Free Web / URL Redirection Services, Free Subdomain Names
Get a subdomain name or a shorter URL for your website
Free Web Redirection, Free URL Redirection, Free Domain Names (Subdomain Names), Shorter Web Addresses
If your website has a long URL (web address) as a result of being hosted on a free web host, these free services provide you with either a free subdomain name or at least a shorter URL that you can publicize on your website. When visitors enter that shorter URL, they will be redirected to your actual website. Unless specified otherwise here, you may assume that the free services impose some sort of advertising on your site, whether a popup window, banner frame, text link requirement, or otherwise. Note also that some of the services listed below provide DNS services as well, and allow the subdomain name you sign up for to be directed to an IP address.
In general, URL redirection services are meant for people who host on free web hosts or on their own ISPs. Where possible, particularly if you want a permanent URL for your site that does not disappear, you should get your own domain name. It's so cheap that, unless you have no income at all, you can even get one for your personal web site, etc. You may also want to read my article Tips on Choosing a Good Domain Name. A step by step guide can be found in the article How to Register Your Own Domain Name.
Explanation of Some Terms Used in URL Forwarding
"Path forwarding" means that if your visitor enters a filename together with the shorter URL (like www.whatever.com/somename.html) they will be redirected correctly to the somename.html on your actual URL. This is not automatic for all free web redirection services.
"URL Cloaking", "Stealth / Cloaked URLs" or "Masked URLs" means that your visitors will not see your actual web address (URL) when they arrive on your site. This is typically accomplished by putting your website in a frame.
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Disclaimer
The information provided on this page comes without any warranty whatsoever. Use it at your own risk. Just because a program, book, document or service is listed here or has a good review does not mean that I endorse or approve of the program or of any of its contents. All the other standard disclaimers also apply.
Free Web / URL Redirection and Free Domain (Subdomain) Names
- i67.org
You get a URL redirection for your site of the form yourname.i67.org. URL cloaking and path forwarding is supported, along with META tags and Favicons. You also get traffic statistics for your subdomain/website.
- NE1
NE1 is an ad-free redirection service with URLs like yourname.ne1.net and yourname.r8.org. This redirection service offers cloaked forwarding.
- Freedomain.co.nr
This service provides you with a free subdomain name of the form www.yourname.co.nr. It provides URL cloaking or masking, and forwards the address via URL redirection to your actual website. It also supports path forwarding, META tags support, and Favicon support.
- UNONIC United Names Organisation Free Domains, JOYNIC and Smartdots.com
UNONIC provides web forwarding for subdomain names of the form *.net.tf, *.us.tf, *.eu.tf, *.ca.tf, *.int.tf, *.edu.tf, *.de.tf, *.at.tf, *.co.at.tf, *.ch.tf, *.ru.tf, *.pl.tf, *.cz.tf, *.bg.tf, and *.sg.tf. JoyNIC provides you subdomain names of the form www.your-name.us.tt, www.your-name.uk.tt, www.your-name.eu.tt, www.your-name.ca.tt, www.your-name.de.tt, etc. Smartdots provides get subdomain names like www.your-name.net.tc, www.your-name.us.tc, www.your-name.eu.tc, etc. The forwarded subdomain names may be cloaked (URL cloaking) and have path forwarding. You also get access the web statistics for your subdomain, a catch all email address (all email messages sent to any address at your subdomain is forwarded to you), and support for your personal favicon.
- DotTK
DotTK provides you with a domain name of the form yourname.tk which you can redirect to point to your existing URL. They can also forward email messages sent to that domain to your existing email address. You must have an existing website before you can apply, and you must receive a minimum of 25 visitors every 90 days.
- DNSAU.COM.RU
This service provides you with subdomain names of the form yourname.com.ru, yourname.net.ru or yourname.org.ru. Your site must already exist on a web host that provides name servers to answer to the name you choose. You must be over 18 years of age to apply.
- da.ru Free WWW Redirect Service
da.ru provides subdomain names of the form yourname.da.ru. They provide DNS zone support as well as web forwarding. The web forwarding appears to support path forwarding as well and cloaked URLs.
- HotRedirect
HotRedirect provides you with a subdomain name like yourname.hothere.com, yourname.coolhere.com, yourname.homepagehere.com, etc. Your subdomain works with or without the preceding "www". You can hide your actual URLs, and the service provides path forwarding so that URLs like yourname.hothere.com/whatever.html and yourname.hothere.com/directory/whatever.html works correctly. This service places banner advertisements on your pages.
- ShortURL
In exchange for a 88x31 button link back to them on your pages, ShortURL will provide your site with a subdomain name like *.yourname.shorturl.com, where * can be anything you want ("www", "anything", etc, or even just yourname.shorturl.com). It includes URL masking, traffic statistics, referral reports, path forwarding, frame killers, meta tag support and mirror management. Other domain names that you can choose from include vze.com, spyw.com, alturl.com, filetap.com, etc.
- Za.org
You can get a free subdomain name, such as http://yourname.za.org or http://yourname.za.net. They discourage the use of this subdomain for commercial use; if you are a non-profit organisation, not-for-profit organisation or individual, you will probably have no problems qualifying.
- WebAlias
You get three free short URLs for your site: http://browser.to/yourname, http://thrill.to/yourname, and http://WebAlias.com/yourname. In addition, they will hide your site's real URL, causing your users to only bookmark your WebAlias URL. They also provide free banner advertising, usage statistics, and the ability to restrict users accessing your site.
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Free Domain Names, Free Web Redirection, Free URL Redirection
