Writer: Laura Bernheim
Editor: Lillian Castro
Reviewer: Christina Lewis
Proof that everything old eventually comes back into style, the best static web hosting plans strip away all unnecessary complexities to provide simple services focused on performance and efficiency. Instead of relying on databases, static websites concentrate on basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to produce lightweight landing pages and business profiles.
While static pages are hardly new, the streamlined development model is enjoying a resurgence for those seeking simple coding built around speed. With so many features stripped away, these free and paid hosting services represent some of the most affordable plans out there.
Plus, static sites aren’t just for individual developers or those looking for a simple template system. Nest, MailChimp, and even Google rely on static websites, with media properties at Vox and Vice even creating entire publishing systems crafted around static site generators. Here, we’ve ranked the best values and free platforms out there, complete with all the dev tools you’ll need.
Best Cheap Static Website Hosting
As the Web 2.0 era of interactivity and dynamic websites matures, an increasing number of site owners are feeling the bloat of inefficient code, layers of plugins, and applications vulnerable to attacks. Static web hosting represents a refreshing return to the good ol’ days of code repositories and direct editing.
The absence of a database or third-party application dramatically increases a website’s performance and security, with a static website loading 10 times faster than a dynamically generated one. Scalability is inherently more achievable, given the simpler server workload and basic HTML and CSS code infrastructure.
For those not looking to update content frequently, static websites are an incredibly low-cost, highly reliable solution that requires next to no technical experience and administration. That said, we’d recommend a service that gives you the flexibility to adapt to audience needs and static content design trends. These hosts strike the perfect balance between high-speed static hosting with the ability to add additional services and tools as needed.
1. IONOS.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.00
- $1/month for 12 months
- No hidden fees, pay just $12 at checkout
- Easy setup and 24/7 expert support
- FREE domain or transfer, plus FREE SSL certificate
- Unlimited storage and databases with most plans
- Get started on 1&1 IONOS now.
If budget is the main factor on your mind when searching for your next web host, search no more. 1&1 IONOS has an impressive range of robust web hosting and website building packages for what may be the best price we’ve ever seen in the world of hosting. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB – Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
2. Hostinger.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.69
- Unlimited everything, from storage to databases
- FREE site builder & WP performance upgrades
- FREE daily or weekly backups
- Custom control panel and auto-installation scripts
- SSH access & unlimited FREE SSL certificates
- Get started on Hostinger now.
As the shared hosting market becomes increasingly saturated, unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts have become surprisingly average. Hostinger, however, extends the routine, expected metrics to greater lengths — the number of websites, databases, FTP users, subdomains, and parked domains are all unrestricted for most customers. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 100 GB SSD – 200 GB NVMe | FREE (1 year) | 3 minutes |
3. A2Hosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.95
- FREE Cloudflare CDN and SSD speed boost
- Optimized caching and 1-click installs
- Unlimited email, domains, and databases
- Advanced security and FREE HackScan
- 24/7 support via phone, chat & tickets
- Get started on A2 Hosting now.
There are plenty of excellent cPanel shared hosting providers out there, so what sets A2 Hosting apart from the rest. Not only does the company offer a ton of features, but it has custom-built its packages for enhanced performance, speed, and security — putting your priorities above pricing. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 100 GB SSD – Unlimited SSD | New or Transfer | 4 minutes |
4. HostArmada.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.49
- FREE cPanel integration and Softaculous apps
- Auto daily backups and web application firewall
- Reliable and redundant cloud servers
- FREE SSL encryption and website migration
- 99.99% uptime guarantee
- Get started on HostArmada now.
HostArmada boasts 11 cloud-based shared hosting data centers across its global network, which spans four continents: Europe, the U. S. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 days | 15 GB SSD – 40 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 3 minutes |
5. DreamHost.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.59
- Automated malware scans
- Unlimited domain hosting
- Unlimited email accounts with POP/IMAP/SMTP
- FREE eCommerce store tools and PCI compliance
- Streamlined proprietary control panel
- Get started on DreamHost now.
While DreamHost’s price might be a little steep compared to other high-value hosting providers, the company gives customers ample time and reasons to get hooked and stick around. The company, which started in the founders’ dorm room in 1997, offers an industry-leading 97-day money-back guarantee. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 97 days | Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
Now, I know you’re here for free static website hosting. But let me make one last argument for cheap hosting instead. The platforms I’m about to show you have decent free plans, but they simply can’t compete with the resources you get from a paid plan.
Not only do paid plans give you more storage and bandwidth (I’m talkin’ a minimum of 10 GB for paid plans vs. a minimum of 0.25 GB for free plans), but you also get way more bandwidth. And more storage + more bandwidth = better performance.
If you just want a free static web host for a school project or to learn a new skill, have at it. Otherwise, you may want to scroll back up to revisit some of our better (but still wallet-friendly) pals. Anywho, let’s move on so you can learn more about the free options at your disposal.
