thin.host vs Neocities
Neocities hosts hand-made personal websites with a community around them (follows, tags and profiles) on an ad-free free plan. thin.host is aimed at developers and agents: deploys by API or MCP, framework build output, and a custom domain on a free account.
Facts about Neocities are taken from Neocities's own pricing and documentation pages as of October 2026 (checked 2026-10-14) and listed under Sources. Plans change; check the vendor's page before you decide.
Side by side
| thin.host | Neocities | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Free account: hosted sites at thin.host/s/<slug>/ and free <name>.thin.host subdomains. The domain API's free platform tier covers 3 domains. | 1 GB storage, 200 GB bandwidth and one site on a neocities.org subdomain, with restricted file types and no ads. |
| Cheapest paid plan | Domain API tiers: Indie $29/month, Platform $199/month. End users pay $8/month per domain provisioned through the claim flow. | Supporter, $5/month: 50 GB storage, custom domains and multiple sites. |
| Custom domains | Yes, several per site, added from the dashboard with a CNAME to cname.thin.host. | Supporter plan only. |
| HTTPS | Automatic for custom domains and thin.host subdomains. | Yes on the free subdomain; custom-domain certificates come with Supporter. |
| AI agent / MCP support | Official hosted MCP server (thin.host/mcp, OAuth 2.1) plus a local server (uvx thinhost-mcp), a Claude Code plugin and a REST API. | No official MCP server found. |
| Transactional email | Yes: transactional email over MCP, REST or SMTP from a verified sending domain (access is approved per account). | No. |
| How you deploy | MCP tool call, one REST upload of a zip, or drag-and-drop in the dashboard. No Git integration: you build locally or in CI. | Browser editor and uploads, the neocities CLI (neocities push <dir>), an HTTP API, and WebDAV on Supporter. |
| Deploy without an account | No, an account is needed to deploy. | No; sites are created by signing up (free). |
| Server-side features | Static files only, plus built-in form capture and password or email gating. No serverless functions. | None. |
When Neocities is the better choice
- A personal site with a community around it: followers, tags and a profile.
- Editing HTML in the browser on an ad-free free plan with generous bandwidth.
When thin.host is the better choice
- A custom domain on a free account, with TLS issued automatically.
- Deploying framework builds from an agent, a script or CI with one upload.
- Transactional email and access gating for the same site.
Moving from Neocities to thin.host
- Download your files from the Neocities dashboard (or a backup).
- Publish the folder: ask your agent to publish it to thin.host (MCP), or zip it and run
curl -F file=@site.zip -H "Authorization: Bearer $THINHOST_API_KEY" https://thin.host/v1/websites/archive. Check the site at its/s/<slug>/preview URL. - Move the domain: add it to the site under Custom Domains in the thin.host dashboard, change its DNS record to the CNAME the dashboard shows (cname.thin.host), and remove it from Neocities once thin.host's certificate is live.
What does not carry over
- Followers, tags and your Neocities profile
- The yoursite.neocities.org address (update links that point at it)
Deploy commands for your framework are in the deploy guides; agent setup is in Quickstart (MCP).
FAQ
Can I edit pages in the browser on thin.host?
Yes. The dashboard has an editor with a live preview and inline text editing.
Can I deploy to thin.host without an account?
No. Sign up (free), then deploy with an API key, the MCP server or the dashboard's upload page.
Do I have to move my DNS provider?
No. Keep DNS where it is and create the record the dashboard shows, a CNAME to cname.thin.host. TLS is issued automatically once it resolves.
Sources
Neocities facts checked on 2026-10-14 against: