Netlify has two different free-plan models in 2026. Newer accounts use monthly credits; accounts that stayed on a plan created before September 4, 2025 may still have legacy Starter limits. Check the plan name and usage screen in your own team before applying any number in this guide.
Netlify Free on a credit-based account
As of October 2026, the Netlify pricing page lists Free at $0 with a hard limit of 300 credits per month. It includes custom domains, SSL, deploy previews, functions, and one team member. Personal is $9 per month for 1,000 credits; Pro starts at $20 per month with 3,000 credits and unlimited members.
Credits are shared across the team's projects. Netlify currently lists 15 credits per production deploy, 20 credits per GB of outbound bandwidth, 2 credits per 10,000 web requests, and 10 credits per GB-hour of compute. Preview deploys do not incur the production-deploy charge, although their traffic can still use resources.
A concrete free-plan example: eight production deploys use 120 credits, 5 GB of bandwidth uses 100, and 100,000 web requests use 20. That is 240 of 300 credits before functions or other metered services. It is an illustration, not a forecast for every site: asset weight, caching, deploy frequency, and dynamic work change the total.
What happens when you hit the cap?
Free has no auto recharge. When the team runs out of credits, its projects can pause until the next monthly allowance or an upgrade. Netlify explains the hard cap in its credit-based plan documentation. Keep an eye on the usage dashboard well before a campaign or launch; the risk is availability, not an unexpected Free-plan bill.
Personal and Pro can add credits with optional auto recharge. If a production client site needs to stay online through traffic spikes, budget for a paid plan and decide whether auto recharge is appropriate for that client.
If your account is on legacy Starter
The old Starter model is a separate billing track. Netlify's legacy pricing documentation lists 100 GB of monthly bandwidth and 300 build minutes for legacy Free/Starter. Those figures should not be presented as the allowance on a new credit-based Free account.
A long-running site may still be on that older track. Open Team settings and confirm the account's plan before comparing its usage with a newly created account. Moving plans changes the economics of builds and traffic, so model both before switching.
The limits that matter in practice
Production deploy frequency matters on credit plans. If a content management system triggers a production build for every minor edit, the 15-credit deploy charge can consume a meaningful share of Free. Batch routine content changes, use previews for review, and publish deliberately.
Bandwidth is the other obvious cost driver. Compress images, serve appropriately sized assets, and inspect real transfer in the Netlify dashboard. A site with large image galleries can spend credits faster than a higher-traffic site with lean pages.
Functions and web requests also count. A static page and an application that calls a function on every interaction have different cost profiles even when their pageviews match. Measure the actual workload instead of using monthly visitors as a universal upgrade threshold.
One older limit is especially misleading: Netlify announced unlimited free form submissions on credit-based plans in April 2026. The old 100-submission Starter cap belongs to the legacy model; check your team's plan before changing form providers.
When to stay on Free and when to upgrade
Free fits a portfolio, prototype, or light static site with infrequent production deploys. Personal buys more room and an auto recharge option for a single owner. Pro fits teams that need shared access, more concurrent builds, and a larger credit pool. For a client production site, cost the likely traffic and deployment pattern before launch.
If your project needs predictable capacity more than Netlify's workflow, compare Cloudflare Pages and Vercel on the same traffic, request, and build assumptions. A headline monthly price does not capture the bill.
FAQ
Is Netlify Free still free?
Yes. The current credit-based Free plan is $0 with a 300-credit monthly hard limit and no auto recharge. An older team can remain on a legacy plan with different limits.
Does the free plan include a custom domain?
Yes. You can connect your own domain and use SSL; you still pay your domain registrar.
Will Netlify charge me when I run out of Free credits?
The credit-based Free plan has a hard cap rather than automatic extra-credit purchases. Projects can pause until the allowance resets or you upgrade.
Are 100 GB bandwidth and 300 build minutes still the free limits?
They describe legacy Starter, not the current credit-based Free plan. Confirm which billing model your team uses.
For the full plan-by-plan comparison and examples, read Netlify Pricing Explained.