Last week I published a Pomodoro timer as one self-contained HTML file — no build step, no dependencies, about 1.6 KB. The obvious next question: how do you actually get a file like that onto the internet?

I took the exact same file and ran it through five popular options in October 2026, timing each and writing down what each one really asks of you. No marketing copy — just the flows as they are.

1. GitHub Pages

The classic. Push your file to a repo, turn on Pages, get a username.github.io/repo link.

What actually happened: I wasn't signed into GitHub in this session, so the flow stops at the account wall: create a repo, add the file as index.html , go to Settings → Pages, deploy from a branch, wait about a minute for the first build.

Time to link: not timed hands-on (account required); about a minute after the first push per the documented flow.

2. Cloudflare Pages

What actually happened: same story — this one needs a Cloudflare account before anything else.…