As web technologies like html5, css3 and javascript rapidly advancing in feature-set and ability, external services like Firebase, Parse and Google Apps abstracting requirements, the need for a traditional hosting plan is increasingly redundant.
A number of new services are cropping up that do away with the traditional complexities of web hosting, providing only static file hosting; just html, css, js and image files. Without the need for server-side code execution and rendering, infrastructure that’s inherently secure, effortless scalability they offer an attractive value proposition.
Run a brochure website, marketing site, landing page or any other non-dynamic webpage? There’s no real reason not to use a static host, even if you need form submission handling!
Using a static site generator like Jekyll, Octopress or Hugo? Some static hosts can even run your builds for you, automating deployment. Add in prose.io, Contentful, Prismic, WebHook or Osmek to your static site generator for a fully client friendly CMS!
Building a web application with a framework like ember, angular or backbone? Outsource your database/backend and focus on building fast, intuitive user interfaces.
The benefits of static hosting are pretty clear: speed, security, ease-of-use and cost. But what service should you use?
There are a number of options, we’ve highlighted 15 of the best across a range of use cases:
| Host | Pricing | Custom Domain | HTTPS | Upload Method | CDN | Form Handling | Build Automation | Redirects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Github Pages | Free! | Yes | No | Github | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Amazon S3 | Free+ | Yes• | Yes* | Manual, API | Yes | No | No | No |
| Bit Balloon | $7/month+ | Yes | Yes | Manual, API | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| DivShot | Free+ | Yes | Yes | Manual, CLI | Yes | Yes (β) | No | Yes |
| Forge | Free+ | Yes | No | Manual, DropBox, Github | Yes | No | No | No |
| Paperplane | $9/month | Yes | No | DropBox, Github | Yes | No | No | No |
| CDNify | $10/month+ | Yes | Yes | API, ? | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Figroll | $5/month | Yes | No | Manual | No | No | No | No |
| Site44 | $4.95/month | Yes | No | DropBox | No | No | No | Yes |
| NeoCities | Free+ | Yes | No | Manual | Yes | No | No | No |
| Surge | Free+ | Yes | Yes | CLI | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Updog | Free | Yes | No | DropBox | No | No | No | No |
| Netlify | Free+ | Yes | Yes | Manual, API, Github | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pancake | Free | Yes | No | DropBox, Github | No | No | No | No |
| Duet.to | $1.99/month+ | Yes | No | DropBox | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Can’t see your favourite static site host? Let us know in the comments:
Further Reading
- http://davidwalsh.name/hosting-website-amazon-s3 – Using AWS S3 for static hosting
- https://www.staticgen.com/ – List of static site generators
- http://www.staticshowdown.com/ – Static web app hackathon
- https://developmentseed.org/blog/2012/07/27/build-cms-free-websites/ – How we build CMS-free websites
- http://carrot.is/coding/static_cms – Building a static CMS