GitHub Pages vs ship.page: free HTML hosting with or without a repo
GitHub Pages is free, sets no expiry and gives you a custom domain with HTTPS, as long as you have a GitHub account and a repository, public on the free plan. ship.page needs neither: drop an HTML file up to 10 MB or a ZIP up to 25 MB and the link is live in seconds. The catch is time: free ship.page links last 30 days, or 90 after a free claim.
Competitor facts verified against GitHub Pages in October 2026. Where they win, we say so.
Side by side
| GitHub Pages | ship.page | |
|---|---|---|
| Account required | Yes: a GitHub account, and a repository for every site | No: one drag-drop or one curl, link in seconds |
| Repository | Required, and public on GitHub Free. Publishing from a private repository needs GitHub Pro, Team or Enterprise | None: upload the file, ZIP or folder as it is |
| Upload limits | Browser upload: 100 files at a time, 25 MiB each. Git refuses files over 100 MiB | HTML 10 MB; ZIP 25 MB with 100 files (100 MB unpacked). Pro: 100 MB ZIPs, up to 10,000 files |
| Site size and traffic | Up to 1 GB per site; soft limit of 100 GB of bandwidth a month | 100 MB unpacked per drop on free, 400 MB on Pro |
| Going live | Every change runs a Pages build and can take up to 10 minutes to show. Soft limit of 10 builds an hour | Live in seconds, no build step |
| URL | your-name.github.io, or your-name.github.io/repository | An unguessable random subdomain |
| Link lifetime | No expiry | 30 days, or 90 after a free claim; no expiry on Pro ($4/mo) |
| Custom domains | Free, with HTTPS | Not offered; Team ($19/mo) adds a vanity subdomain |
| Who can see it | Anyone: sites are public on every plan except GitHub Enterprise Cloud | Anyone with the link; password protection on Pro ($4/mo) |
| Search engines | Indexable, like any public website | noindex, nofollow on every drop, always |
| Price | Free; publishing from a private repository needs a paid GitHub plan | Free; Pro $4/mo, Team $19/mo |
Where GitHub Pages wins
- Permanent and free: GitHub sets no expiry and adds no branding to your site.
- Free custom domains with HTTPS. ship.page has no custom domains; Team ($19/mo) adds a vanity subdomain.
- Version history for free: every change is a commit you can roll back.
- Room to grow: up to 1 GB per site, against 100 MB unpacked per drop on ship.page's free plan and 400 MB on Pro.
- Search engines can index it. ship.page serves every drop noindex, so it's the wrong place for a site you want found on Google.
Where ship.page wins
- No account and no repository. On GitHub Free the repository has to be public, so your source files are public too.
- Live in seconds. A Pages build runs on every change and can take up to 10 minutes to show.
- One curl publishes from a terminal, a script or an AI agent, with no token to set up.
- Private by default: an unguessable URL, noindex on every drop and password protection on Pro ($4/mo). A GitHub Pages site is public unless you're on GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
The short version
Building a site that should stay up for years, on your own domain, and fine with a public repository? Use GitHub Pages.
Sharing a page, a prototype or an AI-made file today, without an account or a repository? Use ship.page: the link is live in seconds, and Pro ($4/mo) keeps it with no expiry.
Questions
Is GitHub Pages free?
Yes, from a public repository on GitHub Free, with a custom domain and HTTPS included. Publishing from a private repository needs GitHub Pro, Team or Enterprise.
Can I use GitHub Pages without git?
Partly. You still need a GitHub account and a repository, but the browser uploader takes 100 files at a time, 25 MiB each, and a Pages build publishes them. ship.page needs neither: drop the file and the link is live.
How long do GitHub Pages sites stay up?
GitHub sets no expiry. Free ship.page links last 30 days, or 90 after you claim them into a free account, and Pro ($4/mo) removes the expiry.
Can I use GitHub Pages for a business site?
GitHub's docs say Pages isn't meant as free hosting for an online business, an e-commerce site or commercial SaaS. ship.page isn't the answer either: every drop is noindex, so it won't bring in search traffic.
What are the GitHub Pages limits?
A published site can be up to 1 GB, with soft limits of 100 GB of bandwidth a month and 10 builds an hour, and a deploy times out after 10 minutes.
Keep reading
- Free static site and HTML hosting compared: all seven hosts in one table
- Publish HTML without GitHub, step by step
- Cloudflare Pages vs ship.page
Judge it in ten seconds
Drop the file here, or keep it in the terminal — either way the URL is live for 30 days.
Drop your page here — get a live link
.zip, folder, or single .html — free, no account, live for 30 days.
or one curl command
curl -X POST https://ship.page/deploy \
-H "content-type: text/html" \
--data-binary @index.html