For a static site, Cloudflare Pages is the strongest fit when unlimited static-asset requests matter. Netlify offers a broad feature bundle but meters usage through 300 monthly credits on its current Free plan. Vercel Hobby is limited to non-commercial personal use, and GitHub Pages prohibits free hosting for online businesses and similar commercial sites. Your site architecture, traffic pattern, deployment workflow and intended use should determine the choice.
This comparison reflects provider documentation checked on September 30, 2026. Quotas, credits and acceptable-use terms can change.
What is the best free website hosting?
There is no single best free host for every site. These services are primarily deployment platforms for static websites and lightweight applications, not interchangeable replacements for shared hosting that runs a server-side CMS.
- Choose Cloudflare Pages for static HTML, CSS, JavaScript and assets when static request volume is your main concern.
- Choose Netlify if you want deploy previews, custom domains with SSL, functions and related storage features, and can monitor monthly credit usage.
- Choose Vercel for a personal, non-commercial project that benefits from its deployment workflow and documented limits.
- Choose GitHub Pages for a repository-based static project, documentation site or personal site that fits GitHub’s acceptable-use rules.
None of these plans establishes that a domain name is included free. Hosting and domain registration are separate decisions.
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Free hosting is not one kind of service
“Free” can mean unlimited requests for static files, a monthly credit allowance, a deployment ceiling, a storage cap or a restriction on commercial use. A static site may consume only file delivery, while a form, API route or other server-side feature can consume a separate function or compute quota.
Cloudflare Pages illustrates the distinction: requests for static assets are free and unlimited, but Pages Functions consume Workers request quota. Treat the static and dynamic portions of an application as different usage profiles.
Feature and limit comparison
The figures below are documented plan limits, not guarantees of speed, uptime or support quality.
| Service | Documented free-plan facts | Commercial-use and over-limit caveats |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Pages | Static-asset requests are free and unlimited; 500 builds per month; one concurrent build; 20-minute build timeout; up to 100 custom domains per project; 20,000 files per site; 25 MiB maximum individual asset; 100 projects per account. | Pages Functions use Workers request quota. The cited limits documentation was updated September 5, 2026; confirm current terms before relying on a quota. |
| Netlify | Current credit-based Free plan is $0 with a hard limit of 300 credits per month. The plan lists custom domains with SSL, global CDN, deploy previews, functions, database and blob storage. Production deploys, compute, bandwidth and web requests are metered. | New accounts use credit-based plans from September 4, 2025; older accounts may remain on legacy plans. Netlify says free projects pause when the monthly credit limit is reached, until the next billing cycle. |
| Vercel Hobby | Up to 200 projects, 100 deployments per day, 50 domains per project and 45 minutes of build time per deployment. | Hobby is restricted to non-commercial personal use. Vercel cites payment handling, advertising a product or service, paid production work, affiliate links as a primary purpose and advertisements as examples of commercial use. |
| GitHub Pages | Published-site limit of 1 GB; soft bandwidth limit of 100 GB per month; soft build limit of 10 builds per hour, except custom GitHub Actions workflows. | GitHub says Pages is not intended or allowed as free hosting for an online business, e-commerce site, a site primarily facilitating commercial transactions or commercial SaaS. Do not use it for sensitive transactions such as passwords or credit-card numbers. |
Cloudflare’s figures come from its Pages Limits documentation (updated September 5, 2026); its static-request and Functions distinction comes from Pages Functions Pricing (updated September 8, 2026). Netlify’s credit figures come from its current Pricing and Credit-Based Pricing Plans documentation. Vercel’s limits were updated February 3, 2026. GitHub’s bandwidth and size figures come from its GitHub Pages Limits documentation.
Cloudflare Pages: best fit for high-volume static delivery
Cloudflare Pages is compelling when your output is static and the principal concern is delivery of static files: the documented free plan does not charge for static-asset requests and describes them as unlimited. The account still has operational ceilings: 500 builds per month, one build at a time, a 20-minute build timeout, 20,000 files per site, a 25 MiB maximum individual asset, 100 projects per account and up to 100 custom domains per project.
Adding Pages Functions changes the calculation. Function requests consume Workers quota, so an application with server-side logic should be evaluated on function usage rather than static traffic alone.
Best for
- Documentation, portfolios, landing pages and other static sites.
- Projects where asset-request volume is difficult to predict.
- Teams that can work within repository builds and file-size limits.
Watch before choosing
- Large individual assets over 25 MiB do not fit the documented limit.
- A function-heavy site does not receive the same unlimited treatment as static assets.
- Build frequency and concurrency remain capped.
Netlify: broad features with credit metering
Netlify’s current Free offer for credit-based accounts is $0 and includes 300 credits per month. Its listed bundle includes custom domains with SSL, a global CDN, deploy previews, functions, database and blob storage. Credits are consumed by production deploys, compute, bandwidth and web requests, so the same site can use credits through both publishing activity and visitor traffic.
