What is Netlify: hosting and automatic frontend deployment in simple terms

What is Netlify

Netlify is a cloud platform for hosting websites and automatic frontend deployment. You connect a Git repository, and Netlify builds the site on each change, publishes it to its CDN, and creates a preview for each branch.

The company was founded in 2014 by Danish entrepreneur Mathias Biilmann. Netlify was one of the first to promote the JAMstack approach: the site is prebuilt into static files, while dynamic capabilities are provided via APIs and serverless functions.

How to get started

1. Sign up via GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket.
2. Import the repository. For most frameworks and generators Netlify auto-detects the build command and the publish directory.
3. Deploy. The site gets an address like name.netlify.app.
4. Domain. A custom domain is added in settings, and a Let’s Encrypt certificate is issued automatically.

Build settings can be stored in the repository in a netlify.toml file. For a Hugo site, the minimal example looks like this:

[build]
  command = "hugo --minify"
  publish = "public"

Features

• Atomic deploys and rollbacks. Each version is published as a whole; you can roll back to any previous version in one action.
• Deploy previews for branches and pull/merge requests. They do not consume credits.
• Functions. Server-side code for APIs, webhooks, and event handling without your own server.
• Forms. Netlify accepts HTML form submissions without a backend: just add the attribute data-netlify="true" to the form.
• User registration (Netlify Identity). In 2025 Netlify announced the discontinuation of the service, but on February 19, 2026 it reversed that decision. The related Git Gateway remains deprecated; it was used by CMSs to edit content in the repository.

Pricing

Since September 4, 2025 all new accounts operate on a credits model; existing accounts may stay on the old plans. Data as of September 2026:

Credits are consumed as follows: a production deploy — 15 credits, 1 GB of traffic — 10, 10,000 requests — 3, 1 GB-hour of function runtime — 5, one form submission — 1.

Example for the Free plan: 10 production deploys (150 credits), 10 GB of traffic (100) and 160,000 requests (48) — that’s already 298 credits out of 300.

Restrictions for Russia

• Payments. Paid plans are paid by card, and cards from Russian banks (Visa and Mastercard) have not worked abroad since March 2022.
• Personal data. From July 1, 2025 personal data of Russian citizens must first be stored in databases located on Russian territory when collected. Accepting submissions with names and phone numbers via Netlify Forms does not meet this requirement.

Netlify vs Vercel

Both platforms follow the same pattern: deploy from Git, deploy previews, CDN, functions. Differences are in emphasis.

• Framework. Vercel develops Next.js, and new features of that framework appear there first. Netlify is more convenient for static site generators and sites without server-side rendering.
• Pricing model. Vercel Pro costs $20 per developer, Netlify Pro — $20 for the whole team, and expenses are counted in credits.
• Built-in services. Netlify has form handling and user registration; Vercel has image optimization and analytics.
• Commercial use on the free plan. Vercel’s free tier explicitly prohibits commercial projects. Netlify limits usage via credits.

When Netlify is suitable

• Static sites, documentation, blogs and landing pages built with generators like Hugo, Astro, or Eleventy.
• Single-page applications that fetch data via APIs.
• Teams that value deploy previews and one-click rollbacks.

When it is not suitable: sites requiring server-side logic, a database, background jobs, or projects where personal data must be stored in Russia.

Common mistakes

• Frequent production deploys on the Free plan. Each costs 15 credits; it’s better to group small changes and test on preview deploys.
• Large files in the repository. Videos and archives quickly consume bandwidth; it’s better to store them in separate storage.
• Forms with personal data on a foreign service.
• The Git Gateway setting. The service is deprecated; to edit content it’s better to connect the CMS directly to the Git provider.