Comparison
host0 vs Hostsmith: private links on the free plan
host0 vs Hostsmith: private links and email invites on the free plan, or one public free site with privacy from Starter. Agents, data, versions, price.
Checked Oct 28, 2026Sources
The short answer
Choose host0 if what you share should be private from the first publish without paying for it, if you want to invite people by email to many apps, or if your agent built an app that needs shared data, version history or visitor analytics. Choose Hostsmith if you want your agent to publish through an MCP connector in claude.ai, a custom domain today, data kept in the EU, or a password that lets clients in without an account. Free plan, no card. Pro is $19 a month.
Choose host0 if
Recommended- You want links that are private by default on every plan, the free one included, and open only to the people you invite by email.
- You publish more than one thing: the free plan isn't limited to a single site.
- Your agent built a small app — a tracker, a todo list, a sign-up sheet — and the team should read and write the same data.
- You want numbered versions with one-click restore, and to see who opened the link, without extra tools.
- You'd rather sign in with an email code than need a Google account.
Choose Hostsmith if
- You want your agent to publish through an MCP connector — in claude.ai, Claude Desktop, Cursor or ChatGPT Desktop — rather than a skill or CLI.
- You need a custom domain today (Pro and up) or data kept in the EU (Agency and up).
- Your clients should open a preview with a password, with no account to create.
- You want to drop a zip of a built site and have it unpacked for you.
At a glance
host0 is better on 7 of 13 topics, and Hostsmith on 4.
Better: Private by default on every plan. Only you can open a new link until you invite people, open it to anyone with the link, or make it public.
The free plan is a public link only. Private sites, by password or email list, start on Starter.
Better: Invite people by email on any plan. They sign in with an email code or Google; removing someone cuts access on their next request.
An email whitelist per site on Starter and up; removing a reviewer is one click.
Everyone you invite signs in. There's no shared password option for people who don't want an account.
Better: A shared password lets anyone who has it in, with no account, checked on the server (Starter and up).
Better: Shared records your app reads and writes on its own URL, with rules for who can read, add or change them. No server code.
Static files only: no database, records or form storage.
A skill and a CLI publish from Claude (claude.ai included), Cursor, Codex or any agent with a shell. The MCP server manages apps but doesn't deploy.
Better: A remote MCP server with OAuth that creates sites and deploys, added as a custom connector in claude.ai or used from Claude Code, Cursor and ChatGPT Desktop. No CLI or skill yet.
Sites and folders, HTML, PDFs, images, video, audio, Markdown and text, with a viewer for files opened on their own. A zip has to be extracted first.
A zip of a site, unpacked on upload, or a single PDF, image, video, audio or text file.
Better: Every deploy is a numbered version; restore any one in a click. 30 days of version history on Pro, the live version on Free.
A new deploy replaces the previous one; there's no version history or rollback.
Better: Cookieless analytics on every app: total visits on Free, full analytics (full, 90 days) on Pro.
No visitor analytics listed on any plan, only plan usage.
Not yet. Custom domains are coming to Pro.
Better: From the Pro plan: 5 domains, up to 50 on Premium, apex domains included.
Served from Cloudflare's network, with account data in London. No choice of region.
Better: Every account and site sits in a US or EU partition; choosing EU residency is on Agency and up.
Better: 3 MB per file, 500 MB in total, many apps; 10,000 visits a month (a soft limit: it never blocks).
One site, 5 MB of storage in total (also the largest file), 5 GB of bandwidth and about 5,000 visitors a month.
Better: An email code or Google. Agents get a key by device login, with nothing personal typed into the chat.
Google sign-in only. The MCP connector authorizes with OAuth in your browser.
Free plan with private links and email invites. Pro is $19 a month or $190 a year.
Free plan with a watermark. Starter is $9 a month ($5 billed yearly), Pro $21 ($15), Agency $59 ($49), Premium $199 ($149).
Hostsmith is a small static host that launched in 2026 and now describes itself as hosting for files, sites and AI-generated artifacts. You drop a zip or a single file, or your agent publishes it through Hostsmith's MCP server, and it goes live on a hostsmith.link address. It runs on AWS, keeps every account in a US or EU partition, and sells private sites, custom domains and EU residency on paid plans.
host0 does the same last step for whatever your agent made, from a different default. On Hostsmith the free plan is one public site with a watermark, and a password or email list starts on Starter. On host0 a new link is private on every plan: only you can open it until you invite people by email, open it to anyone with the link, or make it public on the web. And because the people you invite sign in as themselves, an app can keep shared data that knows who wrote what.
Who can open the link
host0Better
A new app on host0 is private. Opening the link sends anyone but you to a sign-in page, so a draft, a client deck or an internal dashboard isn't on the open web just because it has a URL.
When it's ready you choose: invite specific people by email, open it to anyone with the link (unlisted, never indexed), or make it public on the web so search engines can find it. Every option is on the free plan, and you can change your mind at any time.
