# Hosting Routes — free places a web game or site can live

*Class note (read once, matters): every route here is a **service free
tier**, not a license. A company can shrink a free tier; it cannot
un-ship your files. In all three routes your site/game is plain static
files you own — moving hosts later is an upload, not a rebuild. Terms
as of October 2026; check the linked plan page before you rely on a
number.*

## Cloudflare Pages — the generous one
- Free plan: unlimited sites, unlimited static requests and bandwidth,
  500 builds/month, custom domains. (https://pages.cloudflare.com/)
- Route: connect a Git repo or drag-and-drop a folder deploy in the
  dashboard; every push rebuilds.
- Best for: a site or web game you will update often.

## Netlify — the one this site runs on
- Free tier with generous build minutes and bandwidth for a personal
  project; drag-and-drop deploys without any Git setup.
  (https://www.netlify.com/)
- Route: app.netlify.com → Add new site → Deploy manually → drop the
  folder. Live in under a minute.
- Best for: the very first "it's online!" moment — zero tooling.

## GitHub Pages — the one attached to your code
- Free for public repos; serves straight from the repository.
  (https://pages.github.com/)
- Route: push the files to a repo → Settings → Pages → deploy from
  branch. Address is `you.github.io/project`.
- Best for: projects whose code is already on GitHub and public.

## Which do I pick?

- Game people should play in a browser with a storefront page,
  comments, and discovery: **itch.io** (see `publish-checklist.md`) —
  hosting is only half of what it gives you.
- Your own site, portfolio, or a game page you fully control: any of
  the three above. They are interchangeable for static files; pick
  the dashboard you find least annoying and move on — the decision
  is reversible, which is exactly why it shouldn't take an evening.