---
title: "Best Private HTML Hosting in 2026 (10 Tools Compared)"
slug: /blog/best-private-html-hosting
publishedAt: "2026-10-20"
updatedAt: "2026-10-20"
author: ott
description: "Ten private HTML hosts compared on who can open the page, the price for 50 readers and agent publishing. We checked prices and limits on each vendor's own pages on 20 October 2026."
---
# What is the best private HTML hosting?
> **TL;DR:** Private HTML hosting puts one HTML file at a URL that only the right people can open. The best tool depends on who those people are. For colleagues at your company, pick a host that checks their sign-in: Display (display.dev), Cloudflare Access in front of Cloudflare Pages, or GitHub Pages on Enterprise Cloud. For one outside reader, pick a host with link-level gates: Stacktree and PageShare add passcodes and expiry. For a public page, Netlify, Vercel and GitHub Pages are free.
Display is our product. We rank it, and we state what it does not do. We checked every price and limit on each vendor's own pages on 20 October 2026. The PageShare site did not open for us on that date, so its facts are from 9 October 2026.
---
## 1) Quick answer by job
- **Documents your colleagues read after sign-in:** Display
- **One link to one outside reader, with a passcode or expiry:** Stacktree
- **A low-cost private link with analytics:** PageShare
- **A free internal site that you configure yourself:** Cloudflare Pages with Access
- **A public page:** Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages or here.now
- **An app with a backend:** Vercel or Netlify
- **Regulated content:** none of these hosts replaces your own review (see section 7)
---
## 2) How we tested and ranked
We scored each tool out of 10 against seven criteria, in this order.
1. **Who can open it.** Anyone with the link, a shared secret, specific invited people, or people who sign in with a company account.
2. **Reader account.** Does a reader need to create an account?
3. **Agent publishing.** Can an agent publish and update the page in one call?
4. **Stable URL and history.** Does the URL stay the same after updates, and does the host keep old versions?
5. **Comments.** Can a reader comment on the page?
6. **Audit.** Can you see who views the page or who changed it?
7. **Price for 50 readers.** What a team pays when 50 people read the page.
We read each vendor's own pricing and documentation pages. We did not test every product with a live account. Where a vendor page does not state a fact, the table says "not stated".
---
## 3) Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Who can open it | Agent publish | Price for 50 readers |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Display** | A company's agent-made documents | Public, company sign-in, or invited people by email | MCP, CLI, API | €15 on Solo (one-time password) or €49 on Pro (adds Google and Microsoft sign-in) |
| **Stacktree** | One outside reader | Unguessable link, passcode, email-domain check | MCP, API | $19 (Solo) |
| **PageShare** | A low-cost private link | Link, password, email check on Premium | MCP and ChatGPT app | $9 (Premium), checked 9 October |
| **here.now** | Quick public pages and agent storage | Link, password, or invited emails and domains | API (no MCP) | $0 on Free, as listed |
| **Cloudflare Pages + Access** | A free internal site | People that an Access policy allows | Wrangler CLI, API | $0 up to 50 users |
| **GitHub Pages** | Documentation beside code | Repository readers, on Enterprise Cloud only | Git push | $1,050 (50 seats at $21) |
| **Tiiny Host** | Drag-and-drop uploads | Password from the Solo plan | Not stated | $18 a month (Solo, monthly) |
| **Netlify** | Static sites and apps | Password on Pro, or Private for team members | CLI, API | $20 (Pro, unlimited members) |
| **Vercel** | Web apps | Vercel sign-in on every plan. Password is a $20 add-on on Pro | CLI, API | $20 plus $20 for the password add-on |
| **static.app** | Hand-edited static sites | Password (Private Pages), plan not stated | MCP, API | From $5 a month |
| **Spacefast** (preview) | Small apps with a database | Private by default | Agents, CLI, Git | Not open yet |
---
## 4) The 10 tools, one by one
**#1 · 9.0/10 · Our product**
### Display
**Best for:** a company whose agents write documents that colleagues read.
**Verdict:** Display is the docs workspace for agents and people. Any agent publishes docs and files to a link. Your team opens the link with the account they already use. They comment and edit in-line. Any agent or teammate can publish the next version to the same link. An artifact is one HTML or Markdown file with its own link, versions and comments. Outside readers open an invited artifact with an email address and a one-time password (OTP).
- **Who can open it:** anyone, everyone in your company, or people that you invite by email.
- **Reader account:** none. Invited readers enter an OTP.
