Where a private-link host fits next to other ways to put an HTML file online.
Drop a folder, get a live site in seconds, no account — and a preview that Cloudflare's changelog says stays live for one hour unless you claim it. That's an excellent preview. Here's the line where the thing you're sending stops being a preview.
A SCORM package isn't a course you can open — it's a course wrapped for a machine. Here's what that wrapper buys you, what it costs, and when a plain web link is the honest artefact to hand someone.
They solve the same problem — getting someone from the physical world to a URL — in ways that fail differently. The deciding question isn't which is more modern; it's whether the person can point a camera at it.
A Drive link hands someone a file in a filing cabinet — download it, or preview a flattened copy. A private link hands them the finished thing, already open. Where the two diverge on rendering, control, and who the link assumes the reader is.
WeTransfer is a courier: it drops the file and leaves, and the link self-destructs. A private link is a room that stays open. Which fits depends on whether you're moving a file or showing a finished page — and on how big it is.
A ZIP is a moving box: the recipient has to unpack it, find the entry file, and hope their mail provider didn't strip it. A hosted link is the room already set up. When a multi-file build should travel as a link instead of an attachment.
Both turn an HTML file into an instant link, and both offer privacy and passwords — so the feature lists don't decide it. One question does: will anyone still need this URL in three months? Here's how each one answers that, and which side of the line your job sits on.
Two tools that both turn a dragged file into a URL. One is designed for public deploy testing; the other for private one-recipient delivery. When each fits, where the overlap is real.
Vercel Drop turns a dragged file into a live production URL on a major platform. miinideck turns one into a private link for specific people. Both fit 'drag a file, get a URL' — and were built for opposite jobs. When each fits, where the overlap is narrow.
Vercel just shipped drag-a-file-get-a-link. With Netlify, tiiny, and others already here, sharing a built page as a live link is officially the new normal. Here's the whole landscape of tools — and how to pick one — if you're done emailing PDFs.
Seven ways to put a single HTML file online for free — GitHub Pages, Netlify, Cloudflare, Vercel, Tiiny, Neocities, and a private-link option — with an honest table of which fits which job, public or private.
Two tools that both host an HTML file, designed for different jobs. When tiiny.host fits, when miinideck fits, and where the choice actually matters.