Platforms
Static website hosting: choose a home for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
Compare static publishing workflows, hosting options, and the extra services needed for forms, search, and other dynamic features.
Static website hosting serves ready-made HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and other files. It is a good fit for documentation, portfolios, landing pages, and many informational business sites. If you are searching for HTML hosting, this is usually the category you need.
The key boundary is server-side processing. Uploading PHP files or a WordPress database to a static host will not create a running WordPress installation. Interactive features can still work through browser JavaScript and external services, but those services have their own setup, limits, and costs.
Choose a publishing workflow
| Workflow | Useful when | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Upload a folder of finished files | You have a small HTML site or an exported build | The upload contains the public output, including index.html and assets |
| Deploy from a Git repository | A developer maintains versioned source files | Repository access, build command, output folder, and rollback |
| Export from a CMS | Editors want a CMS while visitors receive static pages | Publishing delay and replacements for dynamic features |
For a hand-written site, there may be no build command. For a framework or generator, the host needs the generated output rather than only the source. A common deployment mistake is publishing the project root while the finished files live in a directory such as dist or public.
Three services to evaluate
Cloudflare Pages
Cloudflare’s static HTML guide documents deploying ordinary HTML sites. It is worth evaluating if your workflow fits Pages and you want to manage a static deployment alongside Cloudflare services. Check the current plan’s build, file, and function limits for your project rather than treating all features as unlimited.
GitHub Pages
GitHub Pages publishes static files associated with a repository. It can fit project documentation and personal or project sites. Read the usage limits and restrictions before using it commercially: GitHub says Pages is not intended or allowed as free hosting for an online business, e-commerce site, or commercial SaaS. Do not choose it for a store merely because the storefront is HTML.
Netlify
Netlify’s deployment documentation covers repository-based and manual deployments. Compare the convenience of your chosen workflow with the current account’s usage and billing model. Forms, server functions, and other services should be included in the budget when the site relies on them.
These are workflow options, not a benchmark ranking. No performance or availability comparison was run for this guide.
Audit everything that expects a server
Inventory contact forms, search, login, shopping carts, comments, and personalized content. Decide whether each can be removed, handled by an external service, or implemented with a supported backend. A form that looks correct but has nowhere to submit is a broken business workflow.
Never include private credentials in a public JavaScript bundle. A browser can see the files it downloads. If a feature requires a secret, it needs an appropriate server-side boundary rather than a hidden field or an obscure filename.
Check links and direct page visits
Open the deployment at its temporary address before connecting the domain. Check assets, navigation, deep links, missing-page behavior, and mobile layouts. Visit a nested URL directly and refresh it. A site working only after clicking from the home page can have a routing configuration problem.
For a single-page application, decide which paths should return the application shell and which should be real missing pages. Do not blindly return the home page with a successful status for every nonexistent content URL.
Include the work around the files
Your recurring cost can include the domain, email, forms, build usage, bandwidth, storage, and any dynamic services. A low-cost static host does not supply every part of a business website automatically. Keep the source, assets, and a known working deployment so another person can publish a correction.
If your starting point is WordPress, read the WordPress-to-HTML conversion guide. The main decision is whether the site can operate from a published snapshot, not whether an exporter can produce a ZIP file.