There are numerous platforms available online that will allow users to create their own websites from scratch.
Many web publishing platforms, especially those developed by digital scholarship practitioners, are openly available, meaning they are free to use. However, this does not imply that creating a website using their product is free. To have a live website, you need to serve your website data to the web. In order for websites to be live 24/7, the servers that store their data must run perpetually. In most cases, this requires cloud hosting.
The website publishing platforms listed on this page offer free hosting, but the amount of free storage offered is small, typically about 1GB. This quantity of storage will, in many cases, be sufficient for a website created for educational purposes.
For instructors looking to have multiple students use a particular website platform, make sure to go through the ICT review process. This will ensure that usage follows compliance responsibilities. ICT review is not required if the product will be used by a single individual solely for their own use or it is already licensed and approved by ITS for campus use, e.g., site licensed software.
Self-publishing to the web is an alternative to traditional publishing modes that is valuable in its own right. In many cases, authors may prefer the higher degree of creative control that self-publishing allows them. Additionally, authors may find that traditional publishing historically excludes them or their communities, and for that reason, they don’t want to participate in it. For example, the 2023 Lee & Low publishing industry survey found that 72.5% of surveyed industry employees were White, while 0.1% were Indigenous American and 0.5% were Middle Eastern. For authors that need or want to be the stewards of their own work, here are some options for free and independent publication.
Click on each tab name below to view options for that category.
Below are tools that can be used specifically to take a final product and save and share it on the web.
| Tool | Description | Cost | Technology Learning Curve | Collaboration Support | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Pages | Free hosting for static websites for GitHub users. Commonly combined with static site generator Jekyll. | Free with account | Moderate-steep, requires knowledge of Git & command line | Available using GitHub | 1GB per site, 1 site per repository |
| WordPress.com | Cloud hosting offered by WordPress, a website builder and content management system (CMS) | Free tier available | Minimal, no coding is necessary. | Plugin available | 1GB per site |
| Google Sites | Website builder app offered in the Google app suite. | Free with Google account | Minimal, no coding is necessary. | Real-time collaboration, like Google Docs | Unlimited, but individual media files are capped at 20MB. |
| Wix | A popular free website hosting platform and content management system. | Free tier available | Minimal, no coding is necessary. | None | Users get 500MB of storage with up to 1GB of bandwidth. |
Below are tools that can be used specifically to take a final product and save and share it on the web.
| Tool | Description | Cost | Technology Learning Curve | Collaboration Support | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omeka.net | Cloud-hosting offered by Omeka, a website builder and content management system for sharing collections and metadata. | Free tier available | Moderate | Groups can work together on a collaborative site. Instructions here. | |
| CollectionBuilder | An open-source framework for creating digital collections and exhibitions through static websites. Unlike Omeka, not a web application, but instead a template to which users can input data and metadata for their own collection. Can be used with GitHub Pages to generate websites. | Free | Minimal to start, but customization requires time and coding knowledge. | Available through GitHub | 1GB of storage per repository with GitHub Pages. |
| Scalar | An open source authoring tool for creating multi-page or multi-chapter scholarship. Supports integrating media and provides functionality for authors to annotate media objects. Flexible structure supports user-driven discovery. | Free | No coding necessary, but the range of available tools requires time to learn. | Groups can collaborate on projects |
Below are tools that can be used specifically to take a final product and save and share it on the web.
| Tool | Description | Cost | Technology Learning Curve | Collaboration Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| StoryMapJS | An open-source tool to build digital stories that incorporate geospatial data. Metadata is stored in Google Sheets. | Free | Minimal to make a basic story, but can use coding knowledge to make a highly customized story. | Users can collaborate on Google Sheets in real time to update metadata. |
| TimelineJS | An open-source tool to build digital stories that incorporate temporal data. Metadata is stored in Google Sheets. | Free | Minimal to make a basic story, but can use coding knowledge to make a highly customized story. | Users can collaborate on Google Sheets in real time to update metadata. |
| Twine | An open-source tool for creating interactive “choose-your-own-adventure" stories. Twine stories are published as HTML files and freely hosted through borogove.io (interactive stories) and itch.io (interactive games). | Free | No coding required to make a story, but can be customized with CSS and JavaScript. | Not supported. |
Below are tools that can be used specifically to take a final product and save and share it on the web.
