Why Firebase Hosting?

I've used Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages, and S3 + CloudFront. Firebase Hosting wins for static sites because it combines a generous free tier, Google's CDN (fast globally), automatic SSL, and dead-simple CLI deployment — all in one place with no credit card required to start.

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Install Firebase CLI

npm install -g firebase-tools
firebase login

2. Initialize Your Project

cd your-project
firebase init hosting

Select your project, set public as the hosting directory (or your root folder), and choose "No" for single-page app rewrites.

3. Deploy

firebase deploy --only hosting

That's it. Your site is live at your-project.web.app with HTTPS in under a minute.

GitHub Actions Auto-Deploy

Add this to .github/workflows/deploy.yml for push-to-deploy:

name: Deploy to Firebase
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: '3.12'
      - run: python scripts/build_blog_index.py
      - uses: FirebaseExtended/action-hosting-deploy@v0
        with:
          repoToken: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          firebaseServiceAccount: ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT }}
          channelId: live

✅ What I Love

  • Free tier: 10 GB storage, 360 MB/day transfer — more than enough for a content site
  • Deploy previews for every PR (like Netlify, but free)
  • Custom domain with auto SSL in minutes
  • Zero cold starts — pure CDN, no serverless functions needed for static sites

❌ Limitations

  • No built-in form handling — use FormSubmit or Netlify Forms instead
  • Firebase console UI is cluttered with non-hosting features

Free Tier Limits

The Spark (free) plan gives you: 10 GB hosting storage, 360 MB/day transfer, custom domains, and SSL. For a content site getting under 50K monthly visits, you'll never hit these limits.

Firebase Hosting is my default for every static site project. The free tier is genuinely production-ready.

Final Verdict

If you're building a static site, blog, or portfolio, Firebase Hosting is hard to beat. Free, fast, and integrates perfectly with GitHub Actions. This very site is hosted on it.