This reminded me of the times we used this solution to host websites for some of my friends and clients who didn’t have a budget for hosting. I wanted to share my approach for anyone in a similar situation.

I will not be going into the depths of implementation here. Instead, I’ll simply outline the process, keeping it brief and focused. This is your quick roadmap to hosting WordPress without spending a penny.

Two Simple Solutions

For students or developers on a budget, I’ve found two effective approaches:

1. Static WordPress Hosting – Perfect for small websites or personal blogs that don’t require dynamic features like comments or user logins.
2. Temporary Full WordPress Hosting – Great for when you need the full WordPress experience, for a short-term project.

Let’s break these down into simple steps.

Static WordPress Hosting

Here’s how you can set up a static version of WordPress for free:

1. Use tools like Laragon or Local by Flywheel to create a local WordPress environment.
2. Convert your local WordPress site into static HTML using tools like wget or httrack.
3. Use Git to upload your static files to a repository on platforms like GitHub.
4. Connect your Git repository to Vercel and deploy your static site. If you have a custom domain, you can configure it here.

While this method is incredibly cost-effective, it’s important to note a few caveats and cautions:

• Static sites don’t support comments, user logins, or other dynamic WordPress functionalities.
• You may face challenges with SEO, such as issues with permalinks or sitemaps.
• Many WordPress plugins won’t work as they rely on server-side processing.
• This is best suited for personal blogs, portfolios, or informational sites where interactivity isn’t required.
• Each update to the site requires regenerating and redeploying the static files.

Temporary Hosting Solution – Full WordPress Experience

If you need the full WordPress experience for a short time, here’s an alternative:

1. Platforms like Digital Ocean, AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure offer free credits or trials.
2. Use their one-click install options to set up WordPress on a virtual machine.
3. Configure your site as needed and enjoy the full functionality of WordPress.

Caveats and cautions to keep in mind:

• Free trials are time-limited and may require you to enter credit card details.
• Improper server setup can cause issues with permalinks, site accessibility and security.
• Cloud instances have limited resources, so it’s crucial to monitor usage.
• Forgetting to cancel the trial or exceeding free-tier limits could lead to charges.

One particularly challenging yet enlightening experience came during my MSc. Data Science dissertation at London South Bank University. My project, titled Network Anomaly Detection in SD-WAN using Machine Learning, required robust computational resources to generate data and simulate complex network environments.

Unfortunately, my local system—a standard gaming laptop—fell woefully short of these demands.

The university’s Systems Lab, while normally an excellent resource, was temporarily unavailable due to maintenance. Purchasing a high-performance workstation was financially impractical. Faced with these constraints, I embarked on a journey to creatively leverage available resources.

Finding the Solution

My research led me to an insightful video series by David Bombal, which highlighted the potential of combining local and cloud resources for running GNS3 simulations. This approach aligned perfectly with my project needs. However, one significant hurdle remained: the appliances I required, particularly Cisco SD-WAN, necessitated nested virtualization—a feature not supported by all cloud providers.

To address this, I devised a hybrid solution combining the computational power of:

1. My Local Laptop: Acting as the primary control hub for running GNS3 and managing simulations.
2. DigitalOcean Cloud Instance: Chosen for its support for nested virtualization, critical for running Cisco SD-WAN appliances effectively.
3. A Dedicated Server: Generously provided by a friend, offering additional compute and memory capacity.

To interconnect these disparate resources, I implemented a VPN mesh using OpenVPN. This setup created a seamless network environment, enabling appliances hosted on different GNS3 VMs to communicate as though they were on the same local network. The architecture’s core components included VPN connectivity, distributed GNS3 instances, and optimized resource allocation based on the workload demands.

Pulling everything together, I managed to create a setup using local, cloud, and remote systems that supported my project needs.

Have you faced similar challenges? If so, I’d love to hear your solutions or explore how I could help you tackle them.