Gone are the days of relying on databases. We are in the era of CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. These are the things static websites are established on to create business profiles and light landing pages. The best static web hosting plans take away any form of ambiguity and complexity. They facilitate provision of simple services for incredible performance and efficiency.
Static websites are not a new concept, but the model of development is being resuscitated. Consequently, users can get a handful of leverage, especially those seeking non-complex coding who prioritize speed.
Static sites can be used by individual developers as well as groups or companies looking for a template system they can use. Google, Nest, MailChimp are built on static websites.
In this article, we want to look out for some of the best, valuable and top-notch static web hosting platforms out there. We will also show you why should choose from the list of recommended options.
Web Static Hosting
Static web hosting consists of static web pages with invariable content. They are composed of HTML, CSS, Javascript, which displays a set of information to the visitors. This makes them quick, easy and efficient means of creating a website with one’s domain name. In turn, a static web page from the hosting server is rendered when somebody visits the page/website.
As its name implies, static websites contain content that cannot be changed. Being built in plain HTML, the only way users can interact with a static page is by making a couple of clicks and filling in forms.
To create a static website, users do not need to adopt complex software programs. This necessitates that the basic knowledge of HTML and CSS, plus VSCode or Sublime should suffice. But one then wonders why static websites are beneficial, if at all they are.
The blatant truth is that they have a lot of advantages over CMS-based or dynamic websites. They offer you full control of the development environment, and the codes rather than some unnecessary heavy themes.
They are more secure, perform faster and are in smaller page size. They are also less costly, and can be created in less time than the rest. It is sometimes believed that its un-interactive UI may be a bit of a challenge. But with Netify CMS, any fear with its usage is significantly assuaged.
Reasons to consider static hosting
Some of the reasons to consider static hosting for personal or business websites are:
- for improved security
- lower costs
- better performance
- faster development, and
- versatility to use the technology you like
To choose the best static website hosting services, your decision would be based on the following:
- Vercel: Developers and designers use the service to build products and services. Many investors and investment funds agencies use this service. This is a special consideration for people who would like to build their websites by themselves. It is also a great choice if you will develop the website by yourself.
Vercel provides a free hobby account with which you have access to using the website hosting service for free forever. You can also use the website within your personal GitHub, GitLab accounts.
- Netify: This is an all-in-one platform used for automating web projects. The company uses Netify solutions to serve customers. Many developers and businesses use this already. With Netify, there are three pricing plans namely starter, pro, and business.
The starter plan is free, but you have to pay $20 for 100GB bandwidth when you exceed the 100GB disk space within a month. Likewise, for the build time of the website, the same applies.
You only have 3 hours free in a month, but you have to pay $7 per 500 build minutes. For the pro plan, you will pay $19 per month with access to 400GB bandwidth and 1000 build minutes. Once you exceed the values, the same pricing rules as in the starter plan apply.
- Heroku: Is a cloud application platform used as a service that helps developers to build, run, and operate applications. All these are done in the cloud. With Heroku, you can access the variety of pricing plans starting.
But note that the server sleeps 30 minutes after being inactive. You can choose a buying plan where the server stays engaged for $7 per month. Another benefit of this plan is the inclusion of a free SSL certificate for custom domains.
Besides, to select a higher plan, the pricing is dependent on the RAM you need for your application. But since you will be hosting the static website, you are highly likely not to desire more RAM. That is, 512MB should suffice.
- Digital Ocean: The cloud allows developers to build, test, manage and scale applications of any size. On Digital Ocean, the starter plan is free and users can build static websites with it as well as deploy them from GitHub.
There is an unlimited number of members allowed with a limit of outbound bandwidth of 1GB. The service also allows for a total of 100 builds per month. Users can host up to 3 websites with the free plan.
When another website is included, they have to pay $3 per month. The basic plan on Digital Ocean starts at $5 per month with exciting packages such as:
- dynamic apps
- metrics
- 40GB outbound transfer per app, and
- a juicy offer of 400 website builds per month.
To use the professional plan, you have to pay $12 per month to enjoy 100GB outbound transfer per-app plus 1,000 website builds. Ideally, to generate static sites, the site has to utilize the main configuration script. This serves the purpose of defining the main elements of the site.
That way, the layout can be defined with the use of separate text files comprising the code instructions and formatting to create the pages. After all these elements and assets have been configured, the static site generator begins. Then, you can include some popular solutions such as Jekyll, Hugo, Hexo, Pelican, and Gutenberg.
Best Static Hosting
Generally, static websites or static hosting suffice for sharing business or individual information and profile. A static website is never going to be obsolete, and the following are some of the popular, free and cheap hostings for static websites- whether for personal or business use.
