Deploy Astro Documentation to 5 Free Hosts — The Honest Comparison

The Best Part About Static Sites

Here’s something that never gets old: when your site is static HTML, hosting it is basically free.

Not “free with conditions.” Not “free until you scale.” Just — free. Because serving HTML files from a CDN costs the host almost nothing, and most platforms are happy to give you a generous free tier to get you into their ecosystem.

This means you can build a documentation site, deploy it, and pay zero dollars a month. Forever. For real.

The catch is that “free” means different things on different platforms. Some are genuinely unlimited. Some have soft caps. Some want your credit card “just in case.”

So let’s actually compare them, honestly, without the marketing fluff.

The Five Contenders

You’ve got five realistic options for hosting a static Astro docs site for free:

Cloudflare Pages — the new kid with a huge CDN Vercel — the frontend darling with great DX Netlify — the original JAMstack host Firebase Hosting — Google’s entry GitHub Pages — the OG of free hosting

They all work. But they don’t all work well for every situation.

Cloudflare Pages

The pitch: Cloudflare’s global CDN is one of the largest in the world, and they’re giving it away for free. Unlimited bandwidth, 500 builds per month, custom domains with SSL, and preview deploys for every pull request.

What you actually get:

• Unlimited bandwidth (yes, actually unlimited)
• 500 builds/month (plenty for personal projects)
• 100 custom domains per project
• Automatic SSL
• Global CDN with 300+ edge locations
• Preview deploys for every branch

The catch:

• Build minutes are limited but 500 per month is generous
• Interface is a bit clunky compared to Vercel
• Fewer integrations than Netlify

Best for: Anyone who wants the fastest possible site with the least amount of worry. If you’re building a docs site that might get popular, this is where you want it.

Verdict: The best free option. Period.

Vercel

The pitch: Vercel is the company behind Next.js and they’ve built one of the smoothest deployment experiences in the industry. Push to GitHub, get a deployed site with a preview URL. It just works.

What you actually get:

• 100 GB bandwidth/month
• 6,000 build minutes/month
• Automatic SSL
• Preview deploys with GitHub comments
• Edge network in 100+ locations
• Excellent framework detection

The catch:

• The free tier is “for non-commercial use” — read the fine print
• 100 GB bandwidth sounds like a lot until a blog post goes viral
• Some features require paid plans
• Their pricing model has changed more than once

Best for: Developers who value DX above everything else, and projects that won’t blow through the bandwidth cap.

Verdict: Great experience, but the bandwidth cap is a real concern for a docs site that might get traffic.

Netlify

The pitch: Netlify invented the modern JAMstack deployment workflow. Drag-and-drop, Git integration, preview deploys, forms, functions — the whole package.

What you actually get:

• 100 GB bandwidth/month
• 300 build minutes/month
• Automatic SSL
• Preview deploys
• Deploy from Git, CLI, or drag-and-drop
• Split testing (A/B testing for pages)

The catch:

• 300 build minutes/month is tighter than Cloudflare or Vercel
• Every build counts against your quota — a slow Astro build can eat through it
• Bandwidth cap is the same concern as Vercel

Best for: Projects that want a mature platform with the most deployment options, and teams that don’t mind watching their build minutes.

Verdict: Solid, well-established, and the drag-and-drop deploy is genuinely useful for one-off updates.

Firebase Hosting

The pitch: Google’s entry into static hosting. Backed by Google’s infrastructure, integrated with Firebase’s other products, and available on the free Spark plan.

What you actually get:

• 10 GB storage
• 360 MB/day data transfer
• Automatic SSL
• Custom domains
• Global CDN

The catch:

• 360 MB/day is genuinely small — one popular blog post can blow through it
• Requires Firebase CLI (no Git integration out of the box)
• The Firebase Console is a maze
• If you exceed limits, you get billed on the Blaze plan

Best for: Projects already in the Google ecosystem, or sites that will definitely stay small.

Verdict: Functional, but the data transfer limit makes it a risky choice for anything that might grow.

GitHub Pages

The pitch: Free hosting on GitHub. Direct integration with your repository. Simple, no-frills, reliable.

