You have a finished HTML file: a report, a prototype that Claude or v0 wrote, a proposal. Someone needs to open it in a browser. For a page a client, an investor or a team will open, Hostus is the tool we recommend: a link in seconds, text you can fix in place, a form that works with no setup. Below: the three steps, then eight free options compared on signup, limits, expiry, privacy, analytics, forms, and whether you can fix a typo without sending a new link.
How do I host an HTML file in under a minute?
- Drop the file. Go to hostus.io and drag the
.htmlfile onto the homepage (up to 1 MB there, 5 MB inside the app). A folder with images, video or fonts works too. - Type your email. You get a magic link. No password, no card.
- Copy the link. Live at
https://your-slug.v.hostus.iowith SSL.
The link keeps working while you change things: edit text in the browser and the same URL serves the new version, with history and restore. A <form> in the file stores responses with no setup. Free plan: 20 documents, 2 MB of HTML in total, every feature.
Which free HTML host should you use in 2026?
Our answer is Hostus: drop the file, enter an email, and the link is live with SSL. It is the only tool in the table where a form works with no backend, the text can be edited in place with version history, and access can be Private or Email-gated on the free plan, with no expiry.
The others still fit specific situations. Pick GitHub Pages if you are a developer and the file already lives in a Git repository: no expiry, deploys on every push. Pick Netlify Drop for a throwaway link nobody important will open: drag a folder onto the page and you have a URL, no account needed to publish. Pick Cloudflare Pages for a build folder from a framework, which Hostus does not host. Pick Surge if you live in the terminal and want a custom domain on the free plan. Tiiny.host, Static.app, host-html.com and htmltourl.com are paste-or-drop hosts with tighter free tiers (one file or one site, expiry on Tiiny); the table has their numbers.
The table is what we could verify on each vendor's own site in September 2026.
| Tool | Signup needed | Free limit | Link expiry | Password or gate | Analytics | Forms work without backend | Edit in place after publishing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostus | Email only (magic link) | 20 docs, 2 MB HTML total, 100 form responses a month | None | Public, Private or Email-gated, switchable | Cookieless: views, referrers, reading time per section | Yes, any form with named fields | Yes, in the browser (desktop), with version history |
| GitHub Pages | GitHub account and a repo | Site up to 1 GB, soft limit of 100 GB bandwidth a month | None | No | No | No | No, commit and rebuild |
| Netlify Drop | No account to publish; account to keep the site | Free plan, credit based (see their pricing page) | Not stated for Drop; claim with an account to manage | See their pricing page | See their pricing page | Yes, data-netlify="true" after enabling form detection | No, drop the folder again |
| Cloudflare Pages | Cloudflare account | 500 builds a month, 100 projects, 20,000 files, 25 MiB per file | None | No | See their docs | No (needs a Worker) | No, upload again or push |
| Tiiny.host | Yes | 1 live file, 3 MB (their blog, Sept 2026) | Free links expire after a week | Paid plans | Paid plans | See their pricing page | Code editor on paid plans |
| Static.app | Yes | 1 website, 50 MB | Not stated on their pricing page | See their pricing page | Paid plans | Own static-form feature (see their docs) | In-browser editor on paid plans |
| host-html.com / htmltourl.com | host-html: yes. htmltourl: no | host-html: not stated. htmltourl: 20 MB per page | Not stated | No | No | No | Not stated |
| Surge | Yes, from the CLI | Unlimited publishing, custom domain, basic SSL | None | Professional plan, $30 a month | No | No | No, run surge again |
On the Hostus row, 2 MB is total HTML across your account; media files do not count against it.
Why not just email the file or use Google Drive?
Email fails quietly. Many mail clients block or strip .html attachments, previews run no scripts, and phones show a download prompt. Once sent, you cannot fix a number, and you never learn whether it was opened.
Google Drive used to serve HTML files as web pages. Google ended that in 2016. A shared HTML file in Drive today shows source code or a download button. Tutorials with a googledrive.com/host/ URL describe something that no longer exists.
What if the file has a form?
On a static host, a <form> without an action does nothing on submit: the data goes nowhere. Three ways out, starting with the one that needs no wiring:
- Host the page where submissions are stored by itself. On Hostus, any form whose fields have
nameattributes stores responses with no action URL, key or script: an inbox on the document (unread state, spam folder, CSV export, close after N) plus email with Reply-To set to the respondent. Free plan: 100 responses a month; extra responses are kept and unlocked on a paid plan, and the visitor always sees success. - Use the host's own forms. Netlify Forms, if the site is on Netlify.
- Point the form at a form service. Formspree, Basin, Forminit and similar give you an endpoint URL for the
actionattribute. Free tiers are compared in Formspree alternatives.
Longer version: HTML form without a backend.
What if the page needs to stay private?
Hostus offers two options on the free plan, switchable per document. Private is invite only: each reader signs in with a magic link. Email-gated asks the reader for an email before the document opens; restrict it to a list or a domain, or leave it open to identify everyone. In both modes you see who opened the page and when, revocation is instant, and the gate covers the media files. Stated plainly: gating identifies readers, it does not encrypt.
Elsewhere, an unguessable slug and noindex keep a page out of search, but anyone with the link can open and forward it. Password options in the table are paid (Surge Professional at $30 a month, Tiiny.host and Static.app on paid plans), a shared password leaks as easily as the link, and you never learn who typed it.
How do I send an HTML file to a client?
- Make the file self-contained. Inline the CSS and JavaScript, or upload the folder with its images.
- Open the link on your phone before the client does.
- Decide who may open it. Public for a marketing page; Email-gated or Private for anything with a price in it.
- Send the link with one line of context: what it is, what you need, by when.
- Watch reading by section. Hostus shows time per heading, what was re-read and where the reader stopped. More in how to know if a client opened your proposal.
- Fix mistakes in place. Edit in the browser; the client's link shows the corrected version.
Good to know before you switch
Hostus has no custom domains: your link is your-slug.v.hostus.io. It hosts single HTML files or a folder of HTML with media, not React or framework build outputs and not PDFs; GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages or Netlify are the right homes for a build folder. The free plan is 20 documents and 2 MB of HTML in total (media does not count), the editor is desktop only, there are no team seats or co-editing, and form responses export as CSV rather than syncing to Google Sheets. If nothing rides on the page, a Claude Artifact or Netlify Drop is fine; Hostus is for links a client, an investor or a team will open.