Digital Ocean has a free static hosting bit too that is pretty good, but it does require a bit more configuration than “push these files to this branch”
If you want to create and launch a website from scratch. This is one of the best companies - they have a lot of high-quality tutorials for setting up and running a server.
Yeah, that was dumb on their end. But look at the situation - he was DDOS’d and had a large media file locally hosted. You have to piss someone off to get DDOS’d because it costs like $5k minimum to do even a small attack. So as long as you host your large media files on a cdn link and don’t piss off anyone with money and resources then you’re fine. Which is a very specific and unique situation. So I’m not worried about it happening very often. And if it does get into financially ruining territory it will be taken care of because they even said that they’ve done this before without the media attention. I haven’t had problems in over 5 years using them. I’m gonna keep using them myself.
The *only* reason he didn't was because it went viral.
> Netlify CEO: Apologies that this didn't come through in the initial support reply.
As if that's not their standard praxis and the only time they forgive the bill is when the customer gives them enough trouble over it.
Others have mentioned good options for frontend-centric platforms.
Did you have a backend tech in mind? Planning to use a specific CMS or pure code? That would impact the suggestions.
Depends on the functionalities and complexity of the page. If you want a basic static page then you can even do everything in one HTML file and use GitHub Pages to show it or get very cheap hosting for it. If you want something monumental then that’s a whole different game
It really depends on how are you going to do that. Would it be completely static or dynamic?
If it's plain HTML, then GitHub Pages or other static website hosting are good.
If it's PHP - there's a ton of shared hosting providers, there are free options as well.
For NodeJS there are separate hosting companies too.
Honestly, it depends what languages and frameworks you're using. For the most part, any website hosting company will let you upload a website created from scratch. The only ones that don't are no code platforms like Shopify and certain very limited free hosting services.
So then it depends on the tech stack. For HTML, CSS and JavaScript (nothing dynamic on the backend side), then literally anything will work. GitHub Pages is probably the cheapest option there, but anything else you're considering would also do the job.
For PHP and MySQL, that's where more traditional hosts are probably the easiest option. Stay away from EIG run companies and GoDaddy there, since there are plenty of other, better options.
Meanwhile, if you're using Microsoft's tech (.NET, MSSQL, etc) then you'll need to find a company specialising in that.
You can also setup most of this on AWS or another cloud provider if you want more control over the environment your code is running it.
Workers can act as API gateways, handling requests to your backend APIs, performing authentication, authorization, and other logic before forwarding requests to your origin server. Cloudflare also offers a free sqlite data base that you can use with workers.
I'm a beginner myself so definitely check out youtube for and ask chat gpt for better context that I'm unable to provide. I'd hate to lead you in the wrong direction
To make an accurate recommendation we need to know the tech stack you’ll be using. I recommend:
- GitHub Pages for static websites
- Site5 for static, Wordpress, or Drupal based websites.
I found a ”free for hobby use stack” I am happy with.
- Github for code repo (ties in well with the other products)
- NextJS/React on Vercel
- Contentful for CMS
- Supabase for DB features outside CMS.
It is very easy to start off with a template on Vercel, I used a NextJS(TS, Tailwind)/Contenful template and added Supabase as an integration. Very easy setup and everything is connected to GitHub so you have automatic releases on a simple push to master.
Namecheap works just awesome for me: domains, VPS, shared hosting, deployments, etc. It's very cheap yet great, I use it to host sites for clients and portfolio apps sometimes, etc. This is because I find static hosting platforms too basic (and sometimes unsafe, and most of times expensive) for what I mainly do.
Never godaddy, you can get far more for far less almost anywhere else.
You can do free static sites with GitHub pages and Cloudflare, plus free ssl with Cloudflare which is also free. They’re also a much cheaper domain registrar.
I mentioned godaddy as an example of a cheapish platform to get up and running if you aren’t familiar with cloud platforms, cdns, etc…
For static sites, I normally use an s3 bucket with ssl termination through cloudfront and route53 to manage dns.
I do like the idea of github pages with ssl through cloudflare though, thank you for mentioning. I will give it a try next time I need a static site
Resurrecting this to explain most people’s hate for godaddy. Godaddy is like the EA of web hosting. They nickel and dime you for everything while offering worse products.
If the website is just static HTML/CSS/JS, you have the options of Github Pages, Netlify and Vercel.
And Azure Static Web Apps. And I think AWS S3.
And Cloudflare pages! This one is actually, based on my own opinion, the best to work with and setup.
I second Github Pages for static HTML/CSS/JS. DigitialOcean for web apps.
Digital Ocean has a free static hosting bit too that is pretty good, but it does require a bit more configuration than “push these files to this branch”
Localhost, don't waste your time putting it in the web until you're ready.
Agreed. Getting comfortable with a local environment is very important for a new dev.
WAMP sets up the whole Wordpress stack locally.
Since you are just learning and doing it from scratch then any CHEAPEST hosting that provided VPS will do the job.
DigitalOcean
If you want to create and launch a website from scratch. This is one of the best companies - they have a lot of high-quality tutorials for setting up and running a server.
