Best Hosting for Astro and EmDash: Our Two Picks, and Three Others
Our two picks are Spacefast, from the makers of WordPress.com, and Cloudflare, which made EmDash. Here's why, plus how Netlify, Vercel and GitHub Pages compare.
By the Astro Nursery team. Review lead: Anil Thaakran, Head of Business DevelopmentUpdated 8 minute readComplete beginner
In this guide
Astro makes plain web files by default, so you can host your site almost anywhere. A host is a company with computers that never turn off, so your site is always online. Out of everything we’ve looked at, two stand out, and those are the two we recommend.
The short answer
| Pick | Why | |
|---|---|---|
| Our pick for most Astro sites | Spacefast | Drag a folder or run one command. Free plan with custom domains. From the makers of WordPress.com. |
| Our pick for EmDash, and for growing | Cloudflare | Made EmDash. Unlimited free static requests. What we use for this site. |
| Also good | Netlify | Drag-and-drop publishing, with a free plan. |
| Also good | Vercel | Generous free plan, but personal use only. |
| Also good | GitHub Pages | Free for personal sites already on GitHub. |
Want one answer for your case? Use our host finder.
1. Spacefast: our pick for most Astro sites
Spacefast is made by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce and Tumblr. If you’re coming from WordPress, that’s a name you already trust, now hosting Astro.
It’s the easiest way to get an Astro site online that we’ve found:
- Drag and drop. Build your site, then drag the
distfolder onto drop.fast. It’s live in seconds, with no account to start. - Or one command.
npx -y spacefast publish ./distdoes the same from the terminal. - Or let your AI do it. Spacefast connects to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other AI tools, so the assistant that built your site can publish it too. Its recipe library includes Astro sites, like a WordPress blog rendered with Astro.
- Every change is saved as a version. You can roll back to an older one in one step, without rebuilding.
The free plan costs $0 with no card. It includes 20 sites, custom domains with automatic HTTPS, 100 GB a month of cached delivery, and a built-in database for sites that need one. The Go plan is $5 a month for unlimited sites and domains. Pricing.
Two things to know. First, new sites start private: only you can open the link until you make the site public, or send someone a share link. That’s on purpose, and it’s easy to switch. Second, a site published without an account is removed after about 33 hours unless you claim it. Claiming is free and keeps the address.
Not for EmDash, yet. Spacefast doesn’t list EmDash support today. For EmDash, use Cloudflare.
2. Cloudflare: our pick for EmDash, and for growing
Cloudflare serves static files for free, with no limit. A static site is made of finished pages that do not change, so a rush of visitors costs you nothing. Astro’s docs suggest Cloudflare Workers for new projects. Cloudflare also owns the company behind Astro.
It’s the home of EmDash. Cloudflare made EmDash, and EmDash’s templates come ready for it. We deployed one in 27 seconds, and it now runs our live EmDash demo. Most small EmDash sites fit the free plan. How to deploy EmDash to Cloudflare.
It’s what we use. Astro Nursery runs on Cloudflare Workers. Setup uses a small terminal tool and a settings file, so it’s a step more technical than Spacefast. Our Cloudflare Workers guide shows every command.
Also good
Netlify
Netlify has a free plan, and you can put a site online by dragging a folder onto a web page. Lesson 7 of our course walks through it. The free plan has a limit of 300 credits. Paid plans start at $9 a month.
Vercel
Vercel’s free Hobby plan gives you 100 GB of data transfer, which is the data your visitors download. But it’s only for personal, non-commercial use. A business site needs the paid Pro plan.
GitHub Pages
GitHub Pages suits personal static sites. It has a soft limit of 100 GB of bandwidth a month, and a published site can be up to 1 GB. You may not use it to run a business or a store. See our step-by-step tutorial.
How we chose
We compared what matters for a first site: cost, how hard setup is, whether business use is allowed, and whether the host works well with Astro, and with EmDash. Spacefast wins on ease. Cloudflare wins on EmDash and on room to grow. We earn nothing from these picks.
Frequently asked questions
What's the best host for a first Astro site?
Spacefast. You can drag your site's folder onto a web page, or publish with one command, and the free plan includes custom domains. It's made by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com.
What's the best host for EmDash?
Cloudflare. EmDash was made by Cloudflare, its templates are built for it, and most small EmDash sites fit the free plan.
Can I host Astro on regular shared hosting?
Yes, if your site is static. Build it, then upload what is in the dist folder. It is just HTML, CSS and other plain files.
What about a custom domain?
All five hosts here support custom domains. You buy the domain on its own from a registrar.
Stuck on a step?
Check the common errors guide, look up a word in the glossary, or ask the friendly people in the official Astro and EmDash Discords. How to ask so people can help.