GitHub Pages gives every GitHub account a free, public static site host, no credit card required. Your default URL is USERNAME.github.io/REPOSITORY-NAME. You can deploy from a branch in under five clicks, or wire up a GitHub Actions workflow for frameworks like Next.js that need a build step before serving files.
The critical detail most tutorials skip: even a private repository produces a public website. That distinction matters before you push anything sensitive. The article walks through both deployment paths using a real Next.js sample repository, shows exactly where the workflow YAML lives, and explains the two-action naming collision in the Actions tab that trips up first-time deployers.
Custom domains are supported with free SSL via the Enforce HTTPS checkbox, but you must configure DNS records with your provider and verify the domain at the org or profile level before GitHub will accept it. The full step-by-step, including where DNS verification can silently fail, is in the original.
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