What you actually get:

• 1 GB storage
• 100 GB bandwidth/month (soft limit)
• 10 builds/hour (soft limit)
• Custom domains (with HTTPS)
• Automatic deploys from GitHub Actions

The catch:

• “Soft limits” mean GitHub can throttle you if they want
• No preview deploys (unless you set up a complex workflow)
• Builds are slower than dedicated hosts
• No CDN in the modern sense — it’s fast but not Cloudflare-fast
• Ads-free, but also feature-free

Best for: Open-source projects that already live on GitHub, or personal sites that don’t need fancy features.

Verdict: The simplest option, but you’re trading features for simplicity.

The Comparison Table

Alright, here’s everything in one place:

Feature	Cloudflare	Vercel	Netlify	Firebase	GitHub
Bandwidth	Unlimited	100 GB	100 GB	360 MB/day	100 GB
Builds	500/mo	6,000 min/mo	300 min/mo	N/A	10/hr
Git deploy	Yes	Yes	Yes	No (CLI only)	Yes
Preview deploys	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Complex
Custom domain	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
SSL	Auto	Auto	Auto	Auto	Auto
CDN	Massive	Good	Good	Google	Basic
Commercial use	Yes	No (free tier)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Drag-and-drop	No	No	Yes	No	No

Which Should You Pick?

Let me be direct.

For most Astro docs sites: Cloudflare Pages.

The bandwidth is unlimited. The CDN is enormous. The deploy is automatic from Git. The free tier is genuinely usable. There is no scenario where a small-to-medium docs site runs into problems on Cloudflare Pages.

If you’re already using Next.js: Vercel.

Vercel’s Astro support is fine, but their Next.js support is chef’s kiss. If your docs site is part of a bigger Next.js app, keep it on Vercel.

If you want the drag-and-drop option: Netlify.

Netlify Drop is genuinely useful for one-off deploys. If you need to push a folder of files to the web without a Git repo, Netlify is the move.

If you’re already in Google Cloud: Firebase.

Firebase Hosting is a fine choice if you’re already using Firestore, Cloud Functions, or other Firebase products. Standalone, it’s less appealing.

If you love minimalism: GitHub Pages.

There’s something appealing about a hosting option with three buttons and no config. If your project is small and static, GitHub Pages is honest and free.

The One Thing You Should Actually Care About

There’s a metric everyone ignores when comparing hosting providers: build time.

Every time you push a change, the host rebuilds your site. On Cloudflare, a typical Astro docs site builds in about 40 seconds. On Netlify, it might be 90 seconds. On GitHub Pages, it could be 3 minutes.

This doesn’t sound like much. But when you’re iterating on a docs site and pushing 10 times in an afternoon, it adds up. Cloudflare’s builds are noticeably faster, and their build cache means unchanged dependencies don’t rebuild.

It’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s the kind of thing you only notice after you’ve used a slower host for a while.

The Deployment Process

Regardless of which you pick, the process is basically the same:

1. Push your Astro project to GitHub
2. Log in to the hosting platform with GitHub
3. Connect the repo
4. Set build command (npm run build) and output directory (dist)
5. Click deploy

First deploy takes a few minutes. Subsequent deploys trigger automatically on every push to main.

Your preview URLs are generated per pull request, so you can see exactly what changes look like before merging. This is a genuinely useful workflow, and all five hosts support it in some form.

What About Paid Tiers?

You don’t need them. For a static Astro docs site, the free tiers are genuinely sufficient. The paid tiers exist for teams that need:

• Team collaboration features
• Higher build concurrency
• Enterprise compliance
• Analytics beyond what’s included
• Priority support

If you’re a solo developer or small team, don’t pay. Not yet. Maybe never.

The Honest Recommendation

If you’re reading this and you haven’t deployed yet, here’s what I’d do:

1. Push your Astro Docus site to GitHub
2. Deploy to Cloudflare Pages first — it takes 10 minutes and it’s free forever
3. If you don’t like it, try Vercel or Netlify — the migration is a few clicks

There’s no wrong answer here. The difference between these hosts is a matter of preference, not correctness. They all serve static HTML files. They all have SSL. They all have custom domains.

Cloudflare wins on bandwidth and speed. Vercel wins on DX. Netlify wins on features. Firebase wins on Google integration. GitHub Pages wins on simplicity.

Pick the one that matches your priorities. Then go write documentation.

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Astro Docus deploys cleanly to all five hosts. The docs include detailed setup guides for each one. If you want to start with a template that’s deployment-ready, check it out on Gumroad.

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