Static.run Alternative: Same ZIP Upload, a Faster Site

Measured on sites we host, not on a lab benchmark

Time to first byte

~100ms

Median on live customer sites, served from Cloudflare’s edge.

Edge cities

330+

Your visitor is served from the one nearest to them.

Performance toggles

Images, fonts, code, lazy loading and more. Each one is a switch, not a script.

Why people look for a Static.run alternative

Static.run puts a folder online. It does not make the folder faster.

Static.run is a good general file host: HTML sites, PDFs, resume links, image galleries, all behind one upload button. The friction shows up when the thing you uploaded is a real website with visitors on 4G, or when that website needs a blog next month.

Your files go out exactly as they went in

Static.run lists no image conversion, font subsetting or minification. The 2 MB hero JPEG from your Webflow export, the 200 KB font with every glyph in it, the unminified CSS: every visitor downloads all of it, every time.

Fylo takes the same ZIP and runs the pipeline on it: image conversion, font subsetting, minification, lazy loading.

A login timer on free sites

Static.run’s free plan keeps a site online as long as you log in at least once every 90 days. Miss it, and the site you handed to a client or put on a business card goes dark until you notice.

Fylo does not tie a site’s uptime to your login habits. Upload it and forget it.

Public only after a domain or a plan

Static.run’s own FAQ says your links become publicly accessible once you verify a custom domain or upgrade to a paid plan. Until then, the “live” site is not quite the shareable link you expected.

On Fylo the fylo.dev address is public the second the upload finishes, free plan included.

Static.run details as published on static.run and its own blog posts in 2025–2026 (free plan: 5 sites, 200 MB storage, 1 custom domain; 90-day login rule; public-link rule). Check static.run/pricing for the current numbers.

Fylo vs Static.run

Side by side, for a finished static site

Netlify and Cloudflare Pages are in the table because they are the other names on every “static hosting” list. All four are good products; they are built for different people.

What you need	Fylo.Host	Static.run	Netlify	Cloudflare Pages
Upload a finished folder as a ZIPNo repo, no CLI	✓	✓	Netlify Drop	Direct upload
Edit files in the browser after upload	✓	✓	✗	✗
Built-in blog: posts, pages, categories, RSS, sitemapWritten in the dashboard, no WordPress	✓	✗	Bring a CMS	Bring a CMS
Images converted to WebP / AVIF for youWithout changing your HTML	✓	✗	URL rewrite / adapter	Paid add-on
Font subsetting, minification, lazy loadingApplied by the host	✓	✗	Build plugins	✗
Responsive srcset and LCP preload injected	✓	✗	✗	✗
Public link the moment the upload finishesNo domain or plan required	✓	After domain or paid plan	✓	✓
Free site stays online without a login schedule	✓	Log in every 90 days	✓	✓
Contact form without a backend	Pro plans	Separate product	✓	✗
Custom domain with automatic SSL	Paid plans	1 on free	✓	✓
Standalone file hostingPDFs, resume links, image galleries	✗	✓	As site files	As site files
Git-connected builds and deploy previews	✗	✗	✓	✓

Upload your site free See Fylo plans

Which one is for you

Stay on Static.run for files. Move to Fylo for the website.

A switch that costs you something you rely on is a bad switch. Here is the honest split.

Static.run is still the right pick when

What you are hosting is a file, not a site: a PDF, a resume link, an image gallery, a shared document.
You need a custom domain on a free plan. Static.run includes one; Fylo’s custom domains start on Starter.
You want several small throwaway sites on one free account and 10 MB per site is too tight.
Speed does not matter for the thing you are sharing, and you will remember to log in.

Fylo is the better fit when

The upload is a real website: a landing page, a portfolio, a client site, a Hugo or Astro build, a Webflow or Framer export, an AI-generated page.
Your visitors are on phones and mobile data, and Core Web Vitals decide whether the page ranks.
The site has to stay up without anyone remembering to log in, and be public without a domain attached.
You deliver client sites and want to hand over a dashboard with performance toggles, a contact form and analytics in one place.
The site needs a blog: posts, categories, RSS and a sitemap written from the dashboard in English, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali or whatever your readers speak.

