Glossary · Hosting & DevOps
Netlify
Overview
What Netlify is
Netlify is a developer platform for the Jamstack approach, where a site is pre-built into static files and enhanced with APIs and serverless functions. You link a Git repository; Netlify builds the project on every commit and publishes it to a global content delivery network. Each branch and pull request gets its own preview URL for review.
Key features
Beyond hosting, Netlify bundles serverless functions, edge functions, form submissions without a back end, identity and authentication, split testing, and instant rollbacks to any prior deploy. It supports frameworks like Astro, Next.js, Hugo, and Eleventy. Because static assets are served from the CDN, sites load quickly worldwide with little server maintenance.
How we use it
Netlify is a practical fit for marketing sites, documentation, and content-driven builds that value speed and simple workflows. In frontend development and website redesign projects, our team uses Netlify's deploy previews so stakeholders can approve changes on a live link before launch. For complex back ends or large applications, we weigh it against Vercel, Cloudflare, or a full cloud.
Where we use it
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How our team puts Netlify to work in real projects.
FAQ
Netlify — common questions
Is Netlify free?
Netlify offers a free Starter plan suitable for personal projects and small sites, including build minutes, bandwidth, and serverless function invocations up to monthly limits. Paid plans add more capacity, team features, and support.
Netlify vs Vercel?
Both provide Git-based deployment, global CDNs, and serverless functions. Netlify is framework-agnostic with strong forms and add-on features, while Vercel is built around Next.js and edge performance. The better choice depends on your framework and feature needs.
What is Jamstack?
Jamstack is an architecture where pages are pre-rendered into static files and served from a CDN, with dynamic features added through JavaScript, APIs, and serverless functions. Netlify popularized the term and is built to host this pattern.
Need Netlify done right?
Book a free consultation and we’ll map the fastest, most cost-effective path for your project.
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