Free Tier Hosting Stack
Table of Contents
Free tier hosting stack = Hugo builds static HTML, GitHub stores the repo, Cloudflare Pages builds and serves on every push - $0 until account limits or client policy say upgrade.
Full walkthrough: How I Built JoRap Notes. Same pipeline for Selling Static Sites and my Digital Garden - markdown in, fast site out, no PHP patch Tuesday. Hugo turns markdown plus theme into plain HTML. GitHub is source of truth and backup (private client repos are fine on free GitHub). Cloudflare Pages builds on push, serves over CDN with HTTPS. Flow: edit → git push → live in about ninety seconds. No database, no admin panel - which is why Static Site Client Scope matters.
Pin env vars on every project: HUGO_VERSION matching your laptop exactly; NODE_VERSION when the theme needs Tailwind or an asset pipeline. Enable Git submodules in Pages settings if the theme is a submodule. Version drift and missing submodules are the most boring deploy failures.
Free tier headroom (re-read Cloudflare limits before quoting): about 500 builds per month, 1 concurrent build, 20,000 files per deployment, unlimited static bandwidth, 20-minute build timeout. Normal brochure sites sit far below that. Risk shows up when one account hosts many clients who deploy often, or themes ship huge unoptimized image trees.
When free tier stops fitting: move to the client's Cloudflare account, trim file bloat, step up to Pages Pro ($20/mo) for build volume, or split projects across accounts. Domain stays separate ($12/year). Early pilots can live on my account; before scale, production should move to client-owned Cloudflare plus GitHub with a one-page handoff doc. Future-Proofing Knowledge parallel: markdown in git is the portable asset; Cloudflare is swappable hosting.
Examples
- JoRap.com on this stack for months - domain is the only recurring bill I notice.
- Build failed until Hugo was pinned - env var on every new project template now.
- Client wanted daily CMS auto-deploy fantasy - counted builds per month; static plus Git pushes stay inside free tier for normal humans.
- Shop hit file count on a bloated theme - trimmed assets before anyone paid for Pro.
- Submodule theme broke Pages until I enabled submodule cloning in project settings.
Note Relationships
| Relationship | Wikilink | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| contradicts | Building a Personal API | when the site needs a live API and database, not static HTML |
| contradicts | Local-first Software | when the workflow needs sync apps, not git-push-to-deploy |
| extends | Digital Garden | Same Hugo-plus-git publish lane I use for the notes garden |
| extends | Future-Proofing Knowledge | Markdown in git survives; hosting vendor is swappable |
| extends | Getting Started | Same markdown-first workflow as garden notes |
| extends | Selling Static Sites | Default host for client static sites until limits force upgrade |
| extends | Static Site Client Scope | Stack limits define what jobs fit |