Best Free Static Website Hosting
Static website hosting specialists feature a command line interface or terminal to execute commands and integrate with code repositories and online projects. The nuts-and-bolts approach allows for continuous integration and deployments, along with high levels of automation.
We’ve long been critics of many free web hosting services, but the stripped-down nature of static hosting bodes well for budget-minded site owners. By working seamlessly with the git command and other open-source technologies, many reputable free services abound for developers and communities to host simple sites that build a following of users and contributors. Here’s our list of the most popular options:
6. GitHub Pages
If you’re a web developer, you know GitHub. As the development platform of choice for more than 40 million developers, GitHub is a trusted resource for hosting and reviewing code, managing projects, and building software for both individuals and Fortune 500 organizations.
The hosting provider’s static hosting service, GitHub Pages — not to be confused with GitLab Pages — takes code straight from a Git repository, optionally runs the files through a build process, and publishes a website.
- Number of sites: One site per GitHub account, plus unlimited project websites
- Storage and bandwidth: 1 GB storage and 100 GB bandwidth per month (soft limits)
- Domains: Custom domain name or a github.io subdomain
- Key features: HTTPS support, built-in integration with the popular static site generator Jekyll
Configuration is simple, and updates are a simple edit and push away. GitHub Pages is a powerful platform for any web developer to build a simple static website. But if you need more than a single page or more than 100GB of bandwidth per month, you may want to look elsewhere.`
7. Cloudflare Pages
Cloudflare is a global network and security platform that provides content delivery network (CDN) services, DNS, and security solutions that protect and accelerate websites, applications, and email. The company’s static hosting service, Cloudflare Pages, makes it easy to deploy and manage a website using one of the many static page generators available today.
- Number of sites: 100 sites per Cloudflare account
- Storage and bandwidth: 500 GB storage and unlimited bandwidth per month (soft limits)
- Domains: Cloudflare managed domains or custom domains
- Key features: HTTPS support, built-in integration with static site generator Hugo, global CDN
Cloudflare Pages is a great option for developers who already use Cloudflare’s other services or who are looking for an all-in-one solution for managing a website. The storage and bandwidth limits are generous, and the integration with Hugo makes it easy to get started with a static site.
8. Netlify
Trusted by the likes of Facebook, Citrix, Verizon, Peloton, and Kubernetes, Netlify leverages serverless functions and continuous deployment to deliver sites up to 10 times faster than other configurations. The platform bet heavily on JAMstack, unifying JavaScript, APIs, and prerendered Markup for an impressive infrastructure well-suited for businesses and developers looking for a commercial solution.
- Number of sites: One website with 300 build minutes per month
- Storage and bandwidth: 100 GB storage and 100 GB bandwidth per month (soft limits)
- Domains: Custom domain name or a netlify.com subdomain
- Key features: Global CDN deployment, HTML forms, and instant cache invalidation
Netlify originally made a splash in static hosting with the drag-and-drop deployments at BitBalloon, but leaders brought the service under the Netlify umbrella to create Netlify Drop (i.e., a Netlify CMS).
9. Firebase
With Google’s powerful backing and oversight, Firebase hosting gives mobile and web app developers tons of tools to move quickly online. Users can run static assets or dynamic sites on Google’s SSD-powered infrastructure, with built-in Google analytics, performance monitoring, and crash reporting tools to help site owners optimize and perfect their sites.
- Number of sites: Multiple websites within a single Firebase project
- Storage and bandwidth: 1 GB storage and 10 GB bandwidth per month
- Domains: Custom domain name or subdomains on web.app and firebaseapp.com domains
- Key features: Zero-configuration SSL certificates, global CDN, A/B testing, and analytics
Google further expanded its static hosting footprint in 2015 by snatching up DivShot, another popular brand in the free hosting space.
10. Amazon S3
Not surprisingly, another powerful name on our list is Amazon Web Services. Amazon S3, the company’s object storage service offers industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance. As with seemingly all things AWS, setup is a little complicated for first-time users, but the company includes a helpful setup guide for using Route 53 for DNS and AWS CloudFront for static content distribution.
- Number of sites: One
- Storage and bandwidth: 5 GB storage and up to 1 GB per month of bandwidth
- Domains: Custom domain name or AWS Region-specific website endpoint
- Key features: Integrations with 175 AWS services, 99.99% uptime, unlimited scalability
Amazon’s free tier for all these services gives users 12 months to experience enterprise-grade static hosting.
11. Vercel
Behind a mission to make cloud computing accessible to everyone, Vercel promises zero-configuration static hosting that integrates with a variety of web frameworks.
- Number of sites: Unlimited websites
- Storage and bandwidth: Up to .25 GB and 5 GB of bandwidth per month
- Domains: Custom domains supported or now.sh subdomain
- Key features: HTTPS support, smart CDN, continuous deployment with GitHub and GitLab
Users can publish and deploy in just a few keystrokes by installing the command line interface. The platform’s automatic SSL security and smart CDN don’t require any setup, providing an all-in-one solution for static and JAMstack deployments. Premium plans add unlimited deployments and greater collaboration tools.
