# Static hosting for freelancers who deliver client work Static hosting for freelancers who need a finished client site, a proposal or a prototype behind a clean link without turning delivery into a deployment project. Upload the built files, send one address, and replace the build in place as the work moves. ## What freelancers actually need to hand over Not a hosting account. The deliverable is usually a built static site, a PDF proposal or scope document, a set of design exports, or a prototype that has to be seen in a browser rather than described. What a freelancer needs is for each of those to become a link that a non-technical client can open on a phone, and that stays correct after the next revision. The two common alternatives both leak time. Sending a ZIP moves the work of opening it onto the client, who then opens index.html from their downloads folder, sees a page with no styling because the browser blocked something, and replies that the site is broken. Standing up a real host for a project that has not been paid for yet means a server, a certificate and a DNS record you will have to remember to tear down. A publishing step sits between those. Upload, share, replace. When the project is signed off and the client wants it on their own domain, the same site moves there from Pro, and the DNS guides are short enough to paste into an email. If the review needs to stay private, password protection from Starter is checked at the edge, before any file is served. ## How it works 1. **Upload the deliverable.** Drop the built site, the HTML page, the PDF proposal or the design export. It is served exactly as you prepared it, with nothing reformatted. 2. **Send one address.** The client opens a link, not an archive. No download, no unzipping and no instructions about opening a local file in a browser. 3. **Revise without resending.** Publish the new build to the same site. The address in the email thread, the invoice and the printed QR code keeps pointing at the current work. ## What you get ### One address that survives the project The link goes in a proposal, a contract, a chat thread and eventually an invoice. It has to still be right in three weeks, after four revisions. - Publishing a new build swaps what the address serves; the address itself never moves. - From Pro, returning to the version the client approved is one click. - Pick the subdomain, so the link reads like the project rather than like a hash. ### Private while it is unfinished Work in progress should not be indexable, quotable or findable. Two separate controls cover that. - Password protection from Starter, enforced at the edge before any file is served, so assets are covered as well as pages. - Free sites are served noindex, so nothing half-finished turns up in a search result. - Expiring links from Starter: set a preview to lapse after six hours, a day, a week, a month or a date you pick. ### Hand it over cleanly at the end The awkward part of freelance delivery is the moment the client takes ownership. Moving the same site to their domain is the least disruptive version of that. - Connect a domain the client owns from Pro, $15 a month, with certificates handled. - Registrar-specific DNS guides with the exact records to add. - Visitor analytics from Pro, so "is anyone using it" has an answer. ### The paperwork lives in the same place A client project is rarely only a website. Proposals, specs, exports and slide decks all publish the same way and get the same kind of link. - PDFs open in the browser rather than downloading, so a proposal is one tap on a phone. - Images, video, audio, spreadsheets and Office documents are all handled, 96 extensions in total. - Related: turning a PDF into a link. ## What the free plan includes Enough to run one client preview end to end before you decide whether this belongs in your workflow. - 1 live site on a real free plan, not a trial of a paid one, and no card to start. - Up to 25 MB per upload and 25 MB of storage across the account. - 5,000 visits and 5 GB of traffic a month. - HTTPS with a real certificate, issued and renewed for you. - Up to 15 publishes a day, so you can iterate without asking permission. - The deploy-time security check, which reads what you published and warns about a stray .env file, a .git folder, a private key or an API key left in your JavaScript. - A small Droply badge in the corner of the page. Removing it starts on Starter. - Free sites are served noindex, so search engines do not list them. Search visibility starts on Starter. ## Compared with Tiiny Host Tiiny Host is used for the same job by a lot of freelancers and does it well. These rows are the ones that come up during an actual project rather than during signup. - **Free plan.** Droply: 1 site, 25 MB storage, 5,000 visits and 5 GB a month, no card. Tiiny Host: 1 site, 5,000 visits and 5 GB bandwidth a month, 3 MB per project (0.5 MB for a PDF). - **Custom domain.** Droply: From Pro, $15 a month. Tiiny Host: From Solo, $18 a month or $13 billed annually, up to 5 domains per account. - **Password protection.** Droply: From Starter, checked at the edge before any file is served. Tiiny Host: From Solo, $18 a month or $13 billed annually. - **Expiring links.** Droply: From Starter: 6 hours, a day, a week, a month or a date you pick. Tiiny Host: Not documented as a feature in the help center. - **Rollback to an approved version.** Droply: From Pro, in one click. Tiiny Host: No self-serve rollback is documented. A deleted link can be restored by contacting support. - **Security check on deploy.** Droply: Every publish, on every plan, including free. Tiiny Host: Not offered. - **Entry paid price.** Droply: $5 a month for Starter. Tiiny Host: $9 a month for Tiny, or $5 billed annually. Tiiny Host figures come from its own help center, checked 8 September 2026: the pricing-plans article (updated 1 September 2026), the visitor, upload and bandwidth limits article (updated 2 September 2026), the free-plan link duration article (updated 21 August 2026), the password-protection article (updated 3 September 2026) and the custom-domains guide (updated 7 September 2026). Product plans can change. ## When Droply is the wrong choice Client work often needs more than a place to put files. Be honest with yourself about which of these the project is. - The client needs a CMS so they can edit copy after you leave. Hand over a hosted WordPress or a headless setup instead; a static upload leaves them dependent on you for every word change. - The deliverable is a web application with accounts and stored data. That is not a static site and nothing here will make it one. - You need an audit trail of who approved which version, with comments attached. This keeps versions, not conversations. - You need a database, a login system, or code that runs on the server. Droply serves files; it does not execute your application. - You want a build to run on every push to a repository. Droply has no Git integration and no CI: you build locally and upload the result. - You are running WordPress or another PHP application. A static export of it can be hosted here, but the application itself cannot. ## Frequently asked questions ### Who is this for? Freelancers and small agencies who already have a finished site, prototype or document and need it behind a link a client can open, without setting up hosting for a project that may still change. ### Can I use my client's own domain? Yes, from Pro at $15 a month. Point a domain the client owns at the site and it is served from their address with HTTPS handled. Until then the work lives on a Droply subdomain. ### Can I keep a client preview private? Yes, from Starter. The password is checked at the edge before any file is served, so images and scripts are protected as well as the pages. Free sites are also served noindex, so unfinished work does not turn up in search. ### Can I set a preview to expire? Yes, from Starter. A link can lapse after six hours, a day, a week, a month, or on a date you choose, and it flips to an expired page rather than breaking. You can bring it back at any time. ### What happens after client feedback? Publish the revised build to the same site. The address does not change, so the link already in the email thread now shows the new version, and from Pro the previous one is a click away. ### Can I host proposals and PDFs too? Yes. PDFs open directly in the browser rather than downloading, and images, video, spreadsheets and Office documents are all supported, 96 extensions in total. ### How many client sites can I run at once? One on the free plan. Paid tiers raise it, and the pricing page shows the count per tier alongside storage and traffic. ### Do I have to explain anything technical to the client? No. They receive a normal HTTPS link that opens in any browser on any device. Nothing is downloaded, nothing is unzipped and no account is needed to view it. ### Does Droply manage source code or ongoing development? No. It publishes finished output. Keep source control, collaboration and builds in the tools the project already uses; this is only the delivery step. ## Related - [Client Website Preview](https://droply.host/client-website-preview) - [Static Website Hosting](https://droply.host/static-website-hosting) - [Portfolio to Link](https://droply.host/portfolio-to-link)