Static Hosting is the simplest, cheapest, fastest way to put a real website online — if you can write HTML or hand off the build to someone who can. No WordPress to keep updated. No site builder charging you $40/month forever. No servers to maintain. Porkbun's Static Hosting is $2.50/month, includes free SSL, and runs reliably forever once it's set up. Here's how to get there.
Why Static Hosting?
Compared to WordPress hosting or a builder like Squarespace/Wix:
Cheapest real hosting
$2.50/month, flat. WordPress hosts start at $10–15. Squarespace and Wix start at $16–30. Over five years, the savings compound into real money.
Free SSL, automatic
Porkbun auto-issues a Let's Encrypt SSL cert and renews it forever. HTTPS works out of the box. No "buy this $80/yr cert" upsell.
Fast and reliable
No PHP, no database, no plugins to crash. Just files served from a CDN. Loads quickly, doesn't go down because someone's plugin updated wrong.
Zero maintenance
No security patches, no plugin updates, no version migrations. Set it up once and the only thing you ever do is upload new files when content changes.
1Have a domain ready
You need a registered domain first. If you don't have one yet, see our guide on buying a domain at Porkbun — takes about 10 minutes.
Your domain doesn't have to be at Porkbun specifically. Static Hosting works whether your domain is at Porkbun, GoDaddy, Squarespace, Namecheap, or anywhere else — but the setup is one click if it's at Porkbun and a few extra DNS steps if it's elsewhere.
2Enable Static Hosting on the domain
Log into Porkbun and click your way to:
Account → Domain Management → [your domain] → Hosting tab → Enable Static Hosting
- Pick the default plan tier — it covers small business sites comfortably
- Confirm billing ($2.50/mo or annual prepay)
- Porkbun will provision the hosting in a minute or two and show you the static hosting IP
3Point your domain at the hosting
If your domain is at Porkbun
You're done with this step — Porkbun auto-configures the A and AAAA records when you enable Static Hosting. Skip to step 4.
If your domain is at another registrar
Go to your registrar's DNS panel and add:
- A record:
@→ [the IP shown in Porkbun's Static Hosting panel] - CNAME (or A) record:
www→ your root domain (or another A record pointing to the same IP) - Remove any conflicting old A/AAAA/CNAME records pointing somewhere else
4Wait for SSL to provision
Once DNS resolves to Porkbun's static hosting, Porkbun automatically requests a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate. This takes 5–30 minutes after DNS propagates.
You can watch DNS propagation at whatsmydns.net — type your domain and check it from a few global locations.
5Prepare your site files
Static Hosting expects HTML files. Minimum requirements:
index.htmlat the root — this is your homepage- Other pages:
about.html,services.html, etc., or use folders likeabout/index.htmlfor cleaner URLs - Assets (images, CSS, JS) go in subfolders or alongside the HTML
- Link them with relative paths:
<img src="images/photo.jpg">, notfile:///C:/...
Test locally first — open index.html in a browser and confirm everything loads. If a path is broken on your computer, it'll be broken when uploaded too.
6Upload your files
Three options, in order of how technical you need to be:
- Drag-and-drop in the Porkbun dashboard — easiest. Open the Static Hosting panel, drag your folder of files in. Fine for first launches and small updates.
- SFTP — Porkbun shows you SFTP credentials in the hosting panel. Use FileZilla, Cyberduck, or the built-in
sftpcommand. Best for ongoing development where you're updating often. - Porkbun API — for automated/scripted deploys. Advanced; most small businesses don't need this.
# Example: deploying via SFTP from the command line
sftp -P 9022 yourdomain.com@sftp.yourdomain.com
put index.html www/index.html
put -r images/ www/images/
exit7Verify everything works
Before you tell anyone the site is live, run through this checklist:
- Visit
https://yourdomain.com— site loads, HTTPS is green - Visit
https://www.yourdomain.com— also loads (the CNAME is working) - Check on a real phone, not just devtools — mobile is where things break
- Click every nav link — no broken pages
- Submit your contact form (if you have one) — does it actually land in your inbox?
- Open DevTools → Network tab and reload — any 404s mean a path is wrong
- Test in a different browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
8Set up email forwarding (optional but useful)
You bought a domain, so you might as well have email at it. Porkbun email forwarding is free:
- In Porkbun's domain panel, click Email → Email Forwarding
- Add a forwarder:
info@yourdomain.com→ your real Gmail/Outlook inbox - Save. Done.
info@yourdomain.comnow works (incoming forwards to you)
This is forwarding only — you can't send from info@yourdomain.com with this setup. If you need to send (and most businesses do), step up to Porkbun Email Hosting (~$24/yr) or Google Workspace ($6/user/mo).
Common Gotchas
?cb=20260428 to the URL — that bypasses the cache. Don't assume an upload "didn't work."whatsmydns.net to confirm globally before assuming something is broken.action attribute.404.html at the root if you want a branded "page not found" — otherwise visitors see a generic one.yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com. Set up a redirect from one to the other in Porkbun's hosting settings so you don't split SEO juice between two URLs.You're live. Now what?
A site online is the start, not the finish. Things worth doing in the first 30 days:
- Google Business Profile — claim or create yours. Critical for local search visibility (especially for service businesses).
- Search Console — submit your sitemap to Google Search Console so the site gets indexed.
- Analytics — install something to see what's working. Plausible ($9/mo, privacy-friendly), Fathom ($14/mo), or Google Analytics (free, but invasive).
- Custom email — upgrade from forwarding to a real inbox if you want to send from your domain.
- Reviews — start asking happy customers for Google reviews. They compound into local SEO and social proof.
You've got two paths from here, depending on how you want to spend your time:
FAQ
What's the difference between Static Hosting and WordPress hosting?
Static serves files exactly as you upload them. Cheap, fast, no admin. Can't run WordPress. WordPress hosting runs PHP and a database so you can use the WP admin to edit content. More expensive, more flexible, more things that can break. For a small business marketing site, static is almost always the right choice.
Can I have a contact form with static hosting?
Yes. You use a third-party form service. Formspree's free tier handles 50 submissions/month. Set the form's action attribute to the Formspree URL, deploy, done. Submissions land in your inbox.
How do I update the site after launch?
Edit your HTML files locally, re-upload via the dashboard or SFTP. Updates appear within a few minutes (cache permitting). For sites that change often, set up SFTP — it's faster than dragging files into a browser every time.
What if I outgrow static hosting?
You won't, for a typical small business site. But if you do — say, you need a real e-commerce backend, member logins, or a CMS — your static files port to any other host. There's no lock-in.
Do I need to know HTML?
You — or someone — needs to. Three paths: (1) DIY with a static-export builder like Carrd, (2) learn enough HTML/CSS to maintain it (a weekend's work for the basics), or (3) hire someone to build it and hand you a working site you don't have to touch.
What about bandwidth and storage limits?
The default tier comfortably handles small business sites. Storage limits are documented in your hosting panel; you'd need to be hosting a lot of large videos to hit them. Bandwidth caps similarly aren't a concern unless you go viral or run something unusual.