# An Azure Static Web Apps alternative for what your AI made

Azure Static Web Apps serves static front ends from a global network, with serverless APIs, free SSL and Microsoft or GitHub sign-in built in. artifact.guru shares what your AI made: agents publish over MCP, you invite people by email and see who opened it.

## Pick Azure Static Web Apps if

- Your app needs serverless APIs on Azure Functions next to the front end.
- Your team lives in Azure and signs in with Microsoft Entra ID.
- You want pull request previews from GitHub or Azure DevOps.

## Pick artifact.guru if

- You want to share a page, PDF or deck without an Azure subscription, token or pipeline.
- You want to see which invited people opened it, and who hasn’t yet.
- The person sharing isn’t a developer and the file came out of an AI chat.

## Azure Static Web Apps and artifact.guru, row by row

| Question | Azure Static Web Apps | artifact.guru |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Publish from AI agents | SWA CLI deploys with a token; Azure MCP Server lists no Static Web Apps tools | Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Gemini CLI, Grok and any MCP app, over OAuth; no API keys |
| Upload it yourself | Not documented. Deploys come from a Git provider, Azure DevOps or the SWA CLI | Drag in files, or a whole folder for a built site or React app |
| What opens in the browser | Static front ends and framework builds, plus APIs on managed Azure Functions | HTML, React, Markdown, PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, images, diagrams, zipped sites |
| Who can open a link | GitHub or Microsoft sign-in, role invites (25 per app); password in preview on Standard | Private, public or secret code on every plan; email invites (up to 50) on paid plans |
| Who opened it | Application Insights tracks API calls; page tracking needs your own client code | Paid plans: names on email links; counts, sources and devices on the rest |
| Updates and versions | Each deploy updates production in place; pull requests get their own preview URLs | Every change is a new version at the same link; roll back any time (Free keeps 3) |
| Your own domain | Custom domains with free SSL: 2 per app on Free, 5 per app on Standard | Your subdomain for public and secret-code links, from $12 a month |
| Team workspace | Azure role-based access on the subscription or resource; billed per app, not per seat | Team: one workspace, admins and members, a project per client, comments you can assign |
| Price | Free $0 (personal projects); Standard $9 per app per month, billed hourly | Free $0; Individual $12/month; Team $30/month for 3 editors, then $8 each |

## Where Azure Static Web Apps is good

- The Free plan includes hosting, auto-renewing SSL, two custom domains and managed Azure Functions APIs.
- Microsoft Entra ID and GitHub sign-in are built in, and route rules can limit any path to roles you hand out by invitation.
- Pull requests get their own preview environments that disappear when the PR closes.

## Where artifact.guru is different

- No Azure subscription, deployment token or pipeline. Agents publish over MCP from Claude, ChatGPT (Business, Enterprise or Edu), Codex, Gemini CLI and Grok, or you drag files in.
- Pick who can open each link: Private, Email invites for up to 50 addresses, an 8-character secret code, or Public. Switch any time, same link.
- Email links show who opened it, when and how often, and who hasn’t opened yet.
- PDF, Word and PowerPoint open in the browser next to HTML, React and Markdown, and every edit is a new version at the same link.

## Moving over from Azure Static Web Apps

1. Drag in the built folder you would pass to swa deploy; it becomes one artifact.
2. Add the people from Role Management as an Email invite on the artifact; they sign in with that address.
3. On a paid plan, point a subdomain at artifact.guru with two DNS records.

## Questions

### Can I make an Azure Static Web App private?

Yes. Lock routes to roles and invite people by email or GitHub username, up to 25 per app, or turn on password protection, a preview feature on Standard. Limiting sign-in to your own Entra tenant needs a custom provider on Standard.

### How much does Azure Static Web Apps cost?

Free for personal projects. Standard is $9 per app per month, billed hourly, with 100 GB of bandwidth per subscription and $0.20 per GB after that.

### Can my AI agent deploy to Azure Static Web Apps?

The SWA CLI deploys a folder with a deployment token, so a coding agent with a terminal can run it. Azure’s MCP Server doesn’t list Static Web Apps tools. artifact.guru agents publish over MCP after one approval in the browser.

### Who can sign in to a protected Static Web App?

Out of the box, people sign in with GitHub or a Microsoft account, and invitations go by GitHub username or email. Invite links last at most 7 days. On artifact.guru you invite an email address and the person signs in with that address.

## Sources

What this page says about Azure Static Web Apps comes from its own pages, checked on October 8, 2026. Plans and prices change; if something is out of date, tell us at [Support](https://artifact.guru/support).

- [Azure Static Web Apps pricing](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/app-service/static/)
- [Static Web Apps hosting plans](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/plans)
- [Static Web Apps quotas](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/quotas)
- [Authentication and authorization](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/authentication-authorization)
- [Custom authentication and invitations](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/authentication-custom)
- [Password protection (preview)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/password-protection)
- [Route configuration and roles](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/configuration)
- [Deploy with the SWA CLI](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/static-web-apps-cli-deploy)
- [Preview environments](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/preview-environments)
- [Monitoring with Application Insights](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/monitor)
- [Custom domains](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/custom-domain)
- [Static Web Apps overview](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/overview)
- [Azure MCP Server tools](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/developer/azure-mcp-server/tools/)
- [Azure RBAC overview](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/role-based-access-control/overview)
- [Azure updates: Static Web Apps](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates?searchterms=static%20web%20apps)
- [Azure MCP Server: Azure Deploy tools](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/developer/azure-mcp-server/tools/azure-deploy)

Source: https://artifact.guru/alternatives/azure-static-web-apps