Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Neocities VS GitHub Pages

Compare Neocities VS GitHub Pages and see what are their differences

Neocities logo Neocities

Create your own free website. Unlimited creativity, zero ads.

GitHub Pages logo GitHub Pages

A free, static web host for open-source projects on GitHub
  • Neocities Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-15
  • GitHub Pages Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-19

Neocities features and specs

  • Free Hosting
    Neocities offers free hosting of small websites, making it accessible for users to create and share content without incurring costs.
  • Community Support
    Neocities has an active and supportive community that can assist users with troubleshooting, ideas, and collaboration.
  • Learning Platform
    It provides a hands-on environment for learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which is valuable for beginners who want to develop web design skills.
  • Ad-Free Experience
    Neocities doesn't run ads on user websites, ensuring a clean and professional look for personal and hobby projects.
  • Nostalgic Design
    The platform evokes a nostalgic feel of early web creation days, which can be appealing to users who appreciate web history.

Possible disadvantages of Neocities

  • Limited Features
    Free accounts have limited storage and bandwidth, which can be restrictive for larger or media-heavy websites.
  • No Backend Support
    Neocities only supports static websites, lacking capabilities for server-side scripting and dynamic content generation.
  • Basic Interface
    The user interface is relatively basic compared to modern web hosting services, which may feel less intuitive for some users.
  • Potential Downtime
    As a free service, Neocities may experience more frequent downtime or slower services compared to premium hosting providers.
  • Limited Usage for Businesses
    While great for personal or hobby projects, Neocities might not meet the needs of businesses requiring extensive features, scalability, and professional support.

GitHub Pages features and specs

  • Free Hosting
    GitHub Pages provides free hosting for static websites, making it an economical choice given no cost is involved.
  • Easy Integration with GitHub
    Direct integration with GitHub repositories allows for seamless deployment directly from a repository’s branches.
  • Custom Domains
    Users can use their own custom domains, providing greater control over their site's branding and URL structure.
  • Jekyll Integration
    Built-in support for Jekyll, a popular static site generator, allows for easy creation and management of content.
  • Version Control
    Since your website's source code is hosted on GitHub, you can use Git version control to manage changes and collaborate with others.
  • SSL for Custom Domains
    Free SSL certificates provided for custom domains enhance security and improve SEO performance for your website.
  • GitHub Actions
    Integration with GitHub Actions allows for advanced CI/CD workflows, automating the process of testing and deploying updates.
  • Community and Documentation
    Extensive documentation and a large community make it easier to troubleshoot issues and find examples or guides.

Possible disadvantages of GitHub Pages

  • Static Site Limitations
    GitHub Pages only supports the hosting of static content, which means no support for server-side scripting or dynamic content.
  • Resource Limitations
    Imposed restrictions on bandwidth and storage may not be suitable for high-traffic or large-scale websites.
  • Configuration Complexity
    Initial setup and configuration, especially when dealing with custom domains or SSL, can be complex for beginners.
  • Limited Customization Options
    While Jekyll is powerful, there are still limitations in terms of plugins and customization compared to more robust CMS solutions.
  • No Backend Support
    Inability to run backend processes or databases means that dynamic applications requiring real-time data and complex backend logic cannot be hosted.
  • Corporate Restrictions
    Enterprises or organizations with strict security or compliance policies may find GitHub Pages insufficient for their needs.
  • Dependent on GitHub
    Reliance on GitHub's platform means that any downtime or outages on GitHub can directly affect the availability of your website.

Neocities videos

Neocities - Open source review

More videos:

  • Review - Neocities - The Free Open Source Web Hosting Tool That Rocks!

GitHub Pages videos

Intro to GitHub Pages

More videos:

  • Review - What is GitHub Pages?
  • Tutorial - How to Setup GitHub Pages (2020) | Data Science Portfolio

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Neocities and GitHub Pages)
Website Builder
100 100%
0% 0
Static Site Generators
CMS
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Computing
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Neocities and GitHub Pages

Neocities Reviews

If You Want to Leave Twitter Because of Elon Musk, These Are Your Options
Do you miss the old internet, from before Twitter? Enter Neocities, modeled after Geocities, the place where many people still online made their first homes for themselves. Neocities allows every user to create and host their own website, coded in HTML. There’s a kind of passive social aspect to the web host as well. Each site on Neocities is added to a browseable gallery of...
Source: www.vice.com

GitHub Pages Reviews

Exploring alternatives to Vercel: A guide for web developers
GitHub Pages is a free hosting service provided by GitHub, primarily intended for hosting static sites directly from a GitHub repository. While it lacks some of the advanced features found in other platforms, its simplicity and integration with GitHub make it an attractive option for certain types of projects.
Source: fleek.xyz
Top 10 Netlify Alternatives
Static Site Generators — It is a good way for developers to build sites on GitHub pages with the help of site generators. Yes, it has the ability to publish and release any static file. But it is recommended to proceed with Jekyll.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GitHub Pages should be more popular than Neocities. It has been mentiond 491 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Neocities mentions (173)

  • WEIRD – a way to be on the web
    Neocities is more like Geocities than this is https://neocities.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 16 days ago
  • Search My Site – open-source search engine for personal and independent websites
    Other sites: - https://nownownow.com/ - https://omg.lol/ - https://indieweb.org/ - https://ooh.directory/ - https://neocities.org/ - https://aboutideasnow.com/ - https://indieblog.page/ - https://wiby.me/ Generally I crawl the internet to find pages. The result is in https://github.com/rumca-js/Internet-Places-Database. Personal pages are tagged with "personal" tag. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • GeoCities in 1995: Building a Home Page on the Internet
    If you miss the quirky, personal touch of early web pages, NeoCities (https://neocities.org) might just bring back those memories, with a similar DIY ethos and vintage design. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • GeoCities in 1995: Building a Home Page on the Internet
    Https://neocities.org/ Geocities inspired site available today. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Make Your Own Website: A beginner's guide
    I always like mentioning neocities in this context: https://neocities.org/ It's one if those gems in the Internet. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
View more

GitHub Pages mentions (491)

View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Neocities and GitHub Pages, you can also consider the following products

WordPress - WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

Vercel - Vercel is the platform for frontend developers, providing the speed and reliability innovators need to create at the moment of inspiration.

surge.sh - Static website hosting for front-end developers.

Jekyll - Jekyll is a simple, blog aware, static site generator.

Webflow - Build dynamic, responsive websites in your browser. Launch with a click. Or export your squeaky-clean code to host wherever you'd like. Discover the professional website builder made for designers.

SquareSpace - Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website. Pages, galleries, blogs, e-commerce, domains, hosting, analytics, 24/7 support - all included.