pagecrypt

password protect an html page without needing server access.

beginner tools html
no server, no login system, no backend needed, just a password and a file.

what is it

pagecrypt is a free tool that locks a single html file behind a password. you upload a page, choose a password, and it hands you back a new, encrypted version of that same page. anyone who opens the encrypted file gets a password prompt instead of the actual content, and only typing the correct password reveals the page underneath.

the encryption and password check both happen entirely in the visitor's browser using javascript, there's no server involved at any point, not even pagecrypt's own server. that also means the tool works on literally any host, including neocities, since you're not relying on any special server feature to check the password, the password check is baked directly into the html file itself.

what it's for

a few common uses:

  • sharing a page only with a specific group of people (patrons, close friends, a private commission preview) without building a whole login system.
  • hosting something semi-private on a free static host like neocities, which has no built in way to require a password for a page.
  • gating a page temporarily, like an early access page or a draft you want feedback on before it goes public.
note: this only encrypts the html file itself. any css, javascript, images, or fonts the page links to (not inlined into the html) stay as regular, unprotected files. someone without the password can't read the page's html or see what those linked files were even called, but if they somehow already knew the direct url of a linked image, that specific file wouldn't be protected on its own.

how to use it

  1. go to pagecrypt.lupine.dev.
  2. step 1, choose html file: upload the .html file you want to protect.
  3. step 2, choose password: type your password, then type it again to confirm.
  4. step 3, protect: click submit. the tool encrypts the file right there in your browser and automatically downloads the protected version.
  5. upload that downloaded file to your site (replacing the original, or under whatever filename you like) and you're done. visitors will see a password prompt instead of the page content.
important: protected pages only work when opened over https, or when opened directly from a file on your own computer. neocities already serves everything over https by default, so this isn't something you need to configure, just something to keep in mind if you're testing the file locally through a plain http server first.

things to keep in mind

  • there's no password recovery. if you forget the password, the only way back in is re-running the original, unprotected file through pagecrypt again with a new password, so keep a safe copy of the original file somewhere.
  • the password never leaves your browser, pagecrypt's own creator points out you can check this yourself by looking at the tool's source code, which is public on github.
  • this protects a single page, not folders or whole sites. to protect several pages, run each one through the tool separately.
  • it's meant for casual gating, not for protecting anything highly sensitive, someone with technical knowledge could still attempt to brute force a weak password against the encrypted file, so pick something that isn't easy to guess.
next step: once you've got a protected page uploaded, try opening it in a private/incognito window to make sure the password prompt shows up correctly before sharing the link with anyone.