Providers / Netlify
Netlify
Git-push hosting for static sites and frontend apps.
www.netlify.com · Prices checked 2026-08-01
- Type
- Serverless platform
- Starting cost
- Free
- Free tier
- Yes
- Ease of use
- 5/5
Netlify pioneered git-based static hosting and now hosts full frontend apps with serverless functions. Since 2025 it bills through a credit system: requests, bandwidth, compute, and production deploys all consume a shared monthly credit pool.
Good to know
- Every production deploy costs 15 credits, so the 300-credit free tier covers only about 20 deploys a month even with zero traffic.
- The free tier has a hard stop: when credits run out, the site pauses until the next month.
- Bandwidth burns credits quickly — 1 GB costs 20 credits.
Serverless platform
Netlify
- Best for
- Static sites and frontend apps that deploy from Git and want a generous, mature workflow.
- How deploys work
- Connect the Git repo; pushes build and deploy automatically with previews for every pull request.
- The tradeoff
- The credit system makes bills hard to predict — traffic, deploys, and compute all drain one pool.
Why pick it
- The most mature git-push workflow: builds, previews, redirects, and forms all just work.
- Deploy previews and branch deploys are free — only production deploys cost credits.
- The free tier allows commercial projects, unlike Vercel’s.
- Great framework support beyond React — Astro, Hugo, Eleventy, and friends are first-class.
Why look elsewhere
- Credit billing is genuinely confusing: requests, bandwidth, compute, and deploys drain one pool.
- Production deploys cost 15 credits each, which eats the 300-credit free tier fast.
- When free-tier credits run out, the site pauses until next month — a hard stop.
- Function compute is weaker and pricier than what Cloudflare offers at the same price point.
Our ratings
What developers say
First-person reports from the past three years, drawn from public discussions and independent write-ups. These are individual experiences, not our ratings; open the original source for its workload and full context. Critical reports include a follow-up check so you can see whether the problem was fixed, partly addressed, remains current, or has no public resolution.
What people like 10 sources
A commenter recommends Netlify as a free, straightforward host for a static site.
Substack writers, you need a websiteA commenter calls static hosting on Netlify simple and powerful, with no hosting cost, attack surface, or maintenance.
Exploit brokers pay $500k for WordPress RCEsA longtime Netlify user praises its drag-and-drop deployment for making simple sites quick to publish.
Cloudflare DropA builder says Netlify preview deployments made parallel pull-request review practical and calls the workflow totally worth it.
Ask HN: Show your AI coded gamesUsers praise Netlify's real free plan and report happily hosting many projects without charge.
Netlify's Free PlanA commenter settled on Astro plus Netlify and praises automatic GitHub builds and free hosting.
Ask HN: What is the best way to author blogs in 2024?A user reports hosting an Astro blog on Netlify with a custom domain for free and push-to-deploy convenience.
Ask HN: Looking for lightweight personal blogging platformA developer says they love the ease of generating large Gatsby sites and serving them through Netlify with excellent Lighthouse scores.
Ask HN: What web frameworks do you use?A self-described happy Netlify customer reports a zero-dollar bill and says they will gladly pay when needed.
I took all my projects off the cloud, saving thousands of dollarsThe author explicitly praises Netlify's easy setup, custom domains, and seamless publishing workflow.
Netlify + Obsidian + Hugoverse = Amazing!Critical reports and follow-ups 10 sources
A customer says two tickets got no reply, email responses were rejected, and a DNS task sat unresolved for 20 days until Reddit escalation.
What is happening with Netlify's support?The author reports that an AI-assisted troubleshooting action unexpectedly changed billing status and disrupted previously stable client sites.
Netlify AI plan change took down my client sites while I was on vacationA user says the AI builder consumed an extreme number of credits for simple tasks and calls the experience broken and frustrating.
Netlify AI Builder is a Broken ScamThe author says credit exhaustion, account lockout, and unresponsive support made their own live sites inaccessible and recommends self-controlled hosting.