12. Forge
Billed as the fastest, simplest, and most affordable way to host and deploy static websites, Forge takes publishing beyond GitHub or the command line interface by including built-in Dropbox compatibility.
- Number of sites: 1
- Bandwidth: 2 GB bandwidth per month
- Domains: Custom domains supported
- Key features: Hosted forms, .htaccess rewrites and redirects, plus live site previews
The user-friendly platform includes a drag-and-drop interface for file syncing and TurboJS and content delivery network integration to optimize page load speeds. Bandwidth restrictions make the free plan tough to stay in for the long haul, but we love that Forge comes with 24/7 support.
What Is Static Web Hosting?
Simply put, static web hosting supports fixed-content, HTML-based websites that display the same information to all visitors. When a user’s web browser retrieves a static website from a static web hosting server, the entire page is already constructed in HTML files (along with possibly CSS and JavaScript).
There are several benefits of static web hosting, including:
- Affordability: Static web hosting tends to be more affordable because it doesn’t offer the expensive bells and whistles associated with more complex, traffic-heavy sites.
- Simplicity: A static web hosting plan is simple to manage because the site uses basic HTML instead of browser- or server-based coding languages that may require extensive files and databases.
- Beginner-friendliness: Static websites often use shared servers, which are known for their beginner-friendliness.
When the World Wide Web emerged in the early 1990s, HTML consisted of just 18 tags, or elements. Every page was static and unstyled, with web browsers simply fetching HTML files from servers and enabling users to navigate through links.
As design principles and programming languages evolved, databases emerged as a way to separate a website’s content (blog posts, photo galleries, products, and the like) from the underlying designs and layouts.
Web development desktop applications, such as Adobe Dreamweaver, were great for static HTML and CSS sites, but the original static website generators struggled to reasonably connect to the SQL-based relational databases in a visual, user-friendly manner.
As a result, content management systems, such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla, gained popularity and led the tectonic online shift into interactive web design and dynamic, tailored visitor experiences.
What Is the Difference Between a Static and Dynamic Website?
With static HTML websites, a single static file represents a complete page of a site; the web browser simply retrieves and displays the file. Dynamic websites, however, use server-side technologies, such as databases and PHP, to essentially build a webpage as a user’s browser accesses the various files.
The browser will find several pieces of information and stitch them all together into one cohesive, dynamic webpage.
Static sites are good for smaller websites that don’t need to update their content frequently, while large sites with hundreds or thousands of pages are much easier to maintain dynamically. For example, if you wanted to add or remove a link on your website’s footer, you would have to change every HTML file containing the footer. You’d likely only edit one file to update the footer on a dynamic website.
Static websites are created manually, likely via hand coding or a static website generator that relies on a command line interface and a text editor that formats content in Markdown.
Although dynamic websites can be coded from scratch, you’re more likely to use a web-based interface that handles your programming languages and database connections. Drag-and-drop website builders, WordPress, and other content management and publishing systems are prime examples of dynamic site creators.
What Are The Advantages of Static Websites?
Given the user-focused design of dynamic websites and content management systems, it can be difficult to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of static versus dynamic websites. Generally speaking, static websites are typically faster, more secure, and more affordable than dynamic alternatives. Here’s a more comprehensive list of pros:
- Faster performance
- Lower cost
- Higher reliability and scalability
- More secure
- Less time to create
- Easier for search engines to index
With all of these perks, static websites draw their strength from their sheer simplicity. The absence of databases and third-party applications removes potential security vulnerabilities, points of failure, performance hangups, expensive add-ons, and infrastructural inefficiencies.
To be fair, however, static websites come with a few major drawbacks worth considering: Content is not easily changed, and functionality is limited. Because of the reliance on coding and the command line, not all site owners are able (or willing) to make the manual, tedious updates needed to have a modern and effective online presence.
Plus, given the scaled-back nature of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript when compared with dynamic programming languages, site owners will have a harder time capitalizing on current design and development trends.
Simplify Your Hosting Experience Even More With Static Site Generators
When it comes to getting a static website off the ground, many traditionalists and old-school programmers will simply open their favorite text editor and start coding. However, a static website generator will do the trick for many others.
Much like the best website builders that offer visual ways to design dynamic websites, static site generators work to pair your content with a design template and produce static HTML code as a result. Check out the list of top generators and frameworks, according to the experts at StaticGen:
Again, selecting a static website generator is similar to the steps taken when weighing how to choose a web host. A clear and detailed picture of your project’s needs and goals will inform your decision-making process.
From there, you’ve essentially got two paths to choose from: Do you seek out the highest number of built-in features or the stripped-down and efficient platform with a vibrant plugin marketplace?
Fortunately, many of the best static site generators are based on open-source projects and technologies. After choosing a cheap or free static web hosting plan from the list above, you’ll have numerous options to demo, try, and experiment with.
Take your time to learn which types of site creation processes you value the most, whether it’s pure usability or efficient build times. Enjoy exploring the freedoms and possibilities that static site generators give you!
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