Guide
Private HTML hosting: who can open the link on each host
Updated 30 October 2026
Private HTML hosting means the host checks who is opening the page before it serves it. The usual gates are a shared password, a one-time code sent to an allowed email, and sign-in with an account. ashare.net, display.dev, Stacktree and Shareable are built to share single documents. Netlify, Cloudflare Pages with Access and GitHub Pages protect whole sites. Below is what each one offers and what private sharing costs, checked on each host’s own pages.
What “private” can mean
- An unguessable link. Search engines don’t find it, but anyone who has the link gets in.
- A shared password. One secret for everyone. People forward it with the link, and you can’t remove one reader without changing it for all.
- An email check. The reader proves an address with a code or a magic link. The host lets in a list of emails or a whole domain, and you can remove one person.
- An account sign-in. The reader logs in to the host or to your company’s identity provider. Strong, but every outside reader needs that account.
No gate stops a reader who is let in from copying what they see. The gates decide who gets that far.
The hosts compared
| Host | Access options | Readers need an account | Comments | Agent publishing | Private sharing costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ashare.net | Company by email domain, up to 100 emails, password, expiry | No: a 6-digit code by email, or Google or Microsoft | Yes, on selected text; the agent replies and resolves | MCP, CLI, REST API, GitHub Action | Free for a personal email with 50 MB; Pro $5/month or $48/year; Company $30/month for the whole domain |
| display.dev | Company, invited emails; no shared password or expiring links | Invited readers: no, an email and a one-time code; Google and Microsoft sign-in on Pro | Yes, on selected text, for company members; invited guests view only for now; the agent replies and resolves | MCP, CLI | Free for 3 gated artifacts; Solo $15/month; Pro $49/month |
| Stacktree | Passcode on every plan; email-domain gate and expiry from Solo | No: a passcode, or a magic link for the domain gate | Yes, on the page | MCP, API | Free for 3 pages that last 7 days; Solo $19/month |
| Shareable | Password, specific people, verified email, domain; expiry on Pro | Email gates verify the reader’s address | Yes | MCP | Free with every access control; Pro $7.50/month billed yearly |
| tiiny.host | Password | No, a shared password | Feedback mode on paid plans | MCP | Password from Solo, $13/month billed yearly or $18 monthly |
| Netlify | Shared password, or a private project for your team and invited people | Password: no; private project: a Netlify login | — | MCP | Pro, $20/month; no password on Free or Personal |
| Cloudflare Pages with Access | Allowed emails, domains or your identity provider | No: a one-time PIN by email, if you turn it on | — | — | Pages Free; Access free up to 50 users, then $7 per user a month |
| GitHub Pages | Private sites on Enterprise Cloud only; no password | Yes: GitHub, with read access to the repository | — | — | Enterprise, $21 per user a month; on other plans the site is public |
A dash means the host’s pages don’t say, not that the feature is missing. display.dev prices are from the dollar view of its pricing page. GitHub warns that a Pages site is public on the internet even when its repository is private, unless you use the private visibility of Enterprise Cloud.
Free private hosting
Most free plans limit the gate or the time. Shareable puts every access control on its free plan. Stacktree’s free pages take a passcode but last 7 days, or up to 90 while someone keeps opening them. display.dev gates three artifacts for free. Cloudflare Access is free for up to 50 people, if you already host on Cloudflare and don’t mind setting up a Zero Trust application. On ashare.net the free plan, for a personal email, has passwords, expiry and sharing by email. Documents for a whole company domain come with the Company plan, which starts with a 30-day trial without a card.
How to choose
- A whole site from Git, for your own team. Netlify’s private projects or Cloudflare Access protect every page of a deployed site. Your readers either have the host’s account or get a code by email.
- Client work under your brand. Stacktree puts pages on your own domain from Solo. ashare.net has no custom domains.
- SAML or an audit log. display.dev has audit logs on Pro and SAML on Enterprise. ashare.net has neither.
- A shared password and nothing more. Any host above with a password does it; see how to password protect an HTML page for what a password does and doesn’t stop.
Where ashare.net fits
ashare.net is for documents that AI agents write: reports, research, specs, dashboards. The agent publishes over MCP, the CLI or a GitHub Action, and in the same call sets who opens the link. A new document is private. You open it to everyone on your company’s email domain, to specific people by email, or to anyone with a password, with an optional expiry. Readers sign in with a code from their email and need no account. Someone not on the list can ask you in, and for private and company documents you see who opened them and when.
Readers select text and comment. The agent lists the open threads, publishes a fixed version at the same link, replies and resolves. See Sharing and access and Pricing.
ashare.net: your agent publishes HTML or Markdown and you choose who opens it: your company, specific emails or a password. Readers comment, the agent fixes the document.
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