Can I put my site online without GitHub?

Yes: you don't need GitHub, a repo or a terminal to put a site online. Drop the folder with your index.html (or the dist folder after npm run build) on dropthehassle.com and it's live on a free HTTPS link in minutes, with no card and no account to set up first. GitHub is useful for keeping versions of your code, but it isn't a step you have to take before anyone can see your site.

Your AI can publish. It can never spend your money.

Built it with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Cursor, Replit, v0, Windsurf or by hand? Same steps.

Last updated: 3 October 2026. What this page says about Netlify Drop, Vercel Drop and the Vercel CLI, Cloudflare Pages and GitHub Pages comes from their own docs, checked that day.

Why every tutorial tells you to use GitHub

Ask an AI how to deploy and the answer often starts with push your code to GitHub. That's because the best known hosts, like Vercel, Netlify and Cloudflare Pages, like to connect to a repo and rebuild your site every time the code changes. For a developer who changes code every day, that's handy.

If you just want a link you can send to a friend or a client, it's a lot of new things at once: an account, a repository, Git, and often a terminal. None of that is what makes a site work online. What a host needs is the finished folder: the files a browser opens.

Put it online in 4 steps, no GitHub

Find the folder. The one with index.html at the top. If you see a package.json, ask your AI to run npm run build and use the dist folder it makes (some tools call it build or out). A .zip of the folder works too.
Open dropthehassle.com and press Upload (free). You don't need an account first.
Choose Drop your folder, then drag the folder onto the page. You'll be asked for an email address next. Until the site is claimed, an upload can be up to 25 MB and 1,000 files.
Claim it. Your site is already live on an address like https://yourname.dropthehassle.app. To keep it, press Claim this site right there. A site nobody claims is deleted after 7 days at the earliest. Once claimed, you can upload up to 100 MB and 5,000 files.

Does your app have its own pages, like /pricing or /contact? They open after a refresh too. If an address isn't a real file, the visitor gets your index.html and your app takes it from there.

Want your own name on it? A .com bought here is €19 / $19 a year, including VAT in the EU, the same every year, and it's connected to your site without any DNS settings. Already have a name at another registrar? You add a single A record there and it points at your site.

Or let your AI do it, still no GitHub

If you work in Claude Code, Cursor, Codex or Windsurf, your AI can do the last step itself. Connect https://dropthehassle.com/mcp once and say put this site online with DropTheHassle. It sends the finished folder and you get a live link and a claim link back. That first deploy needs no account, no token and no GitHub. The setup per tool is in the MCP guide.

Your AI can also look up a domain name for you and send you a payment link. It never pays: that click stays yours.

Other ways to skip GitHub

You can skip GitHub on other hosts too, with a few catches. The table scrolls sideways on a small screen.

Host	Without GitHub?	What to know
DropTheHassle	Yes, drag and drop or your AI	Your email, no account first. Claim it to keep it.
Netlify Drop	Yes, drag and drop	Dropped without signing in, the site gets a temporary password until you claim it.
Vercel	Yes, drag and drop on Vercel Drop, or the `vercel` command line tool	Needs a Vercel account. The free Hobby plan is non-commercial only.
Cloudflare Pages	Yes, upload in the dashboard	Needs a login. A domain without www needs Cloudflare's nameservers.
GitHub Pages	No, it is GitHub	Free for a portfolio, not meant for an online business or shop. Sites max 1 GB.

Want them side by side, with what a domain costs in year two? See DropTheHassle vs Netlify, Vercel and Cloudflare Pages.

From Lovable or Bolt, without GitHub

App builders keep your code inside their own tool, so you take it out first.

Bolt. Use Export, then Download, to get a .zip of the project. No GitHub needed.
Lovable. Connecting GitHub works on every plan. On a paid plan you can also use Download codebase and skip GitHub.

Then build it once with npm run build and drop the dist folder. The full walk through is in how to move off Lovable.

What if your app has a server part?

Most AI built sites are pages that open in a browser, maybe talking to a service like Supabase for login and data. That part already runs at Supabase, so the folder is all you upload. If you start your app with something like node server.js or python app.py, part of it has to keep running.

Got a server part too? Keep it on AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean or your own server, and your AI links it to your site in one step.

Common mistakes

Uploading the source instead of the build. A project that still needs building is refused. Run npm run build first, then drop dist.
Worrying about the .git folder. Folders and files that start with a dot, like .git or .env, are taken out of your upload before it goes live.
Sending a localhost link. localhost and your tool's preview only open on your computer. Send the dropthehassle.app link.
Forgetting your keys. If your app uses Supabase, put the keys in .env before you build, or the live site can't find your data. Only public keys belong in the browser.
Not claiming. An unclaimed site is gone after at least 7 days. The claim button is on the screen right after your upload, so press it before you close the tab.

Works on your computer but not online? The five usual causes are in My site works on my computer but not online.

Questions

How do I put my site online without GitHub?

Build it first if it has a package.json, then open dropthehassle.com, press Upload (free) and drop the folder with index.html, or the dist folder. A few minutes later it's live on a free yourname.dropthehassle.app link with HTTPS, and you never touched a repo.

Is GitHub required before my site can go live?

No. GitHub is a place to keep your code and its history, and some hosts watch it so they can rebuild your site after every change. The browser that opens your site never asks where the files came from. Your first upload here works without a GitHub account, a DropTheHassle account or a token.

Do I need a terminal?

Not for a plain HTML site: you drag the folder into your browser. If your project has a package.json, it needs one build first, and you can ask your AI to run npm run build for you. Then you drop the dist folder.

Can I deploy to Vercel without GitHub?

Yes. You can drop a folder on Vercel Drop in your browser, or upload it with Vercel's command line tool, both after you log in. Keep in mind that Vercel's free Hobby plan is for non-commercial use only.

Is this the same as Netlify Drop?

Close. Both let you drag a folder in without a repo. On Netlify Drop, a site you drop without signing in gets a temporary password until you claim it. Here an unclaimed site is public on its link right away, and gone after at least 7 days unless you claim it.

My code is already on GitHub. Can I still use this?

Yes. Keep GitHub for your history and backups, build the project, and drop the dist folder here. We don't build from your repo, so each new version is a new drop, either by you or by your AI.

How do I update my site later without GitHub?

After you claim it, press Update website in your dashboard and drop the new folder. Your current site stays live until the new one is on. Or ask your AI to do the update for you.

Can my AI do it without GitHub?

Yes. Connect https://dropthehassle.com/mcp in Claude Code, Cursor, Codex or Windsurf and say: put this site online with DropTheHassle. You get a live link and a claim link back. Your AI can never buy a domain for you: paying stays your click.

Where to go next

Got your folder? Then you're a few minutes away from a link you can actually send, without a repo in sight.

Put your site online free