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Static site hosting · by GitHub

GitHub Pages

Free static site hosting straight from a GitHub repository, with custom domains, Jekyll or GitHub Actions builds, and a soft 100 GB monthly bandwidth limit; not allowed for commercial sites.

Visit pages.github.com ↗ Alternatives Free
GitHub Pages homepage
§1

Overview

GitHub Pages turns a repository into a website. Create a repository named username.github.io for a personal or organization site, or enable Pages on any project repository, push HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and GitHub publishes it. Jekyll builds run automatically, and any other static site generator can be used through a GitHub Actions workflow. Add a CNAME file to use a custom domain.

Hosting is free for public repositories. Limits are a 1 GB published site, a soft limit of 100 GB of bandwidth a month, 10 builds per hour (not applied to custom Actions workflows) and a 10-minute deployment timeout. Pages from private repositories needs a paid GitHub plan.

GitHub's rules say Pages is not a free host for online businesses, e-commerce or SaaS, and must not be used for sensitive transactions such as passwords or card numbers. There is no server-side code, no preview deployment per pull request out of the box, and visitors' IP addresses are logged for security.

§2

Pricing and plans

Free tier · no card

Free for public repositories: sites up to 1 GB, soft limit of 100 GB bandwidth per month and 10 builds per hour, custom domains. Not permitted for commercial or SaaS sites.

At the limit Not stated The limits are soft: GitHub may stop serving a site that goes well past them.

Non-commercial only
Plan Price What you get
GitHub Free $0 Pages for public repositories
GitHub Team $4/user/mo Includes Pages and wikis for private repositories

Pages itself has no separate price; it comes with GitHub plans. Pages from private repositories requires a paid plan such as Team ($4 per user per month). GitHub may stop serving sites that exceed the soft limits. pricingModel is 'free' because hosting is free for public repositories.

Source: docs.github.com/en/pages/getting-started-with-github-pages/github-pages-limits · prices as published, excluding tax.

§3

What it does

Deploy by push
Publish from a branch or folder, or from a custom GitHub Actions workflow.
Jekyll built in
Markdown blogs and docs build automatically without a database.
Custom domains
Serve the site on your own domain via a CNAME file.
Project sites
One site per repository at username.github.io/repository, plus one user or org site.
§4

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Completely free for public repositories.
  • Lives next to the code, so docs update with every push.
  • No separate account or build service needed.

Limitations

  • Not allowed for commercial sites, online businesses or SaaS.
  • Static files only; no server-side code or databases.
  • Soft limits of 100 GB bandwidth per month and 1 GB per site.
  • Private-repository sites need a paid GitHub plan.
§5

Who it suits

Good for

  • Open-source project documentation
  • Personal portfolios and blogs
  • Static demos of libraries

Look elsewhere if

  • Commercial websites and stores
  • Sites that need server-side logic or forms
§6

Alternatives to GitHub Pages

Tool From Free option Stages
Fly.io Global VM platform
$1.94/mo Paid
Northflank Kubernetes-based PaaS
$2.70/mo Free tier
Dokploy Self-hosted PaaS
$4.50/mo Free tier
Sevalla Managed PaaS
$5/mo Free tier
Cloudflare Workers (incl. Pages) Edge serverless platform
$5/mo Free tier
$5/mo Free tier

All app hosting and PaaS →

§7

Questions

Is GitHub Pages free?

Yes, for public repositories. Publishing from private repositories requires a paid GitHub plan.

Can I use GitHub Pages for a business website?

GitHub's usage limits say Pages is not intended or allowed as free hosting for an online business, e-commerce site or SaaS.

What is the GitHub Pages bandwidth limit?

A soft limit of 100 GB per month, with published sites capped at 1 GB.

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