CloudFlare Pages vs. GitHub Pages: Which Free Hosting Is Best?

CloudFlare and GitHub both offer blazing fast web hosting for free, but which one is the true winner? In this article, I'm comparing these highly underrated hosting options from CloudFlare Pages and GitHub Pages to determine which one is right for you.

Understanding the Limitations

Now, first, I need to address some limitations. GitHub is just for static file hosting, meaning serverless functions are not natively supported. CloudFlare Pages is a JAMstack platform, so you can run serverless functions with CloudFlare workers. While it is possible to run select JavaScript functions with CloudFlare workers, these platforms are primarily for hosting static websites.

To create a fair comparison, I downloaded an HTML template from HTML5 UP! that I could deploy to both solutions. It's not a perfectly optimized website, but I wanted a practical, real-world example to get an idea of the true speed.

Deploying to CloudFlare Pages

To deploy to CloudFlare Pages, the process is straightforward: 1. Navigate to the Compute tab and select Workers & Pages. 2. Create a new page by either importing an existing Git repository or by uploading assets directly. 3. After naming your project and uploading your assets, your site is deployed to a free pages.dev subdomain.

To set up a custom domain, you just go to the Custom domains tab and click the button that says Set up a custom domain. If your domain is already connected with CloudFlare, it will automatically add the CNAME record for you.

Setting Up GitHub Pages

Setting up GitHub Pages is more involved. First, you'll need a GitHub repository with your site files.

Note: Your repository must be named with the exact convention of your-github-username.github.io. This will become the subdomain where your site is deployed.

After uploading your static files, you can go to the repository settings and publish to GitHub Pages. A weird quirk of GitHub Pages is that repositories must be public if you're using a free account. You can host GitHub Pages from a private repository, but you'll need a Pro account, and at that point, it's no longer free hosting.

In order to configure a custom domain, you'll need to add a CNAME record to your DNS that points to username.github.io. I had some trouble getting my site to load over HTTPS, and then I determined that you have to check the Enforce HTTPS box for it to work properly.

Deploying Multiple Sites with GitHub Pages

GitHub Pages is also janky when you want to deploy multiple sites. You're only allowed one subdomain per account, but you need a unique repository for each website. So how does that work?

To deploy an additional site, you would: 1. Create a new repository. 2. Upload your files. 3. Go to the settings page and select the master branch as the source.

Your website will then be deployed under a subdirectory of your GitHub subdomain. You can still link it to a custom domain using the same process. So it is possible to have multiple GitHub Pages sites on entirely separate domains, but it feels like an unnecessarily complicated process.

How to Handle Dynamic Sites

Now, both CloudFlare Pages and GitHub Pages require sites to be static. If you want to deploy a WordPress site, the easiest way to do this is to run WordPress locally using a tool like Local WP. Then, use a plugin like Simply Static to export the site as HTML and upload the files to CloudFlare or GitHub. You won't be able to use dynamic plugins like WooCommerce on your site, but you can still use contact forms or newsletter opt-ins if you embed HTML with a form hosted elsewhere.

Speed and Performance Comparison

And now let's see how CloudFlare Pages and GitHub Pages compare when it comes to speed. Both platforms are blazing fast, but CloudFlare Pages takes advantage of Cloudflare's massive CDN with servers in over 300 cities. GitHub Pages also has a reliable network, though it's not as impressive on paper.

With that being said, the speed of CloudFlare Pages and GitHub Pages is about the same according to my GTmetrix performance testing. I have no idea what's going on with CloudFlare Pages over in San Antonio, but I have a hard time believing the page would actually take 12 seconds to load. I retested from San Antonio multiple times over multiple days and got the same result. But knowing just how reliable the CloudFlare network is, I would assume this page would load in around two seconds.

If we disregard that likely erroneous result, the speeds of CloudFlare Pages and GitHub Pages are relatively consistent in each location. CloudFlare has a notable 1.1-second lead in Hong Kong, and that's likely thanks to Cloudflare's strong network in China. But these tests are so close that we're splitting hairs here. You're going to have a blazing fast, globally accessible site with both platforms.

Ease of Deployment

Now, what about ease of deployment? Both CloudFlare and GitHub let you upload assets on the web. GitHub Pages has all of the advantages of GitHub deployment. After all, you're hosting the site files in a GitHub repository, but CloudFlare Pages also supports GitHub deployment, and you can spin out preview environments to see a live version of your changes before merging them with production. This is a massive advantage to CloudFlare Pages that I'm surprised GitHub Pages is missing.

The Final Verdict: Is CloudFlare Pages or GitHub Pages Right for You?

Well, I think we have a pretty clear winner. CloudFlare Pages is easier to set up, the global network is larger, you can run select serverless functions with CloudFlare workers, and you can still deploy via GitHub repositories.

I've got to be honest, I'm surprised by how behind GitHub Pages is. I had consistent issues getting HTTPS to work, and I don't understand why you're restricted to one github.io subdomain per account. The main advantage I can think of is that GitHub Pages natively supports Jekyll. I've never used Jekyll before, but it's an open-source static site generator. It's still possible to host Jekyll sites on CloudFlare Pages, but you'll need to run build commands and do some manual setup.

Overall, CloudFlare Pages seems like the best fit in most cases.

An Honorable Mention: Bunny.net

I do want to give an honorable mention to bunny.net. I've slowly been migrating my sites from CloudFlare to Bunny for the CDN and DNS management, and it is possible to host static sites on Bunny with Bunny Storage and a CDN pull zone. It's not as easy to set up as CloudFlare Pages, but it's easier than GitHub Pages. You just create a storage zone, upload your files, and connect the CDN pull zone.

Bunny was just as fast, if not faster than CloudFlare in my testing, and it's a solid alternative if you want to support an up-and-coming business with good customer service. The catch is that Bunny isn't free, but it's highly affordable. - Storage services: $0.02 per gigabyte per region. - CDN services: Between $0.01 and $0.06 per gigabyte, depending on the region.

Bunny has a $1 monthly minimum, so if you're just starting out, you'll probably pay a dollar a month.

The Static vs. Dynamic Trade-Off

The downside to all these platforms is you can only host static sites. If you're trying to host WordPress affordably, it may be worth considering some low-cost WordPress hosting from Hostinger or DreamHost. It's a trade-off. Affordable shared hosting will be slower than free static edge hosting, but you can run dynamic plugins and make changes to your site without the extra deployment hassle.

And honestly, when I think about the fact that free web hosting is often faster than shared or even managed hosting, it reminds me that these platforms are true gems—blazing fast free edge hosting, accessible from anywhere in the world.