- **Agent publish:** MCP, the CLI or the API. An agent can also publish with no account. It receives a 30-day public preview and a claim link.
- **Stable URL and history:** the same URL after every update. Solo keeps 10 versions and Pro keeps 50.
- **Comments:** yes, on a selected passage. Agents read, answer and resolve them. Invited outside guests can view. They cannot comment yet.
- **Audit:** audit logs for 90 days on Pro and 365 days on Enterprise.
- **Price:** Free €0 (3 gated artifacts). Solo €15. Pro €49. Enterprise from €499. Unlimited viewers on every plan.
**Limits:** no passcodes, no expiring links, no burn-after-read, no end-to-end encryption, no self-hosting. Custom domains and SAML are on Enterprise, by contract. Self-serve SAML is planned. On Pro and Enterprise, an Owner can restrict outside sharing for the whole organization.
**#2 · 8.6/10**
### Stacktree
**Best for:** one sender and one outside reader, such as a consultant who sends a report to a client.
**Verdict:** Stacktree is the strongest tool for a gate on the link. Every link is unguessable. Passcodes, expiry, burn-after-read and a separate link for each recipient are standard. A page can be encrypted end to end, so the server does not see the content. Its agent can read the feedback that readers leave. It has no team accounts today. Its pricing page lists "Team members and roles" as coming soon.
- **Who can open it:** unguessable link, passcode (every plan), email-domain check (from Solo).
- **Reader account:** none.
- **Agent publish:** MCP, API, anonymous publish for 24 hours.
- **Stable URL and history:** replace in place. Versions can be listed and restored through MCP.
- **Comments:** on-page reader feedback on every plan.
- **Audit:** opens, unique viewers and last open from Solo.
- **Price:** Free $0 (3 pages in total, 7 days each, longer while other people open them). Solo $19. Studio $79. Firm $249. Self-host $999 one time, as presale founder pricing.
**Limits:** no company sign-in, no team roles. See [Display and Stacktree compared](/stacktree-alternative).
**#3 · 8.2/10**
### PageShare
**Best for:** a low-cost private link with visitor analytics.
**Verdict:** PageShare costs $9 a month. Pages are private. The Free plan allows password links. Premium adds email validation, domain allowlists, a domain for each page and deeper analytics. It publishes from a ChatGPT app and a Claude MCP server. Its page does not mention team accounts or comments.
- **Price:** Free $0 (3 active pages, 7 days). Premium $9 a month.
**Limits:** no team features stated. No comments stated. We checked these facts on 9 October 2026. The PageShare site did not open for us on 20 October 2026.
**#4 · 8.0/10**
### Cloudflare Pages with Access
**Best for:** a free internal site, if you can configure it.
**Verdict:** Cloudflare Pages hosts static files. Cloudflare Access puts a sign-in rule in front of them. The Access Free plan covers up to 50 users. The pay-as-you-go plan costs $7 per user per month, billed annually. Cloudflare's docs list one-time PIN as a login method, so readers need no company account. An agent can publish with the Wrangler CLI. You make the setup yourself. There are no comments and no version tool for readers.
- **Price:** $0 up to 50 users. The Pages Free plan allows 500 builds a month.
**Limits:** Cloudflare's pages do not say if the $7 rate applies to every user or only to users after the first 50. Check before you rely on it. See [Display compared with Cloudflare Access](/cloudflare-access-alternative).
**#5 · 7.6/10**
### here.now
**Best for:** quick public pages and storage for agent files.
**Verdict:** here.now publishes through an API. An anonymous publish expires after 24 hours. A free account keeps sites until you remove them. Its docs list four access modes: anyone with the link, a password, invited emails and domains, or owner only. It has free shared team accounts for up to 50 members. It states that MCP and OAuth are not advertised as supported. It has no comments. See [here.now compared with Display](/here-now-alternative).
- **Price:** Free $0 (500 sites, 10 GB). Hobby $4. Developer $20.
**Limits:** no MCP. No comments. The pricing page does not say which plans include restricted access.
**#6 · 7.4/10**
### Netlify
**Best for:** static sites and apps that are public.
**Verdict:** Netlify Pro costs $20 a month with unlimited members. Netlify's docs say a shared password is available on Pro and not on the credit-based Free and Personal plans. Private visibility limits a project to your Netlify team. On Free and Personal, only the team owner can view a private project. An agent publishes with the CLI or API. A password is a shared secret, so you cannot tell which reader opened the page.
- **Price:** Free $0. Personal $9. Pro $20.
