Netlify vs Cloudflare Pages vs GitHub Pages: picking a free-friendly host
Short answer: Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, and GitHub Pages are all platforms that host static sites for free, but they differ in what "free" actually includes. Netlify's free plan gives you 300 usage credits a month covering deploys, bandwidth, and compute, plus deploy previews, functions, and a built-in database. Cloudflare Pages' free plan allows 500 builds a month with one build at a time, up to 100 custom domains per project, and no stated bandwidth cap. GitHub Pages is free with a soft 100GB-a-month bandwidth limit and explicitly isn't meant for running a commercial online business, like an ecommerce store, as its primary purpose. For most small business sites, Netlify or Cloudflare Pages is the better pick, since GitHub Pages' own terms discourage commercial use.
You want to know which of these three free-friendly hosts actually fits your project, not a list of logos.
I'm Ranjit, and I run Blur Studio: 15+ years building software, 120 apps taken live, and clients who have gone on to raise $10M+. I build AI systems and processes that help businesses do a lot more with a lot less time. I also work differently from most of what else is out there, more on that further down this page. Say hello.
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What each one actually is
Netlify is a hosting platform that builds and deploys your site from Git, AI, or an API, and has grown to include serverless functions, a built-in database, and AI-assisted editing. Cloudflare Pages is Cloudflare's static and full-stack hosting product, built on top of its global network and its Workers serverless platform. GitHub Pages is GitHub's own free static hosting, built specifically for publishing simple sites, documentation, and project pages directly from a GitHub repository.
Features, limits, and price side by side
| Netlify | Cloudflare Pages | GitHub Pages | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free: $0/month, 300 credits. Paid from $9/month. | Free, no separate Pages charge | Free, no paid tier |
| Builds | Counted in shared credits (15 credits per production deploy) | 500 builds/month free, 1 concurrent build, 20-minute build timeout | Soft limit of 10 builds/hour |
| Bandwidth | 20 credits per GB, drawn from your monthly allowance | No stated bandwidth cap on the free plan | Soft limit of 100GB/month |
| File limits | No fixed file count limit stated | 20,000 files, 25MiB max file size (free plan) | Published site capped around 1GB |
| Custom domains | Included with free SSL | Up to 100 custom domains per project (free plan) | Supported, with free SSL via Let's Encrypt |
| Serverless functions | Included on every plan | Included via Cloudflare Workers integration | Not supported; static files only, though GitHub Actions can run a build step |
| Commercial use | No restriction | No restriction | GitHub's own policy says it's "not intended for or allowed to be used as a free web-hosting service to run your online business, e-commerce site" |
The commercial use line for GitHub Pages matters more than it might first appear. GitHub's own documentation is explicit that Pages isn't meant to be the primary hosting for a business or e-commerce site, even though plenty of small sites run on it anyway without issue. It's a real policy line, not a technical restriction, so it's worth reading if your site is squarely a small business's main web presence rather than documentation or a personal project.
How to pick, by project
- A small business marketing site that changes regularly: Netlify. Deploy previews, a built-in database, and Agent Runners for quick AI-assisted edits all genuinely help here, and the free plan's 300 credits usually covers a low-traffic site comfortably.
- A documentation site or a developer-facing project page: GitHub Pages, especially if your project already lives on GitHub. It's the path of least friction when your code and your site are the same repository.
- A static site with genuinely high or unpredictable traffic: Cloudflare Pages. Its free plan has no stated bandwidth cap, which removes the one variable most likely to push a different host's free plan over its limit.
- You want serverless functions without paying anything: Netlify or Cloudflare Pages both include functions free; GitHub Pages doesn't support server-side logic at all.
- You want the absolute simplest setup for a one-off static page: Any of the three works, but GitHub Pages is often the fastest if the file already lives in a GitHub repository, since there's no separate account or dashboard to set up.
What each one is weaker at
Netlify's strength (the shared credit pool covering everything) is also its one real learning curve: a traffic spike or a burst of AI-assisted edits can draw down your allowance faster than a simple "so many GB of bandwidth" limit makes obvious. Cloudflare Pages' one concurrent build on the free plan means a second deploy triggered while the first is still running queues rather than running in parallel, which can slow down a team pushing frequent changes. GitHub Pages is the most limited of the three functionally: no serverless functions, a hard file size ceiling around 1GB, and that explicit discouragement of commercial use as the site's primary purpose.
