Netlify
Also known as: Netlify CDN, Netlify Functions, JAMstack hosting
Netlify is a cloud platform for deploying websites and web apps.
Connect a Git repository and Netlify builds and deploys your site on every push, serving it from a global CDN. It popularized the JAMstack architecture and Git-based deployment workflows, and competes directly with Vercel for frontend hosting.
Netlify, explained at three levels
At home
Netlify turns your code repository into a live website automatically. You connect GitHub, Netlify watches for changes, builds your site when you push, and deploys it globally. You can host a website for free without touching a server.
At work
Marketing and development teams use Netlify to deploy content sites, landing pages, and web apps. Developers push code; Netlify handles building, deploying, and distributing globally. Non-technical team members can trigger rebuilds or manage form submissions through Netlify's dashboard.
At home
Netlify features: continuous deployment from Git, deploy previews per branch, split testing between deploy versions, Netlify Forms (collect form submissions without a backend), Identity (authentication), and Netlify Functions (serverless AWS Lambda under the hood). Works with any static site generator (Hugo, Gatsby, Eleventy, Jekyll) or framework.
At work
Teams use Netlify's build plugins to customize the CI/CD pipeline -- adding Lighthouse performance checks, image optimization, or cache warming. Edge Functions (based on Deno) run middleware at the edge for personalization, A/B testing, and authentication redirects. Environment variables are scoped per context (production, deploy preview, branch deploy).
At home
Netlify's CDN uses atomic deploys -- the entire site switches from old to new in one operation, eliminating the window where some assets are old and some are new. Deploy locks prevent a new deploy from going live until you explicitly allow it, useful for coordinating with a marketing launch.
At work
Netlify's Edge Functions run on a global Deno runtime, enabling streaming responses and personