Vercel vs Netlify vs Cloudflare Pages: Where Your Side Project Should Actually Live

For a side project, the short answer is: Cloudflare Pages if you want the cheapest ceiling and never think about bandwidth, Vercel if you're on Next.js and want the smoothest developer experience, Netlify if you want a mature all-in-one with forms and identity baked in. All three have a free tier that will host a hobby app fine. The differences that actually bite you show up later — when a post gets traffic, when your build gets slow, or when you outgrow static files and start running server code. I've deployed personal projects on all three over the last couple of years. Below is how I'd choose today, with the real trade-offs rather than the marketing version. What are you actually deploying? Before comparing platforms, be honest about your app, because it changes the answer more than any feature chart: Pure static site (docs, a marketing page, a SPA that talks to an external API): all three are excellent and free. The decision barely matters. Static frontend + a few serverless functions (a contact form handler, an auth callback, a small API): now runtime, cold starts, and function limits matter. A full framework app with server rendering (Next.js App Router, SvelteKit, Remix): now framework-specific adapters and edge/runtime compatibility matter a lot. The takeaway: pick based on your heaviest workload, not your current one — migrating hosts after you've wired up auth and functions is the annoying part. How do the free tiers really compare? This is where these platforms differ the most for hobby use. The headline distinction, as of mid-2026: Cloudflare Pages does not meter bandwidth on its free plan , while Vercel and Netlify both count usage (bandwidth, function invocations, build minutes) against free-tier limits and will ask you to upgrade — or throttle — when you cross them. Concern Vercel (Hobby) Netlify (Free) Cloudflare Pages (Free) Bandwidth Metered, capped Metered, capped Unlimited Build minutes Limited Limited Limited (per-month build count) Serverless/e