As a student, when working on a project that may involve, for instance, class work, portfolio or even a ground breaking business profile, the appearance of a professional website goes a long way. But domain names which underlay your web address often meet a price. Thankfully, there are a number of ways that students can obtain a domain name for free, particularly if their project is not for profit or otherwise educational in nature. What We Will Cover Here will focus on the different ways, tool or process it is possible to use to obtain a free domain for your student project.
- Part A: Learn the Basics of a Domain Name
Now that we are aware of obtaining a free domain let us take time to comprehend on exactly what a domain entails and how it functions. A domain name is the internet address of your site It is the name that people use to find your site. The url is the working name of the address that you would type in your browser to locate your site (e.g. www.yourproject.com). Domain names are provided by domain registrars and, as a rule, they have to be renewed yearly.
Most domain names have a price tag ranging from 10 to 50 USD per year, but students can secure their domains for free – at least for the first year or until certain conditions are met.
- Free of charge services which are targeted at educational institutions include the provision of services after registering for free.
Most universities and learning institutions provide their students with the free domain as one of the IT services or web hosting services. Certain training paradigms are especially useful in developing technical competency by supplying the learner with all the resources they would otherwise have to spend money for. Here’s how you can take advantage of these offerings:
2.1 When Coming to Your University Look at Available Facilities
Most schools have domain registrar tie-ups that allow students to get their domains for free. For example, school that teach computer science, web development or business related courses might have working partnerships with hosting companies or cloud based services.
2.1/ Monitoring Your University’s Resources
Most learning institutions use domain registrars who offer free domain names for conventions of web hosting students. For instance, institutions of learning that teach computer science, web development or business courses may be affiliated to certain host and cloud service providers who provide free servic Sometimes they can extend their offers far beyond the free domain—are they will provide free web hosting, free email addresses, and free tools for web development.
Steps to take:
Go to your school’s IT or student services website.
Search any offers that might be as free web hosting or free domain registration.
Contact your department or the help of IT support to get any enrollments for students or other promotions or tools available for developing websites.
2.2 There are websites, which offer free subdomains and mostly, they are connected with educational resources .
If a custom domain is not free, virtually all the platforms offer students a free subdomain of their primary domain name. For example:
GitHub Pages: There is the possibility of having a free website on the basis of github.io. GitHub also allows free hosting of static websites, which means GitHub is a great platform for student projects or portfolio.
WordPress.com: WordPress entitles students to start a blog or portfolio from wordpress.com domain for free.
Google Cloud: Google Cloud provides special students accounts, although some of the Cloud services are free, they can host subdomains and websites for students.
These options are especially good for students who wish to present a project but do not want to spend money on domain name.
- Using Free Domain Name Registering Services
Other than the educational resources listed herein there are several companies/ platforms that offer free domain registration to students and personal endeavors. Most of the time what free domain offers are quite limited (for instance, there is little or no freedom to modify them as per your preference or branding desires) but it is quite useful if you are working on small projects.
3.1 Freenom
Freenom is one of the most popular services, which provide the opportunity to register completely free domain names.
.cf
.gq
These are not as typical as .com or .org although they can be used for student projects portfolios and temporary websites. Domain management is also enabled for your domain on Freenom’s website and it also comes with free DNS services.
Steps to take:
Go to Freenom’s website.
Look for the domain name of your choice.
Select one of the free TLD which are available to use.
Make sure to register the domain and click through the setup which will be provided to you.
Freenom is good for short-term or if your a non professional website, however, free is not free, they come with restrictions. For example, you can loose the domain if it was unused or after one year, there may be bugs or problems with stability or support.
3.2 InfinityFree
InfinityFree is a web hosting service that is absolutely free, and free subdomains are provided by the company. You receive features like ‘Sub Domain’ with the actual domain name as epizy.com. However, for students it can be more convenient than using their own custom domain it is considered to be one of the suitable options for the rapid creation of the project or website without any payment.
Steps to take:
Visit InfinityFree’s website.
Register for a free account.
Select from their free subdomains that include yourname.epizy.com.
Begin creating your website with the help of their free hosting services.
3.3 Dot.tk
In the same way that Freenom does, Dot.tk focuses on providing free domains with the extension .tk. These domains can be used for the students to create projects, portfolio or any website that will not be permanent. Similar to other similar platforms, Dot.tk also enables one transfer the domain to the primary website or hosting service.
Steps to take:
Visit Dot.tk.
Freely select the domain.
Looking for Domain Name.
Free registration of the domain must be made and, if needed, perform a redirection.
- Free Subdomains of Website Builders
Website builders are another area where students can easily get a site up with no need to purchase a domain name. Although most of the above platforms offer free subdomains, they offer useful tools and templates in which to build your project. Examples include:
4.1 Wix
Wix is another mainstream website builder that offers free hosting with a web address that will end with wixsite.com. It may be particularly beneficial for students who wish to advance in the course and develop a webpage fast, eliminating the complicated technicalities.
Steps to take:
Sign up on Wix.
Here are the following steps to follow If you are not sure about your choice of template, you may need to read further on the difference between site templates and themes: Once you have selected the template, you are finally ready to start creating your own website.
Publish your site and get a free Wix Subdomain of your choosing (i.e. yourname.wixsite.com).
4.2 Weebly
Another simple website builder with free subdomains for students is Weebly. The free package has the weebly.com subdomain option, and you can use their graphical editor to build your project.
Steps to take:
Go to the web and create a free Weebly account.
Select a theme and change your website design.
Build your site in Weebly platform and launch it with a free Weebly.com domain.
4.3 WordPress.com
WordPress is one of the oldest content management systems, and it has a free version in which you can create websites, using the wordpress.com domain. It’s chiefly suitable for students who develop their works or those who would wish to establish their blogs.
Steps to take:
Sign up at WordPress.com.
Select this and go to the next step of creating the site.
Your site will be a wordpress.com subdomain site.
- The area of special interest is Student programs and discount.
To the above free services, several companies provide student offers or free services for student works. Here are a few worth checking out:
5.1 GitHub Student Developer Pack.
GitHub also has a student developer pack which grants students a free set of resources, and hosting services, domain registrars, and cloud services among others from premium services. The pack offers free domains for student from the domain sellers like Namecheap – a popular domain registrar that provides free .ME domain for students.
Steps to take:
Check out the GitHub Student Developer Pack.
Verify your student status.
Use the free tools and services which can be found in the pack.
5.2 Namecheap for Students
Another example is Namecheap – a domain registrar which permits free domains in case you as a student have a GitHub Student Developer Pack. As part of the pack, students can secure one year free on .me domain. After that you have to make the payment of renewal, or shift towards another service provider.
- Conclusion
Free domain name is easily availed for by a student through the following methods. As you utilize your university services, buying student deals, or getting free domain services like Freenom or GitHub Student Developer Pack, there are literally hundreds of choices to get you started without costing you a lot. Free domains do have their disadvantages (less control over branding or possible restrictions) but it’s perfect for short term use, simple portfolios, or training.
However, it is critical to understand that when your project expands or you require a more professional and unique domain, you may need to switch to a paid domain to experience more functionality and integrity. For now, the given options are the best way to start with your student website project and don’t cost a cent. Happy building!
