free hosting where resources are limited.

    How to Set Up Cloudflare for Your Website

    1. Go to Cloudflare.com and click “Sign Up.”
    2. Enter your email and password to create an account.
    3. Add your domain (e.g., yourdomain.com).
    4. Cloudflare will scan your current DNS records. Click “Continue.”
    5. Choose the Free plan and click “Continue.”
    6. Cloudflare will show you two new nameservers. Log in to your domain registrar and replace the current nameservers with the ones provided by Cloudflare.
    7. Go back to Cloudflare and click “Done, check nameservers.” It may take a few minutes to a few hours to propagate.

    Once activated, go to the Speed > Optimization tab and enable:

    • Auto Minify (HTML, CSS, JS)
    • Brotli compression
    • Rocket Loader (optional for JS-heavy sites)

    Step 3: Install WordPress on Your Free Hosting

    WordPress is a powerful CMS that runs well even on limited hosting. Most free hosting control panels include a one-click WordPress installer.

    WordPress Setup Steps

    1. Log in to your hosting control panel (e.g., DirectAdmin or cPanel).
    2. Locate Softaculous App Installer or similar.
    3. Choose WordPress > Install Now.
    4. Fill out the installation form:
      • Choose your domain
      • Set your site title and admin credentials
      • Choose a theme (you can change this later)
    5. Click Install.

    In a few moments, WordPress will be ready, and you can log in at yourdomain.com/wp-admin.

    Step 4: Optimize WordPress for Free Hosting

    To get the most performance and flexibility without exceeding hosting limits, apply these tips:

    • Install Lightweight Themes: Use themes like Astra, Neve, or GeneratePress.
    • Limit Plugins: Stick to essentials—avoid bloated page builders.
    • Enable Caching: Use LiteSpeed Cache (if your server supports LiteSpeed) or WP Super Cache.
    • Image Optimization: Use plugins like Smush or EWWW Image Optimizer to compress images.
    • Security: Add Wordfence Security or All-in-One WP Security and enable Cloudflare’s firewall rules.

    Bonus Tips for Free Hosting Users

    • Back up regularly. Many free hosts do not provide automatic backups.
    • Monitor disk and bandwidth usage. Stay within your limits to avoid suspension.
    • Use Cloudflare Page Rules to cache static pages and redirect non-www to www or vice versa.

    Example Page Rule:

    URL: *yourdomain.com/*
    Setting: Cache Everything + Edge Cache TTL 1 day

    Final Thoughts

    Free hosting isn’t meant to replace premium solutions, but with the right tools like Cloudflare and WordPress, it’s more than enough to run a simple, fast, and secure site. Whether you’re starting a blog, portfolio, or side project—this setup gives you a solid foundation without spending a dime.

    When you’re ready to scale or need more resources, migrating to a paid host is straightforward—especially if you’ve already built your site smartly from the ground up.

    Need help choosing a free hosting provider or setting up WordPress? Drop us a message or check out our hosting guides on serversandhosting.com.

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  • Checking disk use on your server

    To check disk usage on your server, you can use several command-line tools available in most Unix-based systems (like Linux and macOS). These tools help you monitor how much disk space is being used, what’s taking up space, and how much free space remains. This is essential for managing server health, especially for avoiding downtime due to full disks.

    1. Using the df Command

    The df (disk free) command shows how much space is used and available on mounted filesystems.

    Basic usage:

    df -h

    Explanation:

    • -h stands for “human-readable,” and it displays sizes in KB, MB, or GB.
    • This shows a list of mounted filesystems, their total size, used space, available space, and usage percentage.

    Sample output:

    Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
    /dev/sda1        50G   25G   23G  53% /
    tmpfs           2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /dev/shm

    This tells you how much space is being used on each mounted partition (e.g., / is the root directory).

    2. Using the du Command

    The du (disk usage) command shows how much space individual files and directories are using.

    Check space in a directory:

    du -sh /path/to/directory

    Explanation:

    • -s summarizes the total.
    • -h makes it human-readable.

    To view usage of all folders in a directory:

    du -h --max-depth=1 /path

    This breaks down disk usage for each subdirectory inside /path.

    Example output:

    1.1G    /home/user/Documents
    200M    /home/user/Downloads

    This is very helpful when tracking down what’s consuming disk space.

    3. Combining du with sort

    You can sort folders by size to find the biggest ones:

    du -h /path | sort -hr | head -n 10
    • sort -hr: Sorts in human-readable format, largest first.
    • head -n 10: Shows the top 10 results.

    This helps locate space hogs quickly.

    4. Graphical Alternatives

    If you’re using a desktop environment, tools like ncdu (for terminal-based interactive browsing) can help:

    Install and use ncdu on Ubuntu based servers:

    sudo apt install ncdu
ncdu /

    It shows a navigable summary of disk usage by folder.

    5. Checking Disk Inodes

    Disk space may be free, but you could still run out of inodes (used to track files). Check inode usage with:

    df -i

    Final Thoughts

    For quick checks, use df -h. For detailed usage by directory, use du -sh or ncdu. Regular disk checks can help avoid outages or performance issues due to full storage.

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