Netlify Pricing Decoded: When Free Becomes Expensive
Netlify's generous free tier has limits. Here's when those limits bite—and what to do about it.
Netlify: Free Until It Isn’t
Netlify helped democratize web deployment. Their free tier is legitimately generous. But “free” has fine print.
The Free Tier Reality
Netlify gives you:
- 100GB bandwidth/month ✓
- 300 build minutes/month ✓
- Serverless functions: 125K invocations ✓
- Forms: 100 submissions/month ⚠️
Sounds great for side projects. But businesses hit walls fast.
The Gotchas
1. Build Minutes Burn Fast
300 minutes sounds like a lot until:
- Your Next.js build takes 5 minutes
- You deploy 10 times/day
- That’s 50 minutes/day = 1,500/month
You’re now paying $25/500 extra minutes.
CI/CD pipelines can blow through build minutes. A monorepo with 20 packages? Each push could take 15+ minutes.
2. Forms Are Expensive
Netlify Forms are magical—zero backend required. But:
- Free: 100 submissions/month
- Level 1: 1,000 submissions for $19/month
- Level 2: 10,000 submissions for $99/month
A contact form on a popular landing page can exceed 100 submissions in a week.
3. Serverless Limitations
125K function invocations seems high, but:
- Every API call = 1 invocation
- Every form validation = invocations
- Background functions count too
Scale to 1,000 users and you’re looking at $25/month minimum for functions.
Pro Tier Reality Check
Netlify Pro ($19/user/month) gives you more, but:
| What You Get | What You Still Pay For |
|---|---|
| 400GB bandwidth | Overages at $20/100GB |
| Unlimited build minutes | Only for 1 concurrent build |
| Priority support | Large files cost extra |
A 5-person team on Pro = $95/month base before any usage.
The Real Cost for a Growing Startup
| Item | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|
| Pro (3 users) | $57 |
| Extra bandwidth (300GB) | $60 |
| Forms (5K submissions) | $49 |
| Functions overage | $25 |
| Large media storage | $20 |
| Total | $211/month |
When Netlify Shines
Netlify is perfect for:
- JAMstack sites with moderate traffic
- Developer portfolios and blogs
- Marketing sites without heavy backend needs
When to Look Elsewhere
Consider alternatives if you need:
- Heavy API backend functionality
- Database integrations
- Self-hosted tools like analytics or CMS
- Predictable pricing at scale
Self-Hosted Alternative
For tools that don’t fit the JAMstack mold, InfraPilot lets you deploy:
- Full backend applications
- Databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL)
- Analytics tools (Metabase, PostHog)
- CMS platforms (WordPress, Ghost)
All with predictable, usage-based pricing.
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