Netlify states that free projects pause when the team’s monthly credit limit is reached and resume with the next billing cycle. Accounts created before September 4, 2025 may still show legacy-plan details, so do not assume every existing account has the current credit model.
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Best for
- Projects that need previews for changes before production.
- Sites combining static delivery with modest functions or storage.
- Users willing to monitor a monthly usage meter.
Watch before choosing
- Traffic and deploy frequency both affect consumption.
- Reaching the hard limit can pause projects rather than merely slowing them.
- Legacy and credit-based accounts can have different displayed terms.
Vercel Hobby: capable workflow, personal-use boundary
Vercel Hobby documents 200 projects, 100 deployments per day, 50 domains per project and a 45-minute build-time limit per deployment. Those numbers describe capacity, not permission to run a commercial site.
Vercel’s fair-use terms restrict Hobby teams to non-commercial personal use. The examples of commercial use include handling payments, advertising a product or service, paid production work, making affiliate links the site’s primary purpose and running advertisements. A portfolio that promotes paid client services can therefore require a paid or differently licensed arrangement even if its traffic is small.
Best for
- Personal experiments, learning projects and non-commercial portfolios.
- Workflows that need the documented deployment and domain limits.
Watch before choosing
- Review the fair-use definition before publishing anything tied to revenue, clients or advertising.
- Daily deployment and per-deployment build limits are separate constraints.
GitHub Pages: repository-based static publishing
GitHub Pages publishes static sites from GitHub repositories. Its documented limits include a 1 GB published site, a soft 100 GB monthly bandwidth limit and a soft build limit of 10 builds per hour, with an exception for custom GitHub Actions workflows.
GitHub’s policy is decisive for business use: Pages is not intended or allowed as free hosting for an online business, e-commerce site, a site primarily facilitating commercial transactions or commercial SaaS. GitHub also says Pages should not be used for sensitive transactions such as passwords or credit-card numbers.
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Best for
- Open-source project documentation and personal static sites.
- Readers already comfortable managing content in a repository.
Watch before choosing
- The 1 GB published-site limit includes the whole site, not just one file.
- Bandwidth and build figures are soft limits; they are not an unlimited-traffic promise.
- Commercial intent can disqualify an otherwise small site.
Can I host a website for free with my own domain?
Yes, these services document support for connecting custom domains, but a free hosting plan does not automatically include a free domain registration. Netlify lists custom domains with SSL on its Free offer; Cloudflare Pages documents up to 100 custom domains per project. Vercel documents up to 50 domains per Hobby project. You must register the domain separately unless a provider explicitly offers a temporary promotion or another documented inclusion.
Plan for DNS configuration, certificate issuance and renewal, and the provider’s domain-count limit. Domain support does not remove commercial-use restrictions.
Is free website hosting good enough for a business?
Sometimes, but only after checking the plan’s acceptable-use terms and failure mode. GitHub Pages and Vercel Hobby have explicit restrictions that can rule out an online business, advertising, affiliate-led site or paid production work. Netlify permits a credit-based Free account but can pause projects after 300 monthly credits. Cloudflare Pages can fit a static business site technically, yet Functions quotas, build limits and asset limits still apply.
For a business, verify four items before launch:
- Whether the provider permits your revenue model, advertising, affiliate activity and client work.
- What counts toward usage: static requests, functions, bandwidth, builds or credits.
- What happens at the limit and how quickly you can restore service.
- Whether your domain, files, forms and any sensitive data fit the documented limits and policies.
What happens when I reach the free plan limit?
The outcome depends on the provider and the type of limit. Netlify’s cited pricing information says free projects pause after the team’s 300-credit monthly hard limit and resume in the next billing cycle. Cloudflare documents quotas and caps but the figures cited here do not establish a universal pause behavior. Vercel and GitHub Pages also have multiple limits rather than one shared bandwidth threshold; consult the current provider policy for the specific quota you hit.
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A practical selection checklist
- Classify the architecture: static files only, or functions, APIs, databases and forms?
- Estimate the traffic pattern: mostly static assets, unpredictable bursts, or metered dynamic requests?
- Count your delivery needs: builds per month, concurrent builds, project count, domains, files and maximum asset size.
- Check the workflow: repository-based builds, previews, GitHub Actions or another deployment process.
- Read commercial-use terms: especially for portfolios, client work, ads, affiliate links, payments and e-commerce.
- Document the failure plan: pause, quota exhaustion, upgrade requirement or another provider-specific response.
Bottom line
For a genuinely static site, start with Cloudflare Pages if its file, build and project limits fit. Pick Netlify when its previews and bundled services justify monitoring a 300-credit monthly allowance. Use Vercel Hobby only for qualifying non-commercial personal work, and GitHub Pages for repository-driven static publishing that stays outside its commercial and sensitive-transaction restrictions. Recheck the provider documentation immediately before launch because these terms are snapshots, not permanent guarantees.
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