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Deploy a website

A working thing at one link — they click and it runs in their browser. A page, a dashboard, a calculator, a small app. On the public hosts the recipient needs no account and opens it in ~5 sec. Five ways below, all ending in a live link; they differ only on what it takes to first put it online, and the fine print lives on each host's page.

Reach for it when someone should use a finished thing. Skip it when they need the files to build on (a GitHub repo) or one chat-built mini-app is the whole deliverable (a Claude Artifact is lighter).

Last verified: 2026-06-07 · Confidence: high on each host's defining trait; gates and limits live on the sub-pages.

Which way

Same end result. Pick by the one thing that sets each apart:

Way What sets it apart For you when
Netlify Live URL, no signup either side You just want it seen now.
Vercel Slickest for real web apps You're building an app. Free tier is non-commercial only.
Cloudflare Pages Your own domain, wired up by your agent You want a custom domain.
Fly.io A real backend — stores data, signs people in Your thing is more than static files.
Gated website Pick exactly who gets in — they sign in with Google Only named people should reach it.

Already keeping the files in a GitHub repo? It can publish a site straight from there — covered on that page.

Ideal for

A live thing a stranger pokes at from one link — no download, no account — like an interactive replication of GiveWell's cost-effectiveness model: edit any moral weight and all six charities re-rank in front of you. A demo for a funder call, a one-page tool your team opens between meetings, a volunteer intake form — anything finished that should run, not be rebuilt.

What the other person does

The same minimal path on every public host — each host page links back here: click, and it runs in any browser, in ~5 sec, no account, no install, nothing to download, nothing to pay. [confirmed]

Host-specific wrinkles (a slow first load on a sleeping Fly app; a sign-in step on a gated link) sit on each host's own page.

Other ways to share

  • It's many pages people read by topic, not one app they use? → a docs site rides on exactly this deploy but adds a menu and a search box.
  • Build on it, not just use it? → a GitHub repo hands over every file with full history.
  • One chat-built mini-app is the whole thing? → a Claude Artifact skips the deploy.
    • Want a multi-page app with logins and saved data, but no code to write or deploy yourself? → Lovable builds and hosts it from a chat, where this page assumes you already have the files.

Sources

Each host's own docs are cited on its sub-page. Page-level: