GitHub Pages is free, fast and perfect for project sites and documentation that already live in Git. For everyone else, it means learning repositories, commits and Pages settings to publish one page. If you want a GitHub Pages alternative for client, business or personal HTML sites without Git, here is the honest comparison.
Last updated · Facts checked against GitHub Pages's official pricing and documentation. Sources
GitHub Pages needs a GitHub account, a repository, your files committed and Pages turned on in Settings.
Pages is static: forms need an outside service such as Formspree.
GitHub: Pages isn't to be used "to run your online business, e-commerce site" or SaaS.
Choose GitHub Pages if your site already lives in a GitHub repository, you're comfortable with Git, and you don't need forms or password protection. Choose htmlhost if you want to paste or drop HTML and publish in a minute, edit visually or with AI, collect form messages, or run a business site, which GitHub's documentation says Pages isn't intended for. Free: 3 sites, 500 MB of storage, 50 form messages a month, 10 AI edits a day, sites that never expire by default.
The steps a typical person follows on each platform, from a finished HTML file to a live page.
Highlighted cells mark the stronger option for publishing and editing HTML sites. Ties are left plain.
| Feature | htmlhost | GitHub Pages |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free: 3 sites, 500 MB of storage, 50 form messages a month, 10 AI edits a day, sites that never expire by default. Pro $12/month or $120/year. | Free for public repositories. Private repositories need GitHub Pro, Team or Enterprise. |
| Publishing | Paste HTML or drop files, a folder or ZIP in the browser; CLI and Claude optional. | From a repository branch or a GitHub Actions workflow. |
| Git knowledge needed | None. | Repositories, commits and branches. |
| Editing a live page | Visual editor, code editor and AI Edit; publish in one click. | Edit source files, commit, wait for a rebuild. |
| Forms | Forms deliver to a dashboard inbox and email with a built-in spam trap: 50 form messages a month on Free, 5,000 form messages a month on Pro with file attachments, Google Sheets and webhooks. | None. Pages is static; use a third-party form service. |
| Business use | Business, client and store landing pages are allowed. | Not intended for running an online business, e-commerce site or SaaS. |
| Source code visibility | Your source stays private; only the published site is public. | On GitHub Free the repository must be public. |
| Password-protected sites | Included in Pro ($12/month). | No password feature. Private sites need GitHub Enterprise Cloud. |
| Custom domain | $5/yr each on Free; unlimited and included on Pro. | Free, with HTTPS. |
| Size and traffic | 500 MB of storage on Free, 10 GB on Pro. | Sites up to 1 GB; 100 GB/month soft bandwidth limit; 10 builds an hour. |
| Analytics | Built in: 7 days on Free, up to 90 on Pro. | No visitor analytics for Pages sites; the repository Traffic graph covers the repository only. |
| Redirects | Up to 200 server-side rules per site on every plan. | No configurable server-side redirects. The jekyll-redirect-from plugin creates client-side refresh pages in Jekyll builds. |
| Version history | Pro: last 100 versions, kept up to 1 year. | Full Git history of every change. |
GitHub Pages details as published on its official pages, checked ; plans change, so check the linked sources before you buy. htmlhost figures are read from the plan limits and pricing the app enforces.
GitHub Pages takes HTML, CSS and JavaScript straight from a repository, optionally runs a build, and publishes the result. That is ideal when your site already lives in Git: every change is a commit, reviewed and versioned.
For a designer handing over a landing page, a marketer with HTML from ChatGPT, or a small business owner, it is a lot of new vocabulary for one page: account, repository, branch, commit, Pages source. And every later change, even one word, goes through the same commit-and-rebuild loop.
htmlhost skips the repository entirely. Paste the code or drop the files, press Publish, and edit the live site in the browser afterwards. Developers can still deploy from a terminal with the htmlhost CLI.
GitHub's documentation is direct: 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 or providing commercial software as a service (SaaS)." It also says Pages sites shouldn't be used for sensitive transactions such as sending passwords or card numbers.
That still leaves room for personal sites, portfolios, open-source projects and documentation. But a shop front, a SaaS marketing site or a client's business site is outside what GitHub intends Pages for.
htmlhost has no such restriction: business, client and campaign sites are exactly what it hosts.
Because Pages is purely static, there's no form handling: you sign up for a separate form service and paste its endpoint into your form. There is no password protection either; private Pages sites, visible only to people with access to the repository, require GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
htmlhost includes forms on every plan (50 form messages a month on Free) with a dashboard inbox, email delivery and a spam trap. Pro adds password-protected sites, file attachments on forms, Google Sheets, webhooks and 5 collaborators per site.
It costs nothing for public repositories, connects a custom domain with HTTPS for free, and gives you Git's complete history of every change. Soft limits are generous for most sites: 1 GB published, 100 GB of bandwidth a month and 10 builds an hour (custom Actions workflows are exempt from the build limit).
If you're a developer documenting a project, those strengths are hard to beat, and htmlhost isn't trying to replace them.
For publishing finished HTML, yes. On htmlhost you paste code or drop files and press Publish; on GitHub Pages you create a repository, commit your files, enable Pages and wait for a build. Changes on htmlhost are made in a visual or code editor in the browser instead of through commits.
GitHub's documentation says Pages is not intended for or allowed to be used as a free web-hosting service to run an online business, e-commerce site, or a site primarily directed at commercial transactions or commercial SaaS. Personal, project and documentation sites are its intended use. htmlhost allows business and client sites.
Not natively. GitHub Pages only serves static files, so forms need a third-party service. htmlhost has forms built in, delivering to a dashboard inbox and email.
Only on a paid plan: GitHub Free supports Pages for public repositories, and private repositories need GitHub Pro, Team or Enterprise. The published site is public either way unless you use private Pages on GitHub Enterprise Cloud. On htmlhost your source isn't published as a repository.
Yes, for public repositories, within soft limits of 1 GB per published site, 100 GB of bandwidth a month and 10 builds an hour. It includes HTTPS and free custom domains.
Every GitHub Pages claim on this page comes from these official pages. Last updated . Spotted something that has changed? Email hey@htmlhost.co and we'll correct it.
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Paste code, or drop a file, folder or ZIP. You get a preview first, and nothing is public until you publish.