Domains, Hosting & Deployment - Taking Your Sites Live
Building websites locally is practice. Deploying them is professional development. Here's how to get your work online without spending money.
Understanding the Pieces
- Domain: Your website's address (example.com)
- Hosting: The server where your files live
- DNS: Connects domain names to server IP addresses
- SSL Certificate: Enables HTTPS (secure connection)
Free Hosting Options for Static Sites:
GitHub Pages (Recommended for Beginners):
- Free hosting for static sites
- Custom domain support
- Automatic deployments from Git
- Perfect for portfolios and documentation
- Built-in HTTPS
Netlify:
- Free tier with generous limits
- Automatic deployments from Git
- Form handling included
- Serverless functions available
- Excellent for modern frameworks
Vercel:
- Optimized for Next.js but supports everything
- Edge network for fast loading globally
- Easy environment variable management
- Free custom domains
Free Hosting for Full-Stack Apps:
- Render: Free web services, PostgreSQL databases, auto-deploy from GitHub
- Railway: Generous free tier, easy database setup
- Fly.io: Free tier for small apps, global deployment
Your First Deployment: Step-by-Step
Static Site on GitHub Pages:
- Create GitHub account (free)
- Create repository named username.github.io
- Add your HTML, CSS, JS files
- Site goes live at username.github.io
- Optional: Add custom domain in settings
Full-Stack App on Render:
- Push code to GitHub
- Connect Render to GitHub repository
- Configure build commands
- Add environment variables
- Deploy (free tier spins down after 15 min inactivity)
Professional Deployment Checklist:
- Environment variables configured
- Database migrations run
- Static files properly served
- Error pages set up (404, 500)
- Domain configured with HTTPS
- Site tested on multiple devices
- Performance checked (Lighthouse)
Free vs Paid Hosting: When to Upgrade
Free tiers are perfect for learning and portfolios. Upgrade when you need custom domains (though many free tiers support this), better performance/no sleep time, more bandwidth/requests, or professional email.