How to Host a Website for Free in 2026: 5 Free Hosts, Exact Limits and Steps

Short answer: to host a website for free, put your site's files (at least an index.html) in a folder and deploy it to a free static host. The simplest is Netlify: drag the folder onto Netlify Drop and you get a live HTTPS URL. Cloudflare Pages has the most generous free limits, GitHub Pages is free for public repositories, and Vercel Hobby is free for personal, non-commercial sites.

How we checked: we read each host's own limits and pricing docs, linked in the table below, and only list limits the vendor publishes. Prices checked on each vendor's own pricing page on November 1, 2026. Some links are affiliate links: if you sign up, the vendor may pay us a commission at no cost to you. It never changes our picks.

• A folder with your site's files. The entry page must be called index.html. If you use a site builder or framework, run its build command and use the output folder (often dist, build or out).
• A free account with the host you pick.
• Optional: a domain name from a registrar. Each host gives you a free address on its own domain, so you can skip this at first.

• Create a free Netlify account.
• Go to Netlify Drop at app.netlify.com/drop, the drag-and-drop deploy page.
• Drag your site folder onto the page. Netlify uploads it and gives you a live URL with HTTPS.
• Open the URL and check every page and image loads.
• To update the site, upload the new version of the folder to the same project. Each production deploy uses 15 of your 300 monthly credits.
• To use your own domain, add it under the project's domain settings and follow the DNS instructions; SSL is included on the Free plan.

When the site changes often, connect a Git repository instead: Netlify rebuilds on every push and gives each pull request a deploy preview, and deploy previews do not cost credits.

Cloudflare's Pages Functions pricing says "on both free and paid plans, requests to static assets are free and unlimited," so a busy static site will not run out of a monthly bandwidth allowance. The limits page caps the Free plan at 500 builds a month, one build at a time, a 20-minute build timeout, 20,000 files per site, 25 MiB per file, 100 custom domains per project and 100 projects per account. Server code (Pages Functions) counts against the Workers free quota of 100,000 requests a day, per Workers pricing.

Pick it if you expect real traffic on a static site. Skip it if you want the simplest drag-and-drop with built-in forms.

Per GitHub's docs, on GitHub Free the repository must be public. Setup: create a repository (named username.github.io for a user site), add an index.html, index.md or README.md at the top of your publishing source, then choose the publishing source under Settings and Pages. GitHub builds and deploys it with a GitHub Actions workflow, and changes can take up to 10 minutes to appear.

The limits: published sites up to 1 GB, a soft 100 GB of bandwidth a month and a soft 10 builds an hour. GitHub also says Pages "is not intended for or allowed to be used as a free web-hosting service to run your online business, e-commerce site, or any other website that is primarily directed at either facilitating commercial transactions." It suits docs, portfolios and open-source project pages.

Vercel Hobby includes 100 GB of Fast Data Transfer, 1M CDN requests, 1M function invocations and 4 Active CPU hours a month, up to 200 projects and 100 deployments a day, per the Hobby docs. If you exceed a limit, Vercel says you usually wait 30 days for it to reset. It is the natural home for a personal Next.js project, since Vercel maintains Next.js.

The catch is the fair use guidelines: Hobby is restricted to non-commercial personal use. Taking payments, advertising a product or service, being paid to build the site, sites whose main purpose is affiliate links and sites showing ads all count as commercial. Donations do not. A business site needs Pro at $20 a month.

Render says static sites are free to deploy. Its free tier docs add free web services for a backend, which spin down after 15 minutes with no inbound traffic and take about a minute to wake, with 750 free instance hours per workspace per month. Free Postgres has 1 GB of storage and expires 30 days after creation. The included outbound bandwidth and build minutes are shown in the Render dashboard rather than on that page.

For server apps, Railway also has a Free plan with $1 of usage credit a month, but it lists 0 custom domains, so it is better for testing than for a public site.

• Just want it online today: Netlify with Netlify Drop.
• Expect a lot of traffic on a static site: Cloudflare Pages.
• Documentation or portfolio already in a public GitHub repo: GitHub Pages.
• Personal Next.js app, no ads, no sales: Vercel Hobby.
• Need a small backend or database to try an idea: Render free web service, accepting the spin-down delay.

If you later need paid hosting, our Vercel vs Netlify comparison prices both at the same usage, and our Vercel and Netlify alternatives guide covers other hosts. Netlify's plans are also summarized on its Stork page.

Can I really host a website for free?

Yes. Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, GitHub Pages, Vercel Hobby and Render all host static websites at $0 on an address under their own domain, and Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, GitHub Pages and Vercel let you connect a custom domain. You only pay if you buy a domain name or outgrow the free limits.

What is the best free website host?

For raw headroom, Cloudflare Pages, because requests to static assets are free and unlimited. For the easiest setup, Netlify, because you can drag a folder onto Netlify Drop. For a project already on GitHub, GitHub Pages. For a personal Next.js project, Vercel Hobby.

Can I use free hosting for a business website?

Check each host's rules. Vercel restricts Hobby to non-commercial personal use, and GitHub says Pages is not allowed to run an online business or e-commerce site. Netlify, Cloudflare Pages and Render do not state a non-commercial rule on the limits and pricing pages we checked.

Do free hosts allow a custom domain?

Netlify Free includes custom domains with SSL, Cloudflare Pages allows 100 custom domains per project on the Free plan, GitHub Pages supports your own custom domain, and Vercel Hobby allows 50 domains per project. You still have to buy the domain from a registrar.

Can I host a backend or database for free?

Partly. Render's free web services spin down after 15 minutes without traffic and take about a minute to wake, with 750 free instance hours a month; its free Postgres database is 1 GB and expires after 30 days. Netlify Free and Vercel Hobby include serverless functions within their limits.

What happens if my free site gets too much traffic?

It depends on the host. Netlify pauses projects when the 300 credits run out; Vercel Hobby features stop and usually reset after 30 days; GitHub Pages has a soft 100 GB monthly bandwidth limit. Cloudflare Pages does not charge for static asset requests.