**Limits:** no reader identity for people outside your Netlify team. No comments.
**#7 · 7.3/10**
### Vercel
**Best for:** web apps with a backend.
**Verdict:** Vercel is a platform for applications. Pro costs $20 per developer seat, and Pro lists unlimited viewer seats. Vercel Drop deploys a file, a folder or a zip that you drag in. Vercel Authentication is on every plan and limits access to people with Vercel accounts. Password Protection costs $20 a month for each project on Pro. SAML SSO costs $300 a month on Pro. The Hobby plan is for personal, non-commercial use. Use Vercel when the page is an application. Use a document host when the page is a report. Checked 20 October 2026 on [vercel.com/pricing](https://vercel.com/pricing) and the [Deployment Protection docs](https://vercel.com/docs/deployment-protection).
- **Price:** Hobby $0. Pro $20 per developer seat.
**Limits:** password protection costs extra. Vercel Authentication admits only people with Vercel accounts. No comments for readers outside Vercel.
**#8 · 7.0/10**
### GitHub Pages
**Best for:** documentation that lives beside code.
**Verdict:** A private Pages site needs GitHub Enterprise Cloud. GitHub's docs say that to publish a site privately, the organization must use GitHub Enterprise Cloud. Enterprise costs $21 per user per month for the first 12 months, with terms that the pricing page marks with an asterisk. Readers need read access to the repository. The Free plan offers Pages for public repositories only.
- **Price:** $21 per user per month on Enterprise.
**Limits:** every reader is a paid seat. Publishing needs Git.
**#9 · 6.8/10**
### Tiiny Host
**Best for:** people who drag and drop a file.
**Verdict:** Tiiny Host lists four paid plans: Tiny $9, Solo $18, Pro $38 and Pro Max $89 a month on monthly billing. Its pricing article lists no free plan. Tiiny's help center says password protection starts on the Solo plan. A password is a shared secret. See [Tiiny Host compared with Display](/tiiny-host-alternative).
**Limits:** no agent publishing stated. No comments.
**#10 · 6.6/10**
### static.app
**Best for:** static sites edited by hand.
**Verdict:** static.app has an MCP connector and a REST API on every plan. Its home page lists Private Pages with a password. Its pricing page lists Starter at $5, Medium at $10 and Large at $15 a month, after a 7-day trial. Its home page says "from $6 a month", so the two pages disagree. Neither page says which plan includes Private Pages.
**Limits:** plan for Private Pages not stated.
### Also watch: Spacefast (research preview)
Spacefast comes from the makers of WordPress.com. It is in research preview with a waitlist. New spaces start private. Comments pin to a spot on the page. Every space has a MySQL-compatible database. An unclaimed space stops 33 hours and 20 minutes after the last publish. Its pricing section lists Free for personal use, Go at $5 a month with commercial use, and Plus at $15 a month for teams. It calls these upcoming plans. We do not rank it, because you cannot buy it yet. See [Spacefast compared with Display](/spacefast-alternative).
---
## 5) Is it private on the free plan?
| Tool | Private on Free? | Detail |
| ------------------------- | ------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Display | Yes | 3 gated artifacts. Unlimited public artifacts |
| Stacktree | Yes | Passcode on each page. 3 pages in total. 7-day lifetime |
| PageShare | Yes | Password links. 3 active pages. 7 days (checked 9 October) |
| here.now | Not stated | Docs list password and restricted access. The pricing page does not tie them to a plan |
| Cloudflare Pages + Access | Yes | Up to 50 users |
| GitHub Pages | No | Free plan: public repositories only |
| Tiiny Host | No free plan listed | Lowest-cost plan: Tiny $9. Password starts on Solo |
| Netlify | Partly | Private projects on Free open only to the team owner. A password needs Pro |
| Vercel | Partly | Vercel Authentication is on every plan. Password Protection is $20 a month for each project on Pro |
| static.app | Trial only | 7-day trial. Plan for Private Pages not stated |
| Spacefast | Yes, in preview | Free plan is for personal use |
---
## 6) Ranking and recommendation by job
| # | Tool | Best for | Starting price | Score |
| -- | ------------------------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------------------- | ----- |
| 1 | Display | A company's agent-made documents | €15 a month | 9.0 |
| 2 | Stacktree | One client link with a passcode | $19 a month | 8.6 |
| 3 | PageShare | A low-cost private link | $9 a month | 8.2 |
| 4 | Cloudflare Pages + Access | A free internal site | $0 up to 50 users | 8.0 |
| 5 | here.now | Quick public pages | $0 | 7.6 |
| 6 | Netlify | Public static sites | $0. A password needs Pro at $20 | 7.4 |
| 7 | Vercel | Apps with a backend | $20 per seat | 7.3 |
| 8 | GitHub Pages | Docs beside code | $21 per user | 7.0 |
| 9 | Tiiny Host | Drag and drop | $9 a month | 6.8 |
| 10 | static.app | Hand-edited sites | $5 a month | 6.6 |
Scores are our judgment against the seven criteria in section 2. The facts in sections 3 and 5 are the evidence. Display scores first because the criteria give weight to agent publishing, reader identity, comments and audit. If you give the most weight to passcodes and expiry, Stacktree ranks first.
