All three will host a simple website for $0, permanently — not a trial. But they're not identical. Here's the honest, plain-English breakdown so you pick the right one the first time.
| Cloudflare Pages | GitHub Pages | Netlify | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free | Free tier |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Soft ~100 GB/mo | 100 GB/mo free |
| Custom domain + HTTPS | Yes, easiest (same account) | Yes | Yes |
| Best if… | You want one simple place for everything | You already use GitHub | You'll add forms/functions later |
| Upload without code tools | Yes — drag & drop | Git-based (a little techy) | Yes — drag & drop |
This is the one I recommend to beginners, and it's what the main guide walks through. The magic is that Cloudflare can be your domain registrar too, so when you connect your custom domain, the DNS and free HTTPS certificate set themselves up automatically — no fiddling with nameservers. Bandwidth is unlimited, and you can upload your finished files by simple drag-and-drop. For a one-page site or a small multi-page site, it's hard to beat.
If you're comfortable with Git (or want to learn), GitHub Pages hosts your site straight from a repository. It's rock-solid and free. The trade-off is that it's a little more technical: you publish by pushing files to a repo rather than dragging them into a box. For developers it's second nature; for total beginners it's a slightly steeper first step.
Netlify also offers drag-and-drop deploys and adds handy extras on its free tier: simple contact-form handling, preview deploys, and serverless functions if you ever need them. The free plan includes 100 GB of bandwidth a month, which is plenty for most small sites. If you expect your project to grow features over time, Netlify gives you room to expand.
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