If someone told you that you could host a website for free, with no ads, no catch, and backed by one of the biggest tech companies in the world, you'd probably think it sounds too good to be true.
It's not. It's called GitHub Pages, and it's been around for over a decade. Here's what it is, how it works, and why more people should be using it.
The Simple Explanation
GitHub is a platform where people store code. Think of it like Google Drive, but for software projects. Millions of developers use it every day.
GitHub Pages is a feature of GitHub that takes the files in your project and turns them into a live website. You upload your website files (HTML, CSS, images), flip a switch, and your site is live at yourusername.github.io.
That's it. No server to configure. No hosting company to pay. No control panel to learn.
Why Is It Free?
GitHub is owned by Microsoft. They make money from businesses paying for private code storage, team collaboration tools, and enterprise features. GitHub Pages is a free feature included with every account because it costs them almost nothing to run and it keeps people using the platform.
This isn't a startup that might disappear tomorrow. Microsoft paid $7.5 billion for GitHub. It's not going anywhere.
What Kind of Websites Can It Host?
GitHub Pages hosts static websites. That means websites made of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images — the fundamental building blocks of the web.
Static websites can be:
- Business websites (restaurants, hotels, salons, agencies)
- Portfolio sites
- Landing pages
- Blogs
- Documentation sites
- Event pages
- Personal websites
What they can't be:
- E-commerce stores with shopping carts (use Shopify for that)
- Sites with user login systems
- Web applications that need a database
For the vast majority of small businesses and personal projects, a static site is more than enough. You're presenting information and letting people contact you. That doesn't need a database.
How Fast Is It?
Very. GitHub Pages serves your site through a global CDN (Content Delivery Network). That means your website files are distributed to servers around the world, and visitors load the site from whichever server is closest to them.
Because there's no database to query, no PHP to process, and no page builder bloat, your pages load almost instantly. Try loading a Squarespace site and a GitHub Pages site side by side — the difference is noticeable.
Is It Secure?
Yes. GitHub Pages includes a free SSL certificate, which gives your site the padlock icon in the browser and the https:// prefix. This is the same encryption that banks use. You don't have to set it up — just check a box in your settings.
Static sites are also inherently more secure than WordPress or other dynamic platforms. There's no database to hack, no admin panel to brute-force, no plugins with vulnerabilities. Your site is just files. There's nothing to exploit.
Can I Use My Own Domain?
Absolutely. By default your site lives at yourusername.github.io, but you can connect any custom domain. Buy a domain from a registrar like Cloudflare, Namecheap, or Porkbun (around $10-12/year for a .com), point it at GitHub's servers, and your site is live at yourbusiness.com.
The domain is the only cost. Everything else stays free.
What Are the Limits?
GitHub Pages has a few limits, but they're generous:
- Repository size: 1 GB maximum. That's huge for a website — most business sites are under 50 MB.
- Bandwidth: 100 GB per month. Unless you're getting millions of visitors, you won't hit this.
- Builds: 10 per hour. Means you can push updates 10 times an hour. More than enough.
For context, a small business website getting a few hundred visitors a day will use maybe 1-2% of these limits.
Who Uses GitHub Pages?
More than you'd think. A lot of well-known open source projects host their documentation on GitHub Pages. Many developers use it for their personal sites. And increasingly, small business owners are discovering it as an alternative to expensive hosting.
I use it for all my business websites, including the one for my 60+ room hotel in Quebec. It handles everything I need.
How Do You Actually Set It Up?
The basic process:
- Create a free GitHub account
- Create a repository (a project folder on GitHub)
- Upload your website files (HTML, CSS, images)
- Go to Settings → Pages and turn it on
- Your site is live
The part most people struggle with is creating the website files themselves. That's where tools like Claude Code come in — you describe your website in plain English, and it generates all the HTML and CSS for you. Then you just push those files to GitHub.
The Bottom Line
GitHub Pages is free, fast, secure, and reliable website hosting backed by Microsoft. It's been around for years and it's not going anywhere.
If you're paying $15-45/month for Squarespace or Wix, or dealing with WordPress hosting costs and maintenance, GitHub Pages does the same job for $0/month. The only trade-off is that you need your website as actual files (HTML/CSS) instead of using a drag-and-drop editor. With AI tools like Claude Code, that trade-off barely exists anymore.
Free hosting. Free SSL. Global CDN. Custom domain support. No ads. No catch.
That's GitHub Pages.