Free domains for side projects: what actually works in 2026 (from maintaining a curated list)

Syed Mujtaba — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:31:58 +0000

Every side project hits the same wall: you need a domain and a few basic services before you have even validated the idea, and the "free" options are scattered across dozens of sites, half of them outdated.

I maintain FreeDomain, an open-source curated list of free domain options and free developer resources — free subdomains, DNS, hosting and the small services you need to get a project live at zero cost. I keep it updated because I build a lot of small products myself (a flight-booking platform, a learning-products platform, a few SaaS tools) and I kept re-researching the same free tiers.

What I have learned maintaining it:

Free subdomains are fine for validation; move to a paid domain the day real users arrive.
Always read the renewal terms — "free for year 1" and "free forever" are very different things.
Keep a note of where each project's DNS lives. Future-you will not remember.

The list is here: https://github.com/mujtbabbas/FreeDomain
If it saves you time, a ⭐ on the repo helps other developers find it — and I am working towards a small GitHub milestone with it. Additions and corrections via PR are welcome.

Hello DEV, I'm Mujtaba — full-stack dev building travel & learning platforms from Pakistan

Syed Mujtaba — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 13:56:52 +0000

For years I've been building booking platforms and e-learning marketplaces from Pakistan — quietly shipping, rarely writing. Today that changes: hello, DEV! I'm Mujtaba. 👋

I'm a full-stack developer, and I figured the best introduction is to show you what I spend my days on.

What I do

Senior Full-Stack Developer at Gravité
Founder of Divine Fly, a travel tech company

My stack

Next.js · Laravel · Node · PHP · MySQL

What I'm building

divinefly.pk — a full booking platform for travel: flights, hotels, and holiday packages.
DivineFly Desk — an internal Laravel app that powers our operations behind the scenes.
idesire.io — an e-learning platform with 330+ digital products, recently migrated to a Next.js + Prisma + MySQL stack.

What I'll be writing about

Platform migrations — I just moved 305+ products and 39 bundles between platforms. War stories incoming.
Web security — I do security audits, so expect practical hardening guides, not just theory.
Platform engineering — lessons from building booking and learning products that have to work at scale.

I'm here to share what I learn in the trenches and to learn from this community. If that sounds like your kind of thing, hit follow — I'd love to have you along for the ride.