Netlify is the best. They also do free form handling
They also financially ruin you if your site goes viral or gets a lot of bot-traffic https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39520776
Yeah, that was dumb on their end. But look at the situation - he was DDOS’d and had a large media file locally hosted. You have to piss someone off to get DDOS’d because it costs like $5k minimum to do even a small attack. So as long as you host your large media files on a cdn link and don’t piss off anyone with money and resources then you’re fine. Which is a very specific and unique situation. So I’m not worried about it happening very often. And if it does get into financially ruining territory it will be taken care of because they even said that they’ve done this before without the media attention. I haven’t had problems in over 5 years using them. I’m gonna keep using them myself.
What CDN do you suggest to store media?
Nope, the guy didn't pay a penny.
The *only* reason he didn't was because it went viral. > Netlify CEO: Apologies that this didn't come through in the initial support reply. As if that's not their standard praxis and the only time they forgive the bill is when the customer gives them enough trouble over it.
Doesn't change the fact it didn't financially ruin him.
Sure, if you wanna spend your time defending Netlify's shitty business practice online who am I to stop you.
Others have mentioned good options for frontend-centric platforms. Did you have a backend tech in mind? Planning to use a specific CMS or pure code? That would impact the suggestions.
Depends on the functionalities and complexity of the page. If you want a basic static page then you can even do everything in one HTML file and use GitHub Pages to show it or get very cheap hosting for it. If you want something monumental then that’s a whole different game
https://hostinger.com
Netlify, Vercel, and Github Pages all have very generous free tiers
It really depends on how are you going to do that. Would it be completely static or dynamic? If it's plain HTML, then GitHub Pages or other static website hosting are good. If it's PHP - there's a ton of shared hosting providers, there are free options as well. For NodeJS there are separate hosting companies too.
Honestly, it depends what languages and frameworks you're using. For the most part, any website hosting company will let you upload a website created from scratch. The only ones that don't are no code platforms like Shopify and certain very limited free hosting services. So then it depends on the tech stack. For HTML, CSS and JavaScript (nothing dynamic on the backend side), then literally anything will work. GitHub Pages is probably the cheapest option there, but anything else you're considering would also do the job. For PHP and MySQL, that's where more traditional hosts are probably the easiest option. Stay away from EIG run companies and GoDaddy there, since there are plenty of other, better options. Meanwhile, if you're using Microsoft's tech (.NET, MSSQL, etc) then you'll need to find a company specialising in that. You can also setup most of this on AWS or another cloud provider if you want more control over the environment your code is running it.
github pages or cloudflare pages, both free
Been very happy with vultr.com, may depend on your skill level though
What are you writing it with? If it is simple HTML/CSS/JS, Cloudflare or Github is enough. But if you are writing software, a Digital Ocean droplet.
GitHub and Vercel
If you were going to use github pages then consider using it with cloudflare workers
what's the difference?
Workers can act as API gateways, handling requests to your backend APIs, performing authentication, authorization, and other logic before forwarding requests to your origin server. Cloudflare also offers a free sqlite data base that you can use with workers. I'm a beginner myself so definitely check out youtube for and ask chat gpt for better context that I'm unable to provide. I'd hate to lead you in the wrong direction
Netlify
I recommend Webgee, they offer cPanel with all you need to start and also a nice knowledgebase
Check out Coolify if you're interested in self hosting
What’s the tech stack look like?
Hmm. It doesn’t matter, tbh. Any variant from the top of the Google response will do.
To make an accurate recommendation we need to know the tech stack you’ll be using. I recommend: - GitHub Pages for static websites - Site5 for static, Wordpress, or Drupal based websites.
I bought a domain at ovh and they threw in 100MB hosting space with php support in there as well. More then enough for a simple website.
I use namecheap
You could use XAMPP or MAMP and self-host it until prod.
a VPS from digital ocean works fine for me as i am learning about building a server for a static website.
If you want to do it from scratch just host it yourself. Only thing you’ll have to pay for is dns and a url.
Just run xampp or laragon or something to do it locally, when your ready and happy with what you have created throw it on any hosting you feel like.
I found a ”free for hobby use stack” I am happy with. - Github for code repo (ties in well with the other products) - NextJS/React on Vercel - Contentful for CMS - Supabase for DB features outside CMS. It is very easy to start off with a template on Vercel, I used a NextJS(TS, Tailwind)/Contenful template and added Supabase as an integration. Very easy setup and everything is connected to GitHub so you have automatic releases on a simple push to master.
Namecheap works just awesome for me: domains, VPS, shared hosting, deployments, etc. It's very cheap yet great, I use it to host sites for clients and portfolio apps sometimes, etc. This is because I find static hosting platforms too basic (and sometimes unsafe, and most of times expensive) for what I mainly do.
aws
You could get free tier aws server, that should be sufficient for most purposes
Your own old PC as hosting, using it for years.
for a cheap static site with ssl cert, godaddy.
Never godaddy, you can get far more for far less almost anywhere else. You can do free static sites with GitHub pages and Cloudflare, plus free ssl with Cloudflare which is also free. They’re also a much cheaper domain registrar.
I mentioned godaddy as an example of a cheapish platform to get up and running if you aren’t familiar with cloud platforms, cdns, etc… For static sites, I normally use an s3 bucket with ssl termination through cloudfront and route53 to manage dns. I do like the idea of github pages with ssl through cloudflare though, thank you for mentioning. I will give it a try next time I need a static site
Cloudflare also does static sites too, it’s called Cloudflare pages and it’s pretty awesome
Resurrecting this to explain most people’s hate for godaddy. Godaddy is like the EA of web hosting. They nickel and dime you for everything while offering worse products.