Host a website on Dropbox? Public folder hosting ended
No, you cannot host a website on Dropbox anymore because Dropbox stopped rendering HTML in shared links on October 3, 2016 and shut down Public folder links for all users on September 1, 2017. Instead, drop your .html file (up to 10 MB), folder or .zip (up to 25 MB, 100 files) onto ship.page to publish it free forever with no signup, no account and no credit card, live in seconds.
A file. A folder. A fresh start.
Your static site, one link away.
Uploading publishes your file. The link is public but unlisted, not password-protected, so leave out secrets and confidential content.
- Date Dropbox Public folder links stopped for all users
- Sep 1, 2017
- Free forever plan with no signup and no credit card
- $0
- Free upload limit up to 100 MB unpacked and 100 files
- 25 MB ZIP
- Max size for a single HTML file upload
- 10 MB
How to publish your Dropbox website folder on ship.page
Check your homepage file name
Open the website folder you kept in Dropbox and make sure the main page is named index.html. File paths are case-sensitive, so match the exact uppercase and lowercase letters in your CSS, JavaScript and image tags.
Zip large folders if needed
You can drag a folder directly into the browser if the encoded request stays under 10 MB (roughly 7 MB of files). If your folder is bigger, compress it into a .zip file up to 25 MB (100 MB unpacked) with up to 100 files on the free plan.
Drop your folder, ZIP or HTML file on ship.page
Drag your .html file, folder or .zip into the upload box, or paste raw HTML. No account or credit card is required, and a ZIP with a single top folder is unwrapped automatically.
Share your HTTPS link or QR code
Your site goes live in seconds on its own subdomain over HTTPS, and the success screen gives you a QR code with a PNG download. You can publish without an account, or claim the page with a free account (no card) to manage it from a dashboard.
Timeline of Dropbox HTML hosting shutdown and what works today
| Date | What Dropbox changed |
|---|---|
| October 3, 2016 | Dropbox stopped rendering HTML in shared links for free accounts. |
| March 15, 2017 | Public folder links stopped working for Dropbox Basic users. |
| September 1, 2017 | Public folder links stopped working for all Dropbox users. |
| Today (ship.page) | Drop an HTML file, folder or ZIP for a free live link, no signup. |
Why does a Dropbox HTML file open as a download?
Years ago, you could drop an index.html file into the Dropbox Public folder, copy the public link, and send people a working webpage. Dropbox ended that feature in stages, starting on October 3, 2016 when it stopped rendering HTML in shared links for free accounts.
Public folder links stopped working for Basic users on March 15, 2017 and for all users on September 1, 2017. Today, when someone clicks a shared Dropbox link to an .html file, the browser shows a code preview or downloads the file instead of running it as a website.
Google Drive made the same move around the same time. Its googledrive.com/host feature was deprecated on August 31, 2015 and shut down on August 31, 2016, so a shared HTML file there no longer opens as a working page either.
How to host the same folder for free without an account
If you just want the old Public folder workflow back, free website hosting on ship.page takes the exact same files right in your browser. You can share an HTML file up to 10 MB, drag in a folder, or host a ZIP file up to 25 MB (100 MB unpacked) with up to 100 files.
The free plan is free forever with no signup, no credit card, no ads, unlimited uploads, and no bandwidth limits. Every uploaded page is sent with a noindex header so search engines leave it out, and ship.page does not list uploads anywhere public, though anyone who has the link can open it.
- Static files supported: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, fonts, audio, video, WebAssembly and JSON.
- Clean folder URLs: a subfolder with its own index.html opens at /folder/, while about.html opens at /about.html.
- Client-side routing: there is no single-page-app fallback or custom 404 page, so React or Vue apps should use hash routes like #/about.
- Developer tools: deploy from your terminal with one curl command (POST https://ship.page/deploy), the MCP server at https://ship.page/mcp, or the GitHub Action.
Tip: A lone PDF, image or video file is not accepted by itself; put it inside a folder or ZIP with an index.html file.
When to claim your page or upgrade to Pro
You can turn HTML to a link without signing in. If you want to see your uploads in one place, sign in with Google or an email link (no card) to claim the page with a free account and manage it from a dashboard. A free page cannot be updated in place; uploading a new version gives you a new link, and free pages show a small "Hosted on ship.page" badge that visitors can close.
For $4 a month (cancel anytime), Pro pages don't expire while you're on Pro (or you can pick any expiry from 60 seconds), and you can re-upload or edit a page while keeping the same link. Pro removes the badge, adds password protection, raises limits to 100 MB ZIPs (400 MB unpacked), 10,000 files per upload and 120 deploys a minute, and includes up to 5 custom subdomains like yourname.ship.place that you can point at any of your pages.
- Use ship.page when you have static HTML, CSS and JS and want a live HTTPS link in seconds without creating an account.
- Use a server host when your project requires PHP, Node.js, Python, a database or WordPress, which ship.page does not run.
- Use another host if you need a custom domain name (no ship.page plan offers custom domains) or if you ship pre-compressed .br or .gz files without a JavaScript decompressor.
Questions
Can I still host a website on Dropbox?
No. Dropbox stopped rendering HTML in shared links for free accounts on October 3, 2016, shut down Public folder links for Basic users on March 15, 2017, and ended Public folder links for all users on September 1, 2017. Shared HTML files now download or open as source code instead of rendering as a webpage.
Why does my Dropbox HTML link download the file instead of opening a webpage?
Dropbox no longer serves HTML files as live web pages from shared links. To make the file open as a website in a browser, upload the .html file, folder or .zip to a static host like ship.page.
Can I use Google Drive instead of Dropbox to host an HTML file?
No. Google Drive deprecated googledrive.com/host on August 31, 2015 and shut it down completely on August 31, 2016, so shared HTML files on Google Drive do not open as working pages either.
How do I publish my old Dropbox Public folder on ship.page?
Make sure your main file is named index.html, then drag the folder (up to roughly 7 MB of files) or a .zip up to 25 MB onto ship.page. You get a live HTTPS link and a downloadable PNG QR code in seconds with no account required.
Can I update my website and keep the same link?
On the free plan, a page cannot be updated in place, so a new upload gets a new link. On the $4 a month Pro plan, pages don't expire while you're on Pro, you can re-upload or edit a page while keeping the same link, and you get up to 5 custom subdomains like yourname.ship.place.
What are the file size limits on ship.page?
The free plan accepts a single HTML file up to 10 MB, a folder request up to 10 MB encoded (roughly 7 MB of files), or a ZIP up to 25 MB (100 MB unpacked) with up to 100 files and 10 deploys a minute. Pro ($4 a month) raises ZIPs to 100 MB (400 MB unpacked), 10,000 files per upload and 120 deploys a minute, while the 10 MB single-file and folder request limits stay the same.
Keep reading
Drop your HTML file, folder or ZIP
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