Don't host your projects on Netlify unless you're ready to lose access to your own siteA long-time user leaves after credit-plan changes; commenters describe the platform as becoming greedily priced and say they moved to Cloudflare.
Time for me to leave :(A static-site owner reports a six-figure bandwidth bill after an attack, provoking broad criticism of uncapped usage and Netlify's initial support response.
Netlify just sent me a $104K bill for a simple static siteA long-time low-traffic user says an unexpected credit transition blocked publishing across projects without adequate warning.
All of my projects are suddenly held hostage to the new free planThe user calls the irreversible credit migration, broken upgrade path, paused account, and weak support a product-trust crisis.
Netlify trapped me in their new credit system, can't revert, can't upgrade due to a bug, and my whole account is pausedPractitioners criticize Netlify's lack of hard spending limits, very high bandwidth markup, and customer-hostile reliance on discretionary bill forgiveness.
Netlify just sent me a $104k bill for a simple static siteThe author reports continued billing after deletion, prior lockouts, and poor support, and tells readers not to sign up.
Do not sign up with NetlifyServerless platform
Netlify
Free: 300 credits per month with a hard stop. Enough for a small personal site with few deploys.
What you'd realistically pay
| Project stage | Estimate | Based on |
|---|---|---|
| Just starting | Free | Free — Watch the credit math: deploys cost 15 credits each out of 300. |
| Steady traffic | ≈$9/mo | Personal — 1,000 credits/month; extra 500-credit packs cost $5. |
| Growing | ≈$20/mo | Pro — 3,000 credits/month; extra 1,500-credit packs cost $10. |
Published prices
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | 300 credits/month, hard limit, 1 member. |
| Personal | $9/mo | 1,000 credits/month, overage packs available. |
| Pro | $20/mo | 3,000 credits/month, unlimited team members, 3 concurrent builds. |
- Credit rates: 10,000 requests = 2 credits, 1 GB bandwidth = 20 credits, production deploy = 15 credits, 1 GB-hour of function compute = 10 credits.
- Deploy previews and branch deploys are free; only production deploys cost credits.
Deploy workflow
| Deploy from Git push Connect a repository and every push deploys automatically. | Yes Connect GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps; pushes deploy. |
|---|---|
| Preview deploys Each branch or pull request gets its own temporary URL. | Yes Deploy previews per pull request and branch deploys, free of credit cost. |
| Official CLI A maintained command-line tool for deploys and management. | Yes The netlify CLI runs local dev, deploys, and manages functions. |
| Instant rollbacks Revert to a previous deploy without rebuilding. | Yes Every deploy is kept; publish any previous one instantly. |
Platform
| Custom domains + HTTPS Bring your own domain with TLS certificates handled. | Yes Custom domains with automatic TLS on all plans, including Free. |
|---|---|
| Built-in CDN / edge network Static assets served from locations near your visitors. | Yes Global edge CDN serves all sites by default. |
| Serverless functions Run backend code without managing a server process. | Yes Netlify Functions (AWS Lambda under the hood) plus edge functions. |
| Docker containers Deploy your own container image. | No No container deploys — builds run in Netlify’s build image. |
| SSH / shell access Open a shell on the machine running your app. | No No shell access; logs are the debugging surface. |
| EU hosting region Run the app itself in a European data center. | Partial The CDN is global, but functions default to a US region; region choice needs higher tiers. |
Runtime & operations
| Automatic scaling Capacity grows with traffic without manual resizing. | Yes CDN and functions scale automatically with traffic. |
|---|---|
| Scale to zero Costs stop (or pause) when nobody is using the app. | Yes Nothing runs (or bills) while the site has no traffic — apart from credits. |
| Scheduled jobs Run code on a schedule without an external trigger. | Yes Scheduled functions run on a cron expression. |
| Managed database A database the provider runs, backs up, and updates. | Partial Netlify DB (Neon Postgres) is in early access; most projects bring an external database. |
| Logs & metrics built in See what the app is doing without wiring up third parties. | Partial Function and deploy logs included; analytics is a paid add-on. |
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