Vercel vs Netlify vs Cloudflare Pages: free plans compared
Short version: Vercel Hobby is for personal, non-commercial projects only. Netlify's free plan is metered at 300 credits a month across deploys, functions and storage. Cloudflare Pages publishes fixed build limits: 500 builds a month, one at a time.
| Tool | What you get | Limits | Card required | The catch | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Pages | Site hosting with 500 builds a month, up to 20,000 files per site and 25 MiB per file. | 500 builds/month; 1 build at a time; 20,000 files per site; 25 MiB per file | Vendor doesn't say | Builds run one at a time on Free and time out after 20 minutes. | developers.cloudflare.com/pages/platform/limits checked 2026-10-24 |
| Netlify | Deploys, deploy previews, custom domains with SSL, functions, database, blob storage, CDN; 300 credits a month. | Monthly credit limit | Vendor doesn't say | 300 credit monthly limit. | netlify.com/pricing checked 2026-10-22 |
| Vercel | Hobby: deploy from Git with CI/CD, CDN, firewall, DDoS mitigation and fluid compute. | Non-commercial only | Vendor doesn't say | Hobby is for personal, non-commercial use only. | vercel.com/pricing checked 2026-10-23 |
Every row is taken from the vendor's official pricing page, checked 2026-10-22 to 2026-10-24. "Vendor doesn't say" means the official page does not mention it. Plans change, so confirm on the vendor's site.
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FAQ
Can I use Vercel's free plan for a business?
No. Vercel's pricing page says the Hobby plan is for personal, non-commercial use only (checked 2026-10-23).
What are Cloudflare Pages' free limits?
Cloudflare's limits page lists 500 builds a month, 1 build at a time, up to 20,000 files per site and 25 MiB per file on the Free plan. Builds time out after 20 minutes (checked 2026-10-24).
How does Netlify's free plan work?
It includes deploys, deploy previews, custom domains with SSL, functions, a database, blob storage and CDN, within a monthly limit of 300 credits (checked 2026-10-22).
Do they need a credit card?
None of the three pricing pages says either way.