Hostsmith
Hostsmith's free plan is a public link with a small Hostsmith watermark. Private sites start on Starter, where you can put a password or a list of allowed email addresses in front of a site.
Hostsmith makes a good point about how it's done: the check runs on the server, so the page is never sent to someone who hasn't passed it — unlike a password written into the page's own JavaScript.
Sharing with teammates and clients
host0
On host0 you share with people, not with a secret. Type their email addresses; they get an invitation, sign in with a one-time code or Google, and open the app as themselves. Remove someone and their access ends on their next request — nobody else is affected.
The same list decides who counts as a member of the app's data, so the people you invite can add and edit records while everyone else can only read. There's no shared-password mode: everyone who gets in has signed in.
Hostsmith
Hostsmith offers both on Starter and up: an email whitelist, which it recommends for client previews and internal docs, and a shared password for things like a wedding site.
The password is the easier door for a client who won't make an account, and host0 has nothing like it. The trade-off is the usual one: anyone who has the password can pass it on.
Apps with shared data
host0Better
Ask your agent for a team todo list, a habit tracker or a sign-up sheet, and it can declare collections in an h0.json file next to the page. The app then reads and writes records on its own URL — with no server code, no API key in the page and no database to set up.
Each collection says who can read, add, change or delete, and records can belong to the person who made them. The owner can export everything as JSON at any time.
Hostsmith
Hostsmith hosts static sites and files and doesn't run server code. There is no database or records API, so an app that should remember what people typed needs a backend from somewhere else, and the keys that come with it.
Publishing from your agent
host0
Give your agent the host0 skill and say "deploy to host0". With no key yet, it shows you a link and a short code; you approve it in your own browser, and the agent gets its key without you typing anything personal into the chat. Redeploys upload only the files that changed.
The skill and the CLI work in Claude, claude.ai included, Cursor, Codex and any agent that can run a shell command. host0's MCP server is for managing apps — listing them, sharing, changing who can open them, restoring a version — and doesn't deploy.
HostsmithBetter
Hostsmith's MCP server does deploy. Add it once as a custom connector in claude.ai, or point Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT Desktop or another client at its remote URL; you authorize it in your browser and the agent can create a site and upload files, small ones inline and large ones through a direct upload.
Access settings such as passwords and allowlists are set in the Hostsmith app, not over MCP. There's a REST API and a JavaScript SDK too; a CLI is on its roadmap.
Custom domains and where data lives
host0
Every host0 app lives on its own address on host0.app, a domain kept separate from the platform. Custom domains aren't available yet; they're coming to Pro. Apps are served from Cloudflare's network and account data is kept in London, with no choice of region.
HostsmithBetter
Hostsmith connects custom domains from its Pro plan, apex domains included, with certificates issued automatically. Every account and site sits in a US or EU partition, and picking EU residency is part of the Agency plan — a real advantage for agencies whose clients need data kept in the EU.
Price and the free plan
host0
host0 has a free plan with no card: private links, email invites, shared data and analytics totals across many apps, with a small "Hosted on host0" badge. Pro is $19 a month or $190 a year and removes the badge, raises the limits to 50 MB per file and 10 GB, and keeps 30 days of version history.
Hostsmith
Hostsmith's free plan is one site with 5 MB of storage, 5 GB of bandwidth a month and a watermark, and its API and MCP server are included. Starter ($9 a month, or $5 billed yearly) removes the branding and adds private sites; Pro ($21, or $15) adds five sites and custom domains; Agency ($59, or $49) adds EU residency; Premium is $199 ($149) for 250 sites.
Questions
Is host0 a Hostsmith alternative?
For sharing what an agent made, yes — with privacy on the free plan. host0 links start private and open to people you invite by email; Hostsmith's free site is public and privacy starts on Starter. Hostsmith is the better pick today if you need a custom domain, EU residency or an MCP connector that deploys.
Can I password-protect a page on host0?
host0 doesn't use shared passwords. A private app asks visitors to sign in, and only the emails you invited get in. If your client won't make an account, a Hostsmith password on Starter is the simpler door.
Can my agent publish to host0 from claude.ai?
Yes, with the host0 skill: claude.ai runs it in its sandbox and publishes over host0's API after you approve a device login. host0's MCP connector manages apps but doesn't deploy, so the skill is the way to publish.
Does host0 offer EU data residency?
No. Apps are served from Cloudflare's network and account data is kept in London; there's no choice of region. Hostsmith offers an EU partition on its Agency plan.
Does host0 support custom domains?
Not yet; they're coming to the Pro plan. Today every app lives on its own address on host0.app.
Can I move a site from Hostsmith to host0?
Yes. Take the zip you uploaded to Hostsmith, unzip it, and ask your agent to deploy the folder to host0 — or drop the folder on the dashboard. The link starts private; share it or open it when you're ready.
Sources
Checked on Oct 28, 2026. Products change — if something here is out of date, tell us at support@host0.ai and we'll fix it.
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