Cheap static hosting for a small website, with real numbers

Cheap should mean low, clear prices—not mystery meters. StaticHost plans are Starter $9/mo (1 site, 2 GB), Pro $30/mo (3 sites, 10 GB, staging), Scale $65/mo (10 sites, 30 GB), and Business $130/mo (30 sites, 100 GB, teams). There is no forever-free plan after a short trial. You build locally, upload HTML/CSS/JS output, use HTTPS preview, then DNS, then certificate after verification. The host does not run npm or Hugo. It does not include email or a built-in CDN product. Routing is try_files $uri $uri/ =404—no SPA index fallback.

A small website—five pages of services, about, and contact—fits Starter if you compress images and keep one property.

What free hosts cost you when “cheap” meant “$0”

Free forever hosts are cheap in cash and sometimes expensive in constraints: weaker staging, forge account coupling, policy risk, and redirect features you should not build around. If your small business needs an invoice and a staging URL, $30 Pro can be the cheaper total cost than fighting free tiers during a launch week.

Do not claim unlimited sites or unlimited storage. The caps above are the product.

Publish path for a small site on a budget

  1. Obtain or build the HTML tree locally.
  2. Zip with index.html at the root.
  3. Upload; fix issues on HTTPS preview.
  4. Point the domain only when preview is correct; wait for verification and cert.
  5. Pay for the plan that matches site count—usually $9 or $30.
  6. Skip buying Scale until you truly need more sites.

More reading: best free static hosting, static hosting plans, and affordable static website hosting.

Worked example: a startup waitlist page

A two-person startup needs a waitlist before the app exists. Budget is tight. They hand-build a single page with an embed for email capture (third-party). They deploy on Starter ($9). HTTPS preview validates the embed. They do not print the preview hostname on ads; they register waitlist.startup.example, point DNS after preview is good, and wait for the certificate.

They never upload node_modules. They never ask StaticHost for employee mail. They never assume forever-free. When they add a careers page as a second site, they move to Pro ($30) rather than inventing a free forever workaround. Cheap, here, means intentional plan choice—not zero with hidden thrash.

Failure to avoid: assuming a free URL is a domain you own

Cheap projects love free hostnames until a printer ships boxes with username.freehost.io on them. That URL is not your brand. Own a domain. On StaticHost, preview is QA; paid plans keep the site up after the short trial. If you truly need forever $0, use a free host knowingly—and still prefer a domain you control pointing at it.

Cost discipline tactics

  • Compress images before blaming storage limits.
  • Delete dead campaign pages.
  • Prefer multipage HTML over SPA rewrites you cannot have here.
  • Wire forms externally instead of hoping for host email.
  • Use Pro staging instead of gambling production edits when mistakes are costly.

When cheap means a different product

WordPress on a $4 PHP VPS is a different cheap—and a different maintenance burden. Object storage alone is cheap cash and higher ops. Forever-free Pages is cheap for OSS. StaticHost is cheap commercial static file hosting with stated ceilings. Pick the cheap that matches the job.

FAQ

Is $9 the whole cost of going online?

You also pay for a domain at a registrar. Mail and CDN, if needed, are separate.

Can I get cheap hosting that is free forever here?

No. Short trial, then $9/$30/$65/$130.

Does cheap StaticHost support SPA fallback to save eng time?

No. =404 only. Pre-render or hash-route.

Is bandwidth listed as unlimited?

This guide documents sites, storage, staging, teams. Trust the dashboard for any additional meters; do not invent unlimited claims.