Cheapest hosting for your first coding project: free options vs Hostinger
Static sites can be hosted for $0. Here's when free is enough and when paid shared hosting makes sense.
How this was researched: features and prices come from each vendor's official pages (linked below) as of the date shown. We have not run hands-on benchmarks for this article. Where we haven't tested something, we say so. Content is AI-assisted and researched from official sources; no hands-on testing. Links currently go to official sites and are not affiliate links (affiliate links coming soon).
For a first portfolio, a class project or a plain HTML/JS site, you may not need to pay anything. (This site runs on Cloudflare Pages' free plan.)
Free options
| Cloudflare Pages (Free) | GitHub Pages | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $0 | $0 |
| Limits | Unlimited static requests and bandwidth, 500 builds/mo, 100 custom domains per project | 1 GB site size, soft 100 GB/mo bandwidth, soft 10 builds/hour |
| Free address | yourproject.pages.dev | username.github.io |
| Catch | Server-side code runs as Functions with a daily free request quota | Not allowed as free hosting for an online business or e-commerce site |
When paid hosting makes sense: Hostinger
If you want WordPress, PHP, email mailboxes or Node.js with a control panel, Hostinger's shared plans (as listed Oct 15, 2026):
- Premium: $2.99/mo on a 48-month plan ($143.52 paid upfront), renews at $10.99/mo. 3 websites, 20 GB SSD, free domain for 1 year.
- Unlimited: $3.99/mo on 48 months ($191.52 upfront), renews at $16.99/mo.
Watch the renewal price, which is several times the intro rate. Hostinger offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Cloudflare Pages →GitHub Pages →Hostinger official site →
Sources: Cloudflare Pages limits; Pages Functions pricing; GitHub Pages limits; hostinger.com/web-hosting. Checked Oct 15, 2026.