Jekyll hosting with real server access
Deploy Jekyll sites to servers you own
Everything GitHub Pages does, without the plugin allowlist, the build timeouts, or the single-domain limit. Push to your branch and Hatchbox builds and serves your Jekyll site.
Includes a 7 day free trial. $10 per server per month after that — unlimited apps.
Jekyll on GitHub Pages is easy right up until you want a plugin that isn't on the
allowlist. Hatchbox runs your real Gemfile with whatever plugins you want,
on a server you control, and serves the generated site with Caddy over HTTPS. Same
workflow, no allowlist.
There's nothing to configure. Hatchbox detects the jekyll gem in your
Gemfile.lock, installs the Ruby from your .ruby-version,
bundles your gems — including any plugin GitHub Pages wouldn't let you use — and builds
the site straight into the directory Caddy serves from.
Why deploy Jekyll with Hatchbox
Any plugin you want
No allowlist. If it's in your Gemfile, it runs during the build. Custom generators, custom tags, custom everything.
Built on the server, served from disk
Caddy serves the generated HTML directly with compression enabled. No Ruby process sits in front of your pages.
Unlimited sites and domains
Run as many Jekyll sites as fit on the box, each with its own domains and free SSL certificates.
Deploy on push
Write a post, commit, push. Hatchbox rebuilds and swaps in the new release with no downtime and a one-click rollback.
Jekyll on Hatchbox vs GitHub Pages
GitHub Pages is free and fine until you hit one of its limits. Here's where the two differ.
| Hatchbox | GitHub Pages | |
|---|---|---|
| Jekyll plugins | Anything in your Gemfile | Allowlist of ~10 plugins |
| Custom domains | Unlimited, free SSL on each | One per repository |
| Build environment | Your server, full SSH access | Opaque, no access |
| Ruby version | Whatever your .ruby-version says | Fixed by GitHub |
| Other apps on the same host | Rails, Hugo, Astro — any number | Static sites only |
| Cost | $10/server/month plus hosting | Free |
If your site fits inside the GitHub Pages allowlist and needs one domain, stay there — it's free and it works. Move when a plugin you want isn't allowed, when you need more than one domain, or when you'd rather host the site next to the app it belongs to.
What customers say
I run 15+ Rails apps and static sites with Hatchbox. My bill went from $400/month on Heroku to $28/mo with Hatchbox & DigitalOcean combined.
Donn Felker
Software Professional
If you want the most bang for your buck, Hatchbox / Hetzner / DigitalOcean is the killer combo. You can throw sooo much at this and it's crazy how inexpensive it is.
Josh Pigford
Serial Entrepreneur
- Applications deployed
- 24,000+
- Deployments run
- 2 million+
- Deploying since
- 2016
How to deploy a Jekyll site
Four steps, and publishing becomes a git push.
-
Connect a server
A small Ubuntu LTS server handles many Jekyll sites at once.
-
Connect your repository
Pick the repo and branch. Turn on auto-deploy so publishing is a git push.
-
Set your Ruby version
Add a
.ruby-versionfile so the build uses the Ruby you expect. That's the only setup step Jekyll needs. -
Deploy
Hatchbox bundles, builds, and promotes the release. Caddy issues your SSL certificate on the first request.
What Hatchbox does for you
Detection is the jekyll gem in your Gemfile.lock. There's no
build script to write.
Build step it runs
jekyll build -d public
The output goes straight to public, which Caddy serves directly with
compression and automatic SSL — no application process in the request path.
Ruby version
Add a .ruby-version file to your repository to control which Ruby the
build uses.
3.4.2Jekyll deployment questions
Still stuck? Ask us directly — a real person who has deployed a lot of Jekyll apps will answer.
jekyll build -d public, so the output lands in the directory Caddy already serves from. You don't need to change the destination or touch the Caddyfile.
.ruby-version file to your repository with the version you want. Hatchbox installs that Ruby before bundling your gems.
Simple, predictable pricing.
We charge per server, not per app. Run one application or twenty on the same box — the bill doesn't change.
$10
- Unlimited applications
- Deploy anywhere
- Zero downtime deployments
- Custom domains & free SSL
- Databases, cron jobs & background workers
- Full SSH access to your servers
- Real, human support
- 7 day free trial
Deploy more than Jekyll
One server, one bill, as many apps as it can hold. Run any of these alongside your Jekyll app for no extra cost.
- Ruby Deploy Ruby on Rails Rails deployment without the platform tax
- Ruby Deploy Hanami Hanami hosting on infrastructure you control
- Ruby Deploy Bridgetown Bridgetown hosting with full server access
- Go Deploy Hugo Hugo hosting without the per-site pricing
- Ruby Deploy Middleman Middleman hosting on your own infrastructure
- JavaScript Deploy Astro Astro hosting with no vendor lock-in
Ready to deploy your Jekyll app?
Hatchbox has run more than 2 million deploys across 24,000+ applications since 2016. Start a 7 day free trial and put yours on a server you own.