# Surge review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Static web publishing from the command line Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. Surge puts a folder of static files on a global network with HTTPS, at a surge.sh name or your own domain, using one command from a terminal, CI job or coding agent. It does not build projects. Plans are per account, and there is one free plan and one paid plan. - **Category:** Web Hosting - **Made by:** Chloi Inc. (since 2014) - **Website:** https://surge.sh - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Not for you if you want a point-and-click dashboard, as publishing is by command line. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Surge has a free plan, and paid plans start at $30 per month (Pro). - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Unlimited projects and domains, custom domains with certificates, 10 regions, previews and 100 revisions with rollback. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | Unlimited projects and domains, custom domains with certificates, previews, rollback and scoped CI tokens. | | Pro | $30 per month | Everything in Free plus password protection for a domain or paths, and redirects and rewrites. | Read from https://surge.sh/pricing on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Surge before buying. ## Key features - **One-command publishing:** Run surge with a directory and a domain; the CLI remembers the domain in a one-line CNAME file and needs no config file. - **Previews and rollback:** Each publish is a revision and the last 100 are kept, so a domain can be previewed, cut over and rolled back. - **Custom domains and certificates:** Custom domains are free on every plan, with certificates issued and renewed automatically once DNS points at Surge. - **Single-page app support:** A 200.html file serves unknown paths for client-side routes, and a 404.html gives a custom not-found page. - **Tokens for CI and agents:** A token can be scoped to one domain, and Surge publishes a manual for coding agents at surge.sh/docs/agents. ## Good for - Developers who want to publish a build folder without a Git integration - Quick previews and demos from a terminal or CI job - Static sites that need a custom domain at no cost ## Worth knowing - Static files only, and Surge does not run a build, so you build elsewhere and hand it the output. - Publishing is rate limited on every plan: 30 per domain and 60 per account every 15 minutes. - A project can be at most 450 MB and 10,100 files. - Password protection, redirects and rewrites need the $30 Pro plan. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Surge puts a folder of static files online with one command, and the free plan includes custom domains. It is command line only, builds nothing for you, and redirects, rewrites and password protection sit on a $30 a month plan. - **Value for money: A.** Free plan with unlimited projects and domains, and custom domains with certificates at no cost. The only paid plan is $30 a month. - **Free plan and trial: B.** The free plan covers real use, with limits you can hit: 450 MB and 10,100 files a project, and publishing is rate limited. - **Features: C.** Previews, 100 revisions with rollback and single-page app support. It serves static files only and does not run a build, so it does a narrow job. - **Ease of use: D.** Everything is done from a terminal with the CLI, so it is a poor start for anyone who does not use a command line. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** Web only, with a CLI and scoped tokens for CI jobs. No dashboard to build in, and no phone or desktop app. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Surge's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among web hosts - Surge's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 99 of the 122 other web hosts we grade, and level with 14. - It stands best on value for money (A, above 105 of 122) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $30 a month, against a middle price of $9.69 for the category: 96 of the 107 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 1.7 out of 4. 92 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/web-hosting ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Surge you would be making connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.4 is higher than 99 of the 122 other web hosts we grade. It costs $360 a year. - You could not: Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Vite, Astro, Eleventy, Hugo **Tags:** Public API, Workflow automation ## Alternatives - [Netlify](https://toolgpa.com/tools/netlify): Git-based hosting for sites and web apps, priced by monthly credits. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/netlify-vs-surge) - [GitHub Pages](https://toolgpa.com/tools/github-pages): Static site hosting built into GitHub repositories. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/github-pages-vs-surge) - [Cloudflare Pages](https://toolgpa.com/tools/cloudflare-pages): Git-based hosting for static sites and full-stack apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cloudflare-pages-vs-surge) - [Neocities](https://toolgpa.com/tools/neocities): Free static website hosting with an in-browser editor. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/neocities-vs-surge) - [Firebase Hosting](https://toolgpa.com/tools/firebase-hosting): Google's CDN hosting for static and single-page web apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/firebase-hosting-vs-surge) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://surge.sh/pricing - https://surge.sh Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/surge Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).