What is static website hosting?
Static website hosting serves your website's files (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images) directly to visitors without any server-side processing or database lookups. Static sites are fast, cheap to host, and highly reliable because there is no dynamic code to fail.
Disclosure: What's Hosting operates a GoDaddy reseller storefront. Competitor guides are editorial research, not products we sell.
A static website is made up of pre-built files. When a visitor requests a page, the server simply sends the file. There is no PHP processing, no database queries, and no template rendering. This simplicity makes static sites extremely fast and resistant to server-side attacks.
Popular platforms for hosting static sites include Netlify, GitHub Pages, Vercel, and Cloudflare Pages. These services are often free for personal projects and basic sites. Amazon S3 combined with CloudFront is another widely used option.
Static site generators like Hugo, Jekyll, Eleventy, and Next.js export your site to static files that can then be hosted on any of these platforms. They let you write content in Markdown or structured data, then generate the finished HTML files.
Static hosting is not suitable for sites that need user logins, dynamic content, shopping carts, or anything that requires server-side processing. For those use cases, you need traditional hosting with a server-side language like PHP or Node.js, or a platform like WordPress.
Common questions
Is static hosting free?
Yes, for many use cases. Netlify, GitHub Pages, Vercel, and Cloudflare Pages all offer generous free plans for static websites. Costs arise if you have very high traffic or need advanced features.
What is the best static website hosting provider?
Netlify and Vercel are popular for developer-focused projects. Cloudflare Pages offers excellent global performance on the free plan. GitHub Pages works well for simple projects and documentation.
Can I host a WordPress site on static hosting?
Not directly. WordPress requires PHP and a database. You can export a WordPress site to static files using a plugin, then host the output on a static platform, but you lose dynamic WordPress features.