Vercel vs ship.page: an honest comparison
ship.page publishes your HTML file (up to 10 MB), folder or ZIP (up to 25 MB) as a live HTTPS website in seconds, for free, with no signup and no credit card. Your free link stays online for 30 days, or 90 days if you claim it. Vercel Drop also accepts static files without an account, but starts a countdown on the success page and requires you to create a free account before the timer runs out to keep the site.
Competitor facts verified against Vercel in October 2026. Where they win, we say so.
Side by side
| Vercel | ship.page | |
|---|---|---|
| Account required | No for Vercel Drop (countdown to claim); yes to keep the site | No (the browser form asks for an email for the backup link; curl needs nothing) |
| How you upload | Drag file, folder or ZIP to Vercel Drop; Git push or CLI with an account | Browser (file, folder, ZIP or paste HTML), one curl request, MCP or GitHub Action |
| What it builds | Static only without account; detects and builds Next.js and frameworks when signed in | Nothing: serves static HTML, CSS, JS and media byte for byte |
| Unclaimed upload limits | 100 MB per file, up to 1 GB total on Vercel Drop | 10 MB HTML or folder, 25 MB ZIP (100 files, 100 MB unpacked) |
| Free link lifetime | Temporary with a countdown unless claimed; no expiry for the current production deployment once claimed | 30 days unclaimed, 90 days when claimed for free; no expiry on Pro ($4/mo) |
| Commercial use on free | No: Hobby plan is restricted to non-commercial personal use | Allowed: terms do not limit the free plan to non-commercial use |
| Custom domains | Free on Hobby, up to 50 domains per project | Not offered; Team ($19/mo) includes one vanity subdomain |
| Password protection | Not on Hobby; paid add-on on top of Pro ($20/mo) | Included in Pro ($4/mo) and Team ($19/mo) |
| First paid plan | Pro at $20/mo per deploying seat | Pro at $4/mo (100 MB ZIPs, 10,000 files, no expiry, passwords, analytics) |
| Updating a page | Requires an account: drop folder in dashboard or use Vercel CLI | Free upload gives a new link; Pro ($4/mo) updates at the same URL |
| URL and indexing | Public project subdomain | Unguessable subdomain, noindex headers on every page, no public list |
Where Vercel wins
- Larger unclaimed uploads on Vercel Drop: up to 100 MB per file and 1 GB total, compared to 10 MB for a single file and 25 MB for a ZIP on ship.page free.
- Free custom domains (up to 50 per project) and no expiry once you claim the site into a free Hobby account. ship.page does not offer custom domains on any plan.
- Full framework support when signed in: Vercel detects and builds Next.js and other frameworks, runs serverless and edge functions, and builds preview deployments from Git pushes.
- If your uploaded folder has no index.html, Vercel asks which file should be the homepage. On ship.page, the bare root URL returns a 404 while individual file paths still work.
Where ship.page wins
- Keep a free link for 30 days without creating an account. Vercel Drop shows a countdown with no published length and takes the site down unless you sign up before it ends.
- Commercial use is allowed on the free plan. Vercel's free Hobby plan is restricted to non-commercial personal use, and commercial work requires a $20/mo Pro seat.
- Password protection and permanent hosting cost $4/mo on ship.page Pro. On Vercel, password protection is a paid add-on on top of the $20/mo Pro plan.
- Publish from the terminal with a single curl command to https://ship.page/deploy with no account, email or API key, or directly from AI tools like Claude and Cursor using the MCP server.
- Paste raw HTML straight into the browser tab or upload from a phone browser, and get an unguessable noindex URL plus a downloadable PNG QR code right away.
The short version
Choose Vercel if you are deploying a Next.js app, need server-side functions or Git preview deployments, want a free custom domain on a personal project, or have a static drop between 25 MB and 1 GB.
Choose ship.page if you want to put an HTML file, folder or ZIP online for 30 days without signing up for an account, need to share a commercial preview for free, want a no-account curl API, or want password protection and permanent links for $4 a month.
Questions
Can I upload a static site to Vercel without an account?
Yes, using Vercel Drop at vercel.com/drop. You can drag a static file, folder or ZIP up to 1 GB (100 MB per file), but the deployment is temporary and shows a countdown timer until you create a free account to claim it. On ship.page, uploads stay live for 30 days without claiming an account.
How long does an unclaimed Vercel Drop link stay online?
Vercel does not publish the exact duration of the countdown timer shown on the success page. If the timer runs out before you sign up, the deployment expires and you must create an account and drop the files again. ship.page keeps free links live for 30 days, and claiming them with a free login extends that to 90 days.
Can I use Vercel for free for business or client work?
No. Vercel's fair use guidelines restrict the free Hobby plan to non-commercial personal use; commercial sites require the Pro plan at $20 a month per seat. ship.page does not restrict its free plan to non-commercial use.
Does ship.page build Next.js or run server-side code like Vercel?
No. ship.page serves static files byte for byte (HTML, CSS, client-side JavaScript, images, fonts, PDFs, JSON, audio and video) and does not run a build step or server-side code like Node, PHP or Python. If you build a static export locally, you can upload the finished output folder or ZIP to ship.page.
How much does it cost to password-protect a page on Vercel vs ship.page?
Vercel does not offer password protection on its free Hobby plan, and on the $20 a month Pro plan it costs extra as a paid add-on. ship.page includes password protection (8 to 128 characters) in its $4 a month Pro plan.
Can I use my own custom domain on Vercel or ship.page?
Vercel includes up to 50 free custom domains per project on its Hobby plan once you have an account. ship.page does not support custom domains on any plan; the $19 a month Team plan lets you pick one vanity subdomain (3 to 20 characters).
What happens if my folder does not have an index.html file?
Vercel Drop asks you which page should act as the homepage when index.html is missing. On ship.page, the upload succeeds and every file is reachable at its own path, but opening the bare root link shows a 404 unless an index.html is at the top of the ZIP or folder.
Keep reading
- Free static site and HTML hosting compared: all seven hosts in one table
- Netlify Drop vs ship.page
- 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