My honest recommendation
For an actual small business site, I'd default to Netlify over the other two, mainly because of deploy previews and the built-in database, both of which save real time once you're making regular changes with a developer or a team. If cost is the only concern and your traffic is genuinely unpredictable, Cloudflare Pages' uncapped free bandwidth is hard to beat. GitHub Pages is best reserved for documentation, project pages, or a personal site, exactly what it was built for, rather than a business's primary web presence.
A practical migration note
If you've already got a site running on one of these and are weighing a move, the good news is all three build from a standard Git repository and auto-detect most common frameworks, so the technical migration itself is usually straightforward: connect the same repository to the new platform, confirm the build command and output directory match, and test on a preview URL before switching your live domain over. The part that actually takes planning is anything platform-specific you've come to rely on. Moving off Netlify means replacing its built-in database or blob storage with something else if you used them. Moving off Cloudflare Pages means checking whether you used Cloudflare-specific Workers features that don't have a direct equivalent elsewhere. Moving off GitHub Pages is usually the simplest of the three, since it rarely involves platform-specific backend features to begin with.
A note on team size and collaboration
If more than one person needs to deploy or review changes, Netlify's Pro plan includes unlimited team members for a flat $20 a month, which is a meaningfully different cost structure from either competitor here. Cloudflare Pages' free plan doesn't impose a hard per-seat charge the way some platforms do, but its concurrent build limit (one at a time on the free plan) means a team pushing frequent changes will notice deploys queuing behind each other during busy periods. GitHub Pages ties collaboration entirely to your existing GitHub repository permissions, which works fine for a team already using GitHub for its code, but adds no separate deploy-preview or review workflow beyond what GitHub Actions itself provides.
A note on functions and AI-assisted editing
If your site needs any backend logic at all, even something as small as a contact form handler or a simple API call, that alone rules out GitHub Pages, which serves static files only with no server-side execution. Netlify and Cloudflare Pages both include serverless functions free, so this isn't a cost difference between those two, just a capability gap for GitHub Pages specifically. On the AI-assisted editing side, Netlify's Agent Runners is the more mature, dashboard-native experience of the three right now: describe a change, pick a model, review it in a deploy preview. Cloudflare's own AI tooling leans more toward its Workers AI product for building AI features into an app rather than a simple prompt-to-edit workflow for the site itself, and GitHub Pages has no comparable feature at all, since it's intentionally a minimal, static-only product.
Need something completely custom?
Everything above is a path to get a site online quick and cheap on infrastructure you don't own. But sometimes the honest answer is that none of those quite fit, and what you actually need is something custom that you own, built uniquely for your business from the ground up, with AI thoughtfully designed into the parts of it that your processes actually benefit from. An asset that grows in value, not a generic, one-size-fits-all boilerplate that's an expense with a lock-in. This is a complete bespoke build, and it's something I do very well. Get in touch to know more.
Questions people ask
Which of the three is best for a small business site?
Netlify, mainly for its deploy previews, built-in database, and AI-assisted editing. Cloudflare Pages is a strong second choice if uncapped free bandwidth matters more to you than those extras.
Can I run an online store on GitHub Pages?
You technically can host static files there, but GitHub's own policy explicitly discourages using Pages as the primary hosting for an e-commerce site or online business, so it's not the right long-term fit for that.
Does Cloudflare Pages really have no bandwidth limit on the free plan?
As of this writing, its documentation doesn't state a specific bandwidth cap for the free plan, unlike Netlify's credit-based bandwidth charge or GitHub Pages' soft 100GB limit. Confirm this directly on Cloudflare's current pricing page, since usage policies can change.
Does GitHub Pages support a contact form or backend logic?
No, it serves static files only. You'd need a separate form service (like Formspree) or a different host entirely if you need server-side logic.
Is Netlify's free plan enough for a small business, or do I need to pay right away?
For a low-traffic site, the free plan's 300 monthly credits is usually enough to start. My Netlify free tier guide covers exactly where it stops.
Can I move a site between these three hosts later if I change my mind?
Generally yes, since all three build from a Git repository and detect common frameworks automatically, though test a deploy preview on the new host before switching your live domain over.
Roughly what does it cost to have a site built, not just hosted for free?
As a broad reference, fixes and finishes start at around $1,500, and new builds start higher, always a fixed price agreed in writing before I start, never an hourly rate.