| Tool | Description | Cost | Technology Learning Curve | Collaboration Support | Storage/CPU |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub | An online platform that hosts version control through Git. Users can store their code, work collaboratively, and share it publicly on GitHub. Many open-source software projects are published to GitHub. | Free with account | Moderate, requires use of command line and Git. | Supported via version control. | |
| Jupyter Notebook | Web app created by Project Jupyter which combines segments of code with text and data. Well-suited for scientific computing, creating educational resources, and anywhere that users might want to share code alongside explanations. Notebooks are created as .ipynb files, which can be shared online through GitHub. | Free | Moderate, requires knowledge of at least one programming language, but language-agnostic | Can be used with GitHub for version control. | |
| Shiny apps | Similar to Jupyter Notebooks in that they combine code and text, but they also allow end-users to interact with data shared by the author, all from within their web app. Shiny apps can be coded in R or in Python. Shiny apps provides free hosting for users. | Free, with account to publish | Moderate, requires knowledge of R or Python. | Can be used with GitHub for version control. | See the breakdown here. |
| Google Colab | A cloud-hosted Jupyter Notebook that provides free access to computing in a browser. Mostly useful to run single projects, whereas Jupyter Notebook can be used to run multiple scripts/more complex computations. | Free with Google Account | Moderate, requires knowledge of at least one programming language, but is language-agnostic. | Google Colab allows users to share notebooks via Google accounts. | |
| Posit Connect Cloud | Code stored in GitHub, Jupyter Notebooks, Shiny apps can be published (the code itself will run) online using Posit Cloud Connect. This is helpful for sharing a program in its final form – not just the code itself. | Free with account | Moderate, requires knowledge of at least one programming language, but language-agnostic | Can be used with public GitHub repositories for version control. | 4GB storage, 2 CPU, 20 active hours. |
Below are tools that can be used specifically to take a final product and save and share it on the web.
| Tool | Description | Cost | Technology Learning Curve | Collaboration Support | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jupyter Book | A template that uses Jupyter Notebook to structure scholarly content. A Jupyter Book can be published as a website using GitHub Pages. | Free, with GitHub account to publish | Moderate, requires knowledge of MyST Markdown | Can be used with GitHub for version control. | 1GB if using GitHub Pages. |
| Bookdown | An open-source R package that can be used to write books with R Markdown. Books created with Bookdown can be published to bookdown.org or as a website using GitHub Pages. | Free, with GitHub account to publish | Moderate, requires knowledge of R Markdown | Can be used with GitHub for version control. | 1GB if using GitHub Pages. |
Below are tools that can be used specifically to take a final product and save and share it on the web.
| Tool | Description | Cost | Technology Learning Curve | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dryad | A scholarly data repository to which users can freely submit and publish their data. All published data receives a DOI. Submission requirements are here. | Free for individuals | Minimal | |
| Figshare.com | A data repository that allows users to freely store, manage, and share their datasets, using the Figshare repository software. All published data receives a DOI. | Free, with paid tier availale | Minimal | 5GB per upload, 20GB per user. |
| Zenodo | Multidisciplinary repository for data, papers, and other scholarly works. All published work receives a DOI. Versioning and private/draft storage are available for uploads. Zenodo is hosted and funded by CERN and OpenAire. | Free | Minimal | |
| Knowledge Commons Works | Multidisciplinary repository for data, papers, and other scholarly works. All published work receives a DOI. Versioning and private/draft storage are available for uploads. KC Works was created by the MLA and is now hosted and maintained by Michigan State University. | Free | Minimal |
