Edit in a private WordPress in the cloud. Publish as static HTML. No PHP, no database, no attack surface on your live site.
€19.90 / year per site
Free during public beta (at least 90 days). No card required.
Single-operator. Sign-ups limited at first to keep things smooth.
The Process
WordPress is the editor.
Static HTML is the product.
Build
Get a private WordPress in an isolated cloud container. Use any theme, plugin, or page builder. Nothing to install on your machine.
Deploy
One click ships your site as static HTML to statichost.eu (free-tier EU hosting), Cloudflare Workers, or any git host.
Sleep
Your editor sleeps when you're not using it. Visitors see fast static files served from your host. Open the editor from any device when you need to make changes.
Why Stelae
The best parts of WordPress.
None of the ops.
Built for SEO
Pages load fast: plain HTML, no PHP, no database queries. Crawlers see all your content immediately. SEO plugins like Yoast and Rank Math just work; meta tags, canonical URLs, sitemaps, and structured data all bake into the exported pages.
Nothing to hack
Your live site is pure HTML. No PHP, no database, no login page. Your WordPress editor lives in a private container behind authentication. There's nothing to attack.
No lock-in
Download your static archive or WordPress backup any time. Deploy wherever you want. Cancel and your site keeps running. It has no dependency on us.
Nothing to install
No local database, no PHP, no MAMP, no Docker on your machine. Your WordPress lives in an isolated cloud container. Your machine stays clean.
Edit from anywhere
Your WordPress sleeps in the cloud. Open the URL from any device. It wakes up in seconds. Edit, deploy, done. Works from your phone if you need it to.
Built in Germany. Private by default.
Zero external scripts, no analytics, no trackers. No cookie banner needed. All infrastructure in Germany. Payments and email through EU companies. Your data never leaves the EEA.
Honest Trade-offs
Static means static.
Your published site is pure HTML. No PHP, no database, no server-side processing. That’s why it’s fast and secure. But anything that needs a server won’t work on a static site. Not sure if this is a good fit for what you’re building? Read who Stelae is for.
Works great
- Pages, posts, custom post types
- Themes and visual design
- Images, fonts, CSS, JS
- Navigation and internal links
- SEO metadata and sitemaps
Won’t work natively
- Contact forms → use Formspree, Basin
- Site search → use Pagefind
- Comments → use Giscus, Cactus, Disqus
- WooCommerce / e-commerce → use Snipcart, LemonSqueezy
- Any server-side plugin logic
The Deal
One plan. No tiers.
For your site, your client's site, or your mom's site.
Built in Germany. No tracking. No cookie banner needed. No fuss.
Free during public beta. No card required.
Questions
Frequently asked.
Will you add new features?
Stelae is scope-complete by design. I’ll keep up bug fixes, dependency updates, and performance work, and add the occasional starter template. New product categories — forms, comments, e-commerce, team accounts, analytics — aren’t planned. The small scope is what makes it sustainable for one person to operate at €19.90/year.
What happens when the beta ends?
The free public beta runs at least until 27 July 2026. When it ends, sites convert to the paid plan (€19.90/year). Free sites won’t be grandfathered — at this price, the economics don’t allow it. You’ll get at least 30 days’ notice before the conversion, with a clear opt-out: download your archive and your WordPress backup, cancel your account, no charges. The static site you’ve already deployed keeps running on its host.
What happens if Stelae shuts down?
Your published static site keeps running. It’s hosted on your own account, not on Stelae’s servers. If Stelae ever shuts down, all your data (static exports, WordPress content, database) will remain available for download for at least 90 days. You can also download a full WordPress backup at any time from your dashboard to migrate away whenever you want.
Do I need my own hosting account?
Not necessarily. You can always download your static site as an archive and host it however you like. Or don’t host it at all. If you want auto-deploy, we support statichost.eu (free tier, EU-hosted), Cloudflare Workers, and any git-based host. We handle the deployment; you just provide the account.
What support do I get for €19.90/year?
If the platform breaks (an export fails, your container won’t wake up, a deploy doesn’t work), that’s on me and I’ll fix it. If something looks broken after export that works in the editor, get in touch. It might be my bug. support@stelae.eu. If you need help with WordPress themes, plugins, or CSS, that’s on you. The docs cover the common questions.
Can I use any WordPress theme or plugin?
Any theme works. Most plugins work during editing, but anything that requires server-side processing (contact forms, WooCommerce, site search) won’t work on the static site. See the compatibility guide.
Can I use a custom domain?
Yes, but that’s configured on your hosting provider, not in Stelae. Statichost.eu, Cloudflare Workers, GitHub Pages, and most other hosts support custom domains. Stelae builds and deploys your site. Where it lives and what domain it uses is between you and your host.
How do I migrate away from Stelae?
Download your static site archive and your WordPress backup from the dashboard. Cancel your subscription. Your published static site keeps running on your hosting provider. It has no dependency on us. If you want to continue editing in WordPress, import the backup into any standard WordPress installation.
Is there an uptime SLA?
No. Your published static site’s uptime depends on your hosting provider, not Stelae. The WordPress editor needs Stelae’s server, but it sleeps most of the time and only runs when you’re editing. Platform updates are rare, take seconds, and only affect users actively editing at that moment.
Where is my data?
Everything runs in Germany. Hosting, payments (Mollie, NL), email (Scaleway, FR). All EU companies. No data leaves the European Economic Area. Your WordPress content lives in an isolated container. Your static site lives on whichever host you choose.
Can I use Stelae from outside the EU?
Absolutely. Anyone can sign up, regardless of location. Payments work with all major international cards via Mollie. The WordPress editor runs on EU infrastructure, so you may notice slightly higher latency while editing compared to a local install, but it’s just an editor, not a production site. Your exported static files deploy wherever you choose, with no EU constraint on the output. The EU positioning is about where Stelae’s infrastructure runs, not about who can use it.