GitHub Pages vs. Simply CDN
GitHub Pages is a popular hosting service for your static website.
However, due to its several limitations, we decided to create Simply CDN as a cheap and reliable way to host your static website.
Take a look at the comparison:
| Feature | GitHub Pages | Simply CDN (Starter) |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | 1 GB | 3 GB |
| Bandwidth | 100 GB | 75 GB |
| Builds | 10 builds per hour | No limitation |
| Forms | ||
| Caching | ||
| Easy Setup | ||
| Proxy URLs | Proxy URLs to send data from your static site to WordPress. | |
| Technical Support |
Storage
GitHub Pages offers up to 1 GB of storage. This storage can’t get increased over time. This is a serious problem if you consider that a usual WordPress website with a couple of images is about 50-600 MB.
That’s why SimplyCDN offers 3 GB within the starter plan. You can also upgrade the storage from within the dashboard.
Bandwidth
GitHub offers 100 GB bandwidth for your project. That’s quite good for a decent website. The bandwidth is used to deliver the cached files to your visitors.
Builds
Builds are the number of updates you can trigger within a given timeframe. Most static hosting providers use this to limit the number of updates you can push to your static website.
This isn’t a problem if you never update your static website that often, but for a frequently visited blog, for example, this can be a problem.
Forms
GitHub does not offer any forms integration. Because of this, you will need an external tool to handle that. I wrote an article about a couple of providers here.
Due to the attached pricing tag and the requirement to rebuild all of your forms with that the new tool, we decided to integrate that directly in Simply CDN. Add an e-mail address and keep using your WordPress plugin to handle form submissions.
Caching
GitHub Pages does not offer any caching solution at all. You cannot activate compression, modify headers, or do anything else related to performance. That’s all included in SimplyCDN.
Setup
Like most static hosting providers, GitHub Pages require updating your website from a GitHub repository. This comes with its own limitations. For example, you can only push 20.000 files per day and no files over 1 MB. These limits do not exist in SimplyCDN.
Proxy URLs
GitHub Pages does not allow proxy URLs. Simply CDN has a built-in solution to send requests from your static website to your dynamic WordPress website.
Support
GitHub Pages does not offer dedicated support. You can use the community forum, but that’s it. Simply CDN offers fast and reliable e-mail support dedicated to your use case and project.
*This feature list is not legally binding. It could be that they have updated features that are not reflected properly here. We will always do our best to keep these lists up to date, if you notice we’re running behind, be sure to notify us about any changes.
Last updated on 31 January 2023.