PageKite Features

Web & SSH Servers Can Run Anywhere

• Whether you use Linux, a Mac or Windows, PageKite works on your computer.
• Your computer can live under a desk, on a shelf - or be mobile like you.
• Whether you are using a DSL connection, a 3G dongle or borrowed WiFi, as long as you have a working Internet connection, PageKite will make your servers visible to the world.

Ease Of Use

With PageKite, making a new server visible to the world is reduced running a single command:

$ pagekite.py 80 yourname.pagekite.me

It really is that easy - and we're working on a graphical interface to make it even easier.

Works With Standard Tools

• PageKite works with any web server.
• PageKite works with any web browser or client.
• When tunneling SSH, both openssh and putty clients work well.

This means people do not need to install any special software in order to interact with your server - the only person who needs to know you are using PageKite, is you.

For developers, this also means PageKite is very useful when developing XML-RPC, REST services or other webhooks. You can instantly test code that interacts with with payment gateways or other remote services like Twilio or Instagram's real time API.

Flexible Naming and Encryption

Every PageKite account starts with one kite name in DNS, usually something like yourname.pagekite.me. If you pay to upgrade your account, more such names or other top level domains may become available as well.

However, even just the one name comes with infinite possibilities, as we allow you to create an unlimited number of sub-domains and we also allow you to use your own domain and create an unlimited number of CNAME records. This means that in addition to the first kite name, you can also use names like these:

• foo.yourname.pagekite.me
• bar-yourname.pagekite.me (SSL enabled!)
• kite.yourdomain.com

Finally, as long as you are using our domain names and follow some basic naming conventions (no dots, just dashes), every name comes with automatic, zero-configuration TLS (SSL) encryption.

It's secure out of the box: all you have to do is remember to use HTTPS instead of the insecure HTTP. Instant HTTPS support makes PageKite perfect for developing Facebook apps or other secure web applications.

Speed and Efficiency

It came as a surprise even to us, but websites served over PageKite have been able to outperform sites served directly by the same computer, over the same Internet connection.

It's a bit technical, but here's why:

1. The pagekite.net front-end servers are carefully located in high-speed data centers, with world class redundant connectivity. This minimizes the time required for the initial TCP/IP hand-shake that precedes every request sent to your server.

2. PageKite uses adaptive compression to reduce the network traffic between your computer and the PageKite front-end servers. This is especially effective for serving websites - most requests and responses will have many things in common (style-sheets, markup, HTTP headers, cookies, even content) which makes them very amenable to compression: PageKite can effectively boost the power of your upstream Internet connection tenfold or even more.

High Availability

The pagekite.net service has front-end capacity in multiple locations.

This not only allows us to minimize latency by offering you a front-end relay near you, it makes the system more reliable: local problems such as power outages or hardware malfunctions will only impact a small part of our network. Even if our own website goes down or a volcano erupts under Reykjavík, your kites will keep on flying.

Most importantly, PageKite itself is designed to gracefully deal with outages. The same features which allow it to rapidly reconnect as you move from your office LAN to your home WiFi, allow your PageKite to seamlessly route around problems on the Internet - automatically choosing the fastest front-end available to you.

Finally, all of the pagekite.net servers are automatically monitored 24/7 to ensure thate a technician will be alerted within minutes of any malfunction.

Security, Privacy & Digital Freedom

Designed with privacy and freedom in mind, PageKite helps you take control of your data without isolating you from the rest of the Internet or putting you at risk:

• Every single .pagekite.me domain name has SSL encryption enabled by default, protecting you and your site's visitors from eavesdropping.
• Your server's IP address remains hidden, only the PageKite front-end's IP is exposed - warding off attacks becomes our problem.
• Your server logs are your own - we do not record or analyze your traffic.
• PageKite is Open Source, Free Software.

The most important thing about PageKite and privacy, is that you don't need a Privacy Policy for your own computer. This point is so fundamental, we have dedicated an entire page to discussing it on our Open Source Wiki.