With great sentiment, I recently looked at the announcement made by Hostinger regarding the closure of one of the most important projects in the history of free hosting—000webhost. After 17 years, 000webhost, supported by Hostinger, is ending its operations. The changing market demands and increasing consumer expectations made this decision inevitable, allowing for a full focus on the parent company’s mission — Hostinger.
For me personally, 000webhost is more than just a hosting platform. As a youngster, taking my first steps in web development, I happily transitioned to 000webhost from the Polish free hosting service yoyo.pl, which unfortunately often suffered from outages. 000webhost provided the stability I needed so much at that time.
I remember how exciting it was to have my own website that actually worked. I was able to experiment with different technologies, create and modify pages, learning as I went. All of this was made possible by the stability that 000webhost offered. Despite the limitations of the free plan, which sometimes manifested in slow page loading, the absence of ads and the availability for free were invaluable. For free is a fair price.
Not always rosy
17 years in the technology industry is undoubtedly an impressive achievement, especially when we’re talking about offering free hosting. 000webhost managed to survive and grow for nearly two decades, providing countless users around the world with free hosting services. This achievement alone speaks to the immense value and significance of this project in the history of the internet. Despite the competition and challenges posed by evolving technologies and consumer expectations, 000webhost became a true legend. Its contribution to the development of the online community, enabling hundreds of thousands of people to pursue their digital dreams without incurring costs, is invaluable.
But we cannot be denied that 000webhost’s history had its dark moments. The most memorable of these was the data breach in 2015, when customer passwords were exposed in plain text. This breach was discovered by Troy Hunt, a security expert who manages the service Have I Been Pwned. Hunt was informed by an anonymous source who provided him with a database containing passwords and email addresses of over 13.5 million 000webhost users.
Changing consumer demands
Looking back, it’s clear how much consumer demands have changed. Once, free hosting with basic features was a dream come true for many budding webmasters. Today, expectations are much higher—fast servers, advanced security features, 24/7 support, and tools to create websites in minutes are becoming the standard. At a time when the internet was just developing, 000webhost offered what was unattainable for many—free hosting without ads. It was a revolution that opened the doors to the world of the internet for countless people.
The closure of 000webhost is a symbol of the end of an era in internet history. For 17 years, this platform was an oasis for those who wanted to start their journey in web development without incurring costs. Despite its ups and downs, 000webhost was a true legend of free hosting. Its closure marks a time when user expectations are rising, and technology is continuously evolving. It also serves as evidence of how dynamically the technology market changes and how important it is to adapt to new standards and user needs.
