When we’re working with MySQL, there comes a time when we need to take our work beyond localhost and check for its reliability, connectivity and functionality. The frantic search for a free MySQL hosting with remote access ensues. This is especially true for beginners and students on low budget.
There are countless free web hosting providers with MySQL enabled. However, almost none of them have remote access on their free plan and which is for a good reason – security and prevention of misuse.
Did you know?
MySQL is currently owned by Oracle after they bought Sun in January 2010. It is free and opensource and has a large user base. It is the most widely used database application especially among web developers. After it was acquired by Oracle, some feared that MySQL would become a commercial product in future. Consequently, Maria DB, which is very similar to and compatible with MySQL, was developed by the initial authors of MySQL.
After an extensive search, we actually found a few providers that offer free MySQL hosting with remote access. So without further ado lets get to the list.
List of Providers of free MySQL hosting with remote access
1. Heliohost
Heliohost is the only site on the list that provides free website hosting with remote MySQL connection. Heliohost is supported by an active community of volunteers and offers the full features of a regular paid hosting. Its servers are based in the Silicon Valley.
On its free web hosting package, Heliohost offers 1GB disk space with unlimited bandwidth and Cpanel for management which includes Softaculous. You also have the option to choose either PostgreSQL and SQLite.
2. FreeSQLdatabase
FreeSQLdatabase offers 1 database per user with 5 MB. Users have the option to choose from multiple locations to host their database. For extended functionalities, you can upgrade the free version to paid for $21 annually. With an easy to use web control panel, FreeSQLdatabase looks promising.
3. FreeMySQLHosting
FreeMySQLHosting is probably run by the same folks as FreeSQLdatabase because the only thing that differs is the domain name and the landing page. They probably share the same user database.
4. AWS Free Tier with RDS
The AWS free Tier service is available to new customers for one year. It includes the Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) in a db.t2.micro Instance, 20GB of Storage, and 20GB for Backups each month.
You cannot possibly go wrong on the Amazon cloud if you plan on using the free services for only one year.
Sign up for Amazon Free Tier with RDS
5. DB4Free
DB4free is not recommended for production services. There is possibility of data loss and outages. Setting aside the fore warnings, DB4free offers up to date versions of MySQL and phpMyAdmin.