**Team documents.** Display. Colleagues sign in, the organization owns the page, and agents answer comments.
**One client link with a passcode.** Stacktree. A passcode, an expiry date and a link for each recipient fit this job. Display has none of these.
**A public page.** Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages or here.now. All are free for public content. Pick by workflow.
**An app with a backend.** Vercel or Netlify. These are application platforms. Display and the document hosts above host files.
**Regulated content.** Read section 7 first.
### Publish a private page
Tell your agent: "Publish report.html to Display." Without an account, the agent gets a public preview link and a claim link. After you claim it, tell the agent: "Make it a Company page." Read [Publish without an account](/docs/claimable) for the details.
---
## 7) What none of these tools do
- **They do not make a page safe by themselves.** A page with a credential in it is a risk on any host. Remove credentials before you publish.
- **A passcode does not identify a reader.** Anyone who has the passcode can forward it. Identity-based access (Display, Cloudflare Access, GitHub Enterprise Cloud) identifies each reader.
- **Outside readers on Display can view but cannot comment yet.** Your own team comments on the page.
---
## 8) Where Display is the wrong choice
Choose another tool when you need a passcode on a link, an expiry date, a custom domain, end-to-end encryption, a self-hosted copy, or a public site with a build pipeline. Choose a document-analytics tool such as Papermark or DocSend when the content is a PDF deck and you need analytics for each page. See [Papermark compared with Display](/papermark-alternative).
---
## FAQ
**What is the best free private HTML hosting?**
Cloudflare Pages with Access is free for up to 50 users, but you make the setup yourself. Display, Stacktree and PageShare each offer a free plan with private pages. Display allows 3 gated artifacts. Stacktree allows 3 pages in total, each for 7 days or longer while people open them. PageShare allows 3 active pages for 7 days.
**How do I password-protect a free HTML page?**
Stacktree and PageShare allow a password on their free plans. Netlify, Vercel, Tiiny Host and GitHub Pages need a paid plan. Read [how to password-protect an HTML file](/blog/password-protect-html-file) for the steps. A password is a shared secret, so it does not tell you which person opened the page.
**What is the most secure way to share an HTML file?**
Use identity-based access when readers are colleagues. Use a link with a passcode and an expiry when the reader is one outside person. Use end-to-end encryption when even the host must not read the file. Stacktree offers the third option. Display, Cloudflare Access and GitHub Enterprise Cloud offer the first.
**Can an AI agent publish a private HTML page?**
Yes. Display, Stacktree, PageShare and static.app publish through MCP. Display, Stacktree and here.now also publish without an account. Display's public preview lasts 30 days. The previews on Stacktree and here.now last 24 hours.
**Which host costs the least for 50 readers?**
Cloudflare Pages with Access is free up to 50 users. PageShare Premium costs $9 a month. Display Solo costs €15 a month, and readers sign in with a one-time password. Display Pro costs €49 a month and adds Google and Microsoft sign-in.
**Does a reader need an account?**
Not for Display (invited readers use an OTP), Stacktree or PageShare. Cloudflare Access can use a one-time PIN. GitHub Pages readers need a GitHub account with access to the repository. Vercel Authentication needs a Vercel account.
**Is Display free?**
Yes. The Free plan costs €0 and allows 3 gated artifacts, plus unlimited public artifacts. See [pricing](/pricing).
---
**Related:**
- [GitHub Pages compared with Display](/github-pages-alternative)
- [ngrok compared with Display](/ngrok-alternative)
- [Private HTML hosting explained](/private-html-hosting)
*Checked 20 October 2026 on the vendors' own pages, except PageShare (9 October 2026). Vendors change plans often. Check the vendor page before you buy. Compare more tools on the [alternatives page](/alternatives).*