Share an HTML file with friends

Ways to share an HTML file with friends

Why sending an HTML file as an attachment fails on phones

When you text or email a raw .html file, your friend has to download it first instead of viewing it right away. On many phones, tapping a downloaded HTML file opens a plain text viewer showing raw code rather than the finished page, which makes it frustrating to open an HTML file from a group chat.

Even on a laptop, sending a lone .html file leaves behind any linked stylesheets, scripts, or images sitting on your computer. When you turn HTML into a link, one URL opens as a normal webpage in any browser for everyone in the chat.

Why Google Drive and Dropbox links download instead of opening

Cloud storage links used to work for quick web hosting, but both major services turned that feature off years ago. Google Drive shut down web hosting on August 31, 2016 (after deprecating googledrive.com/host on August 31, 2015), so a shared HTML file no longer opens as a working webpage.

Dropbox stopped rendering HTML in shared links for free accounts on October 3, 2016, meaning shared .html files download instead of opening in the browser. Dropbox also shut down Public folder links for Basic users on March 15, 2017, and for all users on September 1, 2017.

How ship.page compares to Netlify Drop

When you just want to share an HTML file with friends or a client, ship.page gives you a working public link right away with no login wall for you or your visitors. You can also generate a website QR code on the success screen so friends in the same room can open the page on their phones.

Netlify Drop (app.netlify.com/drop) also accepts a folder, ZIP, or single HTML file without an account to start, and according to Netlify's docs, deploys under 50 MB work best while single files over 10 MB may get stuck. However, a site dropped on Netlify without signing in stays behind a temporary password until you claim it with a Netlify account, and Netlify's blog notes that an unclaimed drop expires on its own. Pick Netlify if you already use a Netlify account and want to connect a custom domain later, since ship.page does not offer custom domains.

What you can upload and when to upgrade

You can publish without an account on the free forever plan, or claim the page with a free account (sign in with Google or an email link, no card) and it stays online as long as you keep it. If you fix a typo on the free plan, uploading the new version creates a new link.

If you are sharing work with a client and need to update the page without changing the link, Pro is $4 a month (monthly billing, cancel anytime). Pro pages never expire (or you can pick any expiry from 60 seconds), and you get password protection, up to 5 custom subdomains like yourname.ship.place, ZIPs up to 100 MB (400 MB unpacked), and 10,000 files per upload.

• Single HTML file up to 10 MB on every plan, or paste raw HTML directly.
• ZIP files up to 25 MB (100 MB unpacked) and 100 files on the free plan.
• Folder uploads go up as one request of at most 10 MB (roughly 7 MB of files); zip bigger folders first.
• Static files only: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, fonts, audio, video, WebAssembly, and JSON.
• Every page uses a noindex header so search engines ignore it, and uploads are never listed publicly.

Tip: If your project has multiple pages or client-side routing, name your home file index.html and use hash routes like #/about, because file paths are case-sensitive and there is no single-page-app fallback.