1. Hostamarda
Hostamarda offers up to 75% OFF when you use a coupon code. That is on their shared hosting plans, while there is a 25% OFF their VPS hosting plans. Among the key features of Hostamarda are:
- incredible and responsive customer service
- ease of access.
- Free SSL
- Fast speed
- 45-days money-back guarantee
To host on Hostamarda, it starts with only $3.99/month.
2. Namecheap
As its name implies, Namecheap is one of the cheapest hosting you can use for your static website. It offers excellent customer service and currently has an offer of 75% OFF on its deals. With Namecheap, users get free CDN with the United States and United Kingdom server locations.
It is currently available at $1.00/month. Some of the benefits of using Namecheap are:
- free website builder
- 24/7 customer support
- free domain
- free SSL
- unmetered bandwidth.
3. Greengeeks
This is also a top option to consider for static hosting, especially in the affordable price category. Greengeeks is fast and reliable. Its services start at $2.95/month. Previous or existing users choose Greengeeks because of the following benefits:
- 1-click WordPress install
- handful of SSD disk space
- free website migration
- Cloudflare CDN, and
- excellent customer support service.
4. Bluehost
Bluehost remains one of the leading providers of website hosting, whether static or otherwise. It comes to mind first because their services are reliable, fast and offer the best performance. At $3.95/month, Bluehost provides incredible hosting with loads of benefits to enjoy including:
- domain manager
- scalability
- free SSL certificates
- SSD disk space
- free CDN, and
- 24/7 hosting support.
Bluehost is well known for offering high performance at low and affordable prices. The static hosting platform is endorsed by the WordPress.org team. Hence, it is a solid, reputable choice and it owns tremendous supremacy in the hosting arena.
5. Fastcomet
Fastcomet has been around since 2000 and came into the limelight the same year. It currently offers up to 70% OFF its deals. Its services start from $2.95/month. The benefits of choosing Fastcomet for static hosting are:
- SSD disk space
- free domain transfer
- guaranteed resources
- free website transfer
- free DNS management
- Cloudflare CDN, and
- brute-force protection.
6. Amazon S3
Did you know you can also host your static website for free? Yes, you can. Take advantage of this offer and facility from renowned companies like Google, Amazon, GitHub, and others. Amazon S3 is provided by the Amazon Web Services (AWS).
It serves users that give object storage by a web-service interface priority. Being a simple storage service, Amazon S3 uses the same storage infrastructure it uses for Amazon.com to offer scalability.
The top features of Amazon S3 include, but are not limited to:
- the bandwidth of 1GB/month
- disk space of up to 5GB
- integration with 175 AWS services
- unlimited scalability, and
- uptime of 99.99%.
It provides users free static hosting for 12 months, after which you will have to pay to continue to enjoy the services.
7. Hostinger
Hostinger offers unlimited everything when it comes to static hosting, ranging from storage to databases. It is a free site builder with WP performance upgrades, and daily or weekly backups. Hostinger features:
- SSH access
- SSL certificates
- a custom control panel, and
- auto-installation scripts.
With the increasingly saturated nature of the shared hosting marketplace, unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts are being supplied or delivered averagely. But with Hostinger, users enjoy an extension of the routine.
The metrics are believed to increase to greater lengths with the number of FTP users, websites, subdomains, and parked domains. And these are unrestricted for many customers.
8. iPage
iPage is another excellent option in the static hosting arena. It has been around since 1998, with an impeccable offer in terms of ease of setup and reliability. It provides free domains including Google marketing.
iPage features:
- unlimited bandwidth
- storage, and
- emails,
It is one of the fines options for free site-building. It also does not matter whether you are a first-time website owner or veteran. Hosting a static website on iPage is incredibly fascinating because of the list of services and extras.
Tips for improved security on static hosting
Some of the tips for better security include:
- Never share your SFTP or FTP credential. Always keep the login details secret. More so, you also have to avoid copying and pasting code from websites you do not trust or unknown sources, as this can harm the site ranking.
- Also, because it is static site hosting, put SEO into consideration. Some online tools can be used to that. Or if you are lucky to have an on-page SEO tool with your web hosting plan. You can then use this and the descriptions for each page.
- For SSL, make sure your SSL certificate is valid and already installed in the domain. Otherwise, you may have to contact your web hosting provider. It is free these days, but you can get the SSL for your site for some bucks in case you need a premium offer.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, one must-do thing for developers is hosting projects on static sites. That way, employers, clients, or colleagues can see what they have built. Although static sites are just side projects, that is, they are not an entirely company-based web application. The question goes- how exactly does hosting a static site work? And which of the sites can you adopt?
In this article, we have shared with you some of the renowned and reliable web hosting platforms. They are free and offer free usage with quota allocation. You will be making a great choice by selecting any of these static hosting companies for your website.