Moving from Static.run

Static.run to Fylo in four steps, no downtime

Around ten minutes for a typical site. You uploaded a ZIP to Static.run; you upload the same ZIP to Fylo. Keep the Static.run project live until your DNS change lands. If the site needs a blog, open the Blog tab afterwards; nothing about the upload changes.

STEP 01

Get your site files

The folder you uploaded to Static.run. Only have the copy on Static.run? Download the project files from its project page or copy them out of the online editor.

index.html
about.html
css/main.css
img/hero.jpg ← 2.1 MB

STEP 02

Zip it and upload

Compress the folder so index.html sits at the top level of the ZIP, then drop it on the homepage. Live and public on a fylo.dev address in seconds.

Drop site.zip hereindex.html at the root of the ZIP

STEP 03

Switch on the optimizations

In the performance tab, turn on the toggles you want. Fylo rebuilds an optimized copy; your uploaded files stay exactly as they were.

hero.jpg → hero.avif · 180 KB

Fonts subset to used glyphs

CSS and JS minified

STEP 04

Point your domain

On a paid plan, add the domain in the dashboard, change the record at your registrar, wait for SSL. Then delete the project on Static.run.

; at your registrar
www CNAME your-site.fylo.dev
; SSL issued automatically

Start with step 2 No card needed for the free plan.

What runs on your upload

The performance work Static.run leaves to you

Every item below is a toggle in the dashboard. Turn one on and Fylo rebuilds the optimized copy at the edge; turn it off and the original is back.

WebP and AVIF imagesPNG, JPEG and GIF converted on the way out, with the original as fallback.

Font subsettingOnly the glyphs your pages use ship. A 200 KB font often becomes 20.

HTML, CSS and JS minifiedWhitespace and comments gone, served pre-compressed.

Lazy loadingBelow-the-fold images and iframes wait until they are needed.

YouTube facadesA thumbnail stands in for the 500 KB player until someone presses play.

Responsive srcsetPhones get phone-sized images instead of the desktop original.

LCP preloadThe largest above-the-fold image is preloaded so the page paints sooner.

Contact formsSubmissions land in your dashboard and inbox, plain HTML form. How it works

Nothing is applied silently. You choose what runs, and you can check the result on the speed checker before pointing a domain.

Static.run has no blog. Fylo does.

Add a blog to the site without adding WordPress

A static site on Static.run stays exactly what you uploaded. On Fylo, every site gets a Blog tab: write a post, pick a category, add an image and publish. Fylo writes the static post page, the archive pages, the RSS feed and the sitemap, and serves them from the same edge as the rest of the site.

Posts and pages in a rich-text editor, with a Code view when you want the HTML
Categories, tags and a navigation menu; a media library for images
Three themes, or “match my site” to inherit your own header and footer
Draft preview link, RSS feed, sitemap with lastmod, SEO checklist on every post
Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and a dozen more scripts, with the right fonts loaded
Lives on your custom domain at /blog/; 10 published posts on the free plan, more on paid plans

PostsPagesCategoriesMedia+ New post

Why our clinic moved to a static sitePublished · Guides · 4 min read

Live

स्टेटिक साइट क्यों तेज़ होती हैPublished · हिंदी · 3 min read

Live

Opening hours for Diwali weekDraft · News · preview link ready

Draft

/blog/ · rss.xml · sitemap.xml3 of 10 free posts

Other Static.run alternatives

The rest of the shortlist, and who each one suits

If Fylo is not the fit, one of these probably is. The one-line verdicts are ours; the products are all solid.

