Ghost
Keep writing in Ghost. Your readers get files.
A static copy of the pages Ghost publishes, with the theme you already have, served in their place. No theme to rebuild, no Content API key, no second system to learn. All we need is the address.
Your whole site, on your own domain.
Free while we're in beta. No credit card.
Test it on one of your pages
About twenty seconds, no account. You see your page and the copy side by side and click through it yourself.
A copy that works like your site
A plain HTML export saves each page with the files it links to. Anything a page loads only after it opens, like images that appear as you scroll, a menu that fills in, content a script fetches or a link that redirects, often goes missing. And you hear about it from a visitor.
A MakeStatic copy works like your site, it doesn't just look like it. You test it yourself, side by side with your site, before deciding anything. And if a page of the copy ever behaves differently from yours, write to [email protected] and we'll fix it.
- Images that load as you scroll, in every size your site has for phones and big screens.
- Fonts, icons and everything your theme or page builder brings along.
- Content a script loads after the page opens, and menus that fill in on hover.
- Links that redirect to another address still redirect.
- Videos that play and let you skip ahead.
- Contact forms that deliver and a search box that answers.
The usual ways, and what they cost you
Making Ghost static usually means one of two things. Either a static site generator pulls your posts through Ghost's Content API and renders them with a theme you rebuild for it. Or a script mirrors the site on a schedule that you keep running yourself.
Both work, and both turn a publication into a small software project. We copy the pages Ghost already publishes, so your theme stays yours and there's nothing new to keep running.
Why bother, when Ghost is already fast?
Speed is rarely the reason. A self-hosted Ghost is a server, a database and a steady stream of updates someone has to keep up with. As long as it answers every reader, it has to be up and patched. With a copy in front of it, it only needs to be there when you write.
Members, subscriptions and comments
Anything that needs Ghost to answer can't be a file: member sign-in, paid subscriptions, comments. After the first copy of your whole site, you get a list of what needs a server, with the page it's on, so you know before a reader does.
That makes a static copy a great fit for a publication people read, and a poor one for a publication that runs on memberships.
Publishing
Publish in Ghost as usual, then publish the copy. Each publish shows which pages were added, changed or removed.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the copy keep my Ghost theme?
- Yes. The copy is your pages exactly as Ghost served them, theme included. Nothing gets rebuilt.
- Do I need a Ghost API key or an admin login?
- No. All we need is the address of your site.
- Can I stop paying for Ghost?
- No, Ghost stays where you write. The copy takes over the part of running Ghost that faces your readers, not Ghost itself.
Free while we're in beta
MakeStatic is new, and while it's in beta you get all of it for free: your whole site, on your own domain. No credit card, no commitment.
At some point it will cost something. When there's a price, you'll see it before anything about your site changes.