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beginner ⏱ 33 min 5 steps

Web service or static site?

A decision-focused tutorial: when to deploy as a Render static site, when to deploy as a web service, and how to wire the two together when your real app needs both.

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#static-sites#web-services

Prerequisites

  • You have a frontend or web app you want to deploy
  • You're comfortable reading a `render.yaml` snippet

Steps

  1. 01 The decision in 60 seconds A one-question mental model for picking between a Render static site and a web service, plus the comparison table you'll come back to. 5 min
  2. 02 Static sites - when and how Build commands and publish paths for the frameworks you'll actually use, plus the SPA fallback rule that fixes the 404-on-refresh problem. 7 min
  3. 03 Web services - when you need a server Port binding, TLS at the edge, health checks, and the free-tier sleep behavior - the four things that decide whether your web service deploys cleanly. 7 min
  4. 04 The hybrid pattern - static frontend + API web service The most common production shape on Render - a static SPA paired with a web service API - wired into one Blueprint with CORS, build-time API URLs, and an honest answer about the private network limit. 8 min
  5. 05 Migration paths and free-tier traps Outgrow your initial pick cleanly - what to do when a static site needs a backend, when a web service should split into static + API, and the immutable rule that decides how you migrate. 6 min