Tiiny HostQuick one-page shares

Drag a ZIP or a single HTML file and get a link. Simple and friendly; no optimization pipeline, and the free plan is meant for one small site. Fylo vs Tiiny Host

NetlifyGit-first teams

Repository, build command, deploy previews and functions. Powerful for developers; a credit-metered free plan for everyone else. Fylo vs Netlify

Cloudflare PagesDevelopers on CF

Same edge network Fylo runs on, with direct upload and generous free bandwidth. You wire up image optimization and minification yourself.

GitHub PagesDocs and portfolios

Free and simple if the site lives in a public repository. No custom optimization, no forms, and repository size limits apply.

SurgeCLI one-liners

Publish a folder from the terminal in one command. Minimal by design; no optimization pipeline and no dashboard toggles.

Fylo.HostFinished static sites

Upload a ZIP, toggle the optimizations, serve from 330+ cities. Built for sites whose visitors are on phones and whose owners are not running a pipeline.

Who moves

Sites that leave Static.run for Fylo

FROM A PROMPTAI-generated sitesChatGPT or Claude wrote the pages. Zip the folder and it is live; the optimizations fix what the prompt did not.

FROM A BUILDERWebflow and Framer exportsExported sites arrive with heavy images. Toggle conversion on and stop paying for the builder’s hosting.

FROM A TEMPLATEHTML templates and landing pagesA bought or free template, lightly edited. The template shipped with 3 MB of images; Fylo ships 300 KB.

FROM A GENERATORHugo, Astro, Jekyll, EleventyBuild locally, zip the output folder, upload. The generator stays; the manual image work goes.

FROM AN AGENCYClient sites handed overGive the client a dashboard with toggles and a contact form, not a login reminder every 90 days.

FROM WORDPRESSStatic WordPress exports that still need a blogSimply Static or WP2Static output for the pages, Fylo’s Blog tab for the new posts. No PHP, no plugin updates.

FAQ

Questions people ask before switching

For static websites, yes: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images and fonts, uploaded as a ZIP and served from the edge. Fylo does not host standalone files such as PDFs, resume links or image galleries; if that is what you use Static.run for, Static.run is still the better fit.

No. Static.run’s free plan keeps a site live as long as you log in at least once every 90 days. Fylo does not tie a site’s uptime to a login schedule; a site stays online for as long as the account and plan are active.

Yes. On Fylo a site is live and publicly reachable on its fylo.dev address the moment the upload finishes, on the free plan included. Static.run’s FAQ says links become publicly accessible once you verify a custom domain or upgrade to a paid plan.

No. Free sites live on a fylo.dev subdomain. Custom domains with automatic SSL start on the Starter plan. Static.run includes one custom domain on its free plan, so if a free custom domain is the deciding factor, say so honestly: Static.run wins that row.

Yes. The Fylo dashboard has a file manager with an in-browser code editor and search. Edit a file, save, and the optimized copy is rebuilt.

Fylo converts PNG, JPEG and GIF to WebP or AVIF, generates responsive srcset sizes and lazy-loads off-screen images. Each optimization is a toggle in the performance tab, so you decide what runs. Nothing changes your original files.

Yes. Every Fylo site has a Blog tab in the dashboard: write posts and pages in a rich-text editor, organize them with categories and tags, upload images to a media library, pick a theme or match your site’s own header and footer, and publish. Fylo writes the static post pages, an RSS feed and a sitemap for you. The free plan includes 10 published posts; paid plans lift the cap.

Yes. Post slugs, fonts and layout handle Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and a dozen other scripts, with right-to-left support where the language needs it. Write in whatever language your readers use.

From Cloudflare’s edge network, which spans 330+ cities. Real sites we host measure a median time-to-first-byte of about 100 ms.

No. Fylo is built for sites whose visitors are on mid-range phones and mobile networks, which describes most of India and much of the world. Sites are served from the edge location nearest each visitor wherever they are.

Same ZIP you gave Static.run.
Faster site on the other side.

Drop your ZIP. We handle the milliseconds, and the blog.

Upload your site free No signup. No server setup. Live in seconds.

Same ZIP upload as Static.run. A faster site on the other side.