Most Claude artifacts shared with "Anyone with the link" now open without a Claude account, so when a link fails, the cause is usually somewhere else: you are on the Free plan, which has no share link for new artifacts; the artifact is still set to Only you; your Team organization keeps artifacts inside; or it is a doc or a dashboard, which asks for sign-in. A quieter one: the page opens, but the data it saved is invisible to anyone not signed in.
The fix that works in every case is to host the artifact's HTML on Hostus: it works on the free plan, no page type asks the reader to sign in, forms and saved data work for anonymous readers, and you see who read it. Use the table to find your cause, then read the line that matches. Claude facts are from Anthropic's help center and the Claude Code docs, read on 7 November 2026.
Find your cause in ten seconds
| What you or the reader sees | Likely cause | Fix inside Claude | Fix that always works |
|---|---|---|---|
| No "Anyone with the link" option at all | You are on the Free plan | Upgrade, or publish a legacy artifact if you have one | Host the HTML on Hostus |
| Nothing, or "no access" | Still set to Only you, or Only people invited | Share, then Anyone with the link | Host the HTML on Hostus |
| Works for your team, not for the client | External sharing is off in your Team or Enterprise organization | Ask an Owner to turn it on, or to allow that one artifact | Host the HTML on Hostus |
| A sign-in screen | It is a doc, or a dashboard that shows content only after sign-in | The reader signs in to Claude | Host the HTML on Hostus |
| The page opens, but the list or tracker is empty | Saved data is hidden from people not signed in | The reader signs in, and can then read but not change it | Host it with hostus.data |
| "Anyone with the link" is grayed out for this one artifact | It connects to other websites, or has an uploaded file still being checked | Remove the outside connection or wait for the check | Host the HTML on Hostus |
| Sections show errors | They call connected apps through the viewer's own account | The viewer connects the same tools and signs in | Host a version with the data written in |
| The invitation link fails | Wrong email, or the invitation expired | Invite the address they use for Claude | Host the HTML on Hostus |
| A link that used to work is dead | A legacy artifact was unpublished | Share a new artifact; the old one can't be republished | Host the HTML on Hostus |
| Teammates can open it, nobody else can | It is a Cowork live artifact | Republish it as a new artifact | Host the HTML on Hostus |
The ten causes, explained
Causes 1 to 9 come from Anthropic's Share artifacts article unless another source is linked.
1. You are on the Free plan
The sharing table in the help article gives Free no "Share with anyone who has the link" and no email invitations. On Free you can still publish a legacy artifact, one made in a chat before 16 September 2026. A new artifact has no way out to someone else.
2. It is still private
"Artifacts start private to you. Nothing is shared until you share it." Copying the address from your browser does not share it. Open the artifact, click Share and change who has access: on Pro, Max and Ultra from Only you to Anyone with the link; on Team and Enterprise from Only people invited.
3. Your organization keeps artifacts inside
On Team and Enterprise, artifacts stay inside the organization by default. "Anyone with the link" is available only when an Owner has turned on External sharing or has allowed that artifact individually. If an Owner turns External sharing off later, existing public links stop working until it is back on.
4. It is a doc or a dashboard
Most link-shared artifacts open without an account, but not all. "Docs open only for people signed in to Claude, who can only view them." Some other artifacts, like dashboards, show part or all of their content only after the visitor signs in.
5. The reader expects saved data while signed out
An artifact with storage keeps its data in Claude. People who aren't signed in can't see that information, so a page that keeps most of its content there shows them little or nothing. People outside your organization can read it once they sign in, but can't change it, and on Pro, Max and Ultra, outside means anyone other than you. A sign-up sheet for the public can't work this way.
6. This artifact can't use a public link
Artifacts that connect to other websites, and artifacts with an uploaded file that is still being checked or didn't pass the check, can't use "Anyone with the link". The Share menu tells you when this applies.
7. The page depends on the viewer's connections
An artifact that pulls from connected apps uses the viewer's connections, not yours, and someone who opens the link without signing in, or from outside your organization, gets no connected apps and no Claude features. The Claude Code docs say the same for Claude Code artifacts. For a client, the fix is a version of the page with the numbers written into it.
8. The invitation went to the wrong address
Email invitations are in beta on paid plans, and the invitee needs a Claude account with the exact address you invited. Pending invitations expire after 30 days, and you can invite up to 50 people from outside your organization per artifact.
9. It was unpublished
For a legacy artifact, "Unpublish" revokes access, you can't publish it again, and unpublishing also permanently deletes any personal and shared storage data it used. A tracker comes back empty even if you rebuild it.
10. It is a Cowork live artifact
Anthropic's Cowork article says sharing of live artifacts, made in Cowork before 19 August 2026, stays within your organization, with no external or public links. Republish one as a new artifact and it follows the normal rules. See sharing Cowork artifacts outside your organization.
The fix that works in every case
All ten causes come from the same place: the artifact lives inside Claude, so your Claude plan and your reader's sign-in decide what they see. Move the HTML out and every reader gets the same page.
- Get the HTML. For a legacy artifact, use the controls at the top of the artifact panel to copy or download it. A design exports as standalone HTML. If it is a React component, ask Claude for one self-contained HTML file. If it pulls live data, ask for the data written into the page.
- Drop it on hostus.io and confirm your email, or, with the Hostus connector in Claude, say "publish this to Hostus". The connector works on Claude's Free plan too.
- Set who can open it in the dashboard: Public, Email-gated (limit it to a list or a domain) or Private. Pages start private.
- Send
your-slug.hostus.page. No sign-in for the reader on any page, forms and saved data work for anonymous visitors, and you see who opened it and what they read.
The step-by-step version is in how to share a Claude artifact with anyone. Storage and size limits on both sides are in Claude artifact storage limit.
How to test a link before you send it
- Open it in a private window. You are signed out there, like your client. A sign-in screen or an empty list there is what they will see.
- Open it on your phone over mobile data, outside your office network and away from your Claude app.
- Fill in the form once. On Hostus, a submission you make while signed in as the owner is saved and tagged as a test, so you can tell it apart from a real one.
- Click every live section. Anything that needs a connected app shows an error for an outsider.
Which fix should you pick?
Hostus. Best if the person on the other end is outside your Claude organization and the page has to work for them: one link through every edit, no sign-in on any page type, an email gate when you want one, reading by section, and forms and saved data that work for anonymous readers. It works on the free plan, the file stays yours, and Claude can publish and update it through the connector. Free for 20 documents.
Fix it inside Claude. Pick it if you are on a paid plan, the artifact is a plain page with no saved data, or everyone who needs it is in your organization. Nothing to export.
Another host for AI pages. Pick ShareDuo if the link should expire in hours or days, or Stacktree and Pagelive if it must sit on your own subdomain on a paid plan. They are compared in Claude artifact hosting, compared.
Good to know before you switch
Hostus has no custom domain: every page lives at your-slug.hostus.page and carries a small "Published with Hostus" badge in the corner, on the free and the paid plan. Public pages are noindex, so they do not show up in Google. It hosts HTML files with their images, video and fonts, not PDFs or framework builds, so ask Claude for one self-contained HTML file. The free plan is 20 documents, 2 MB in total and 100 form responses a month (responses past that are kept and unlocked on a paid plan); paid is $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year. An email gate identifies readers, it does not verify the address: for a page that must stay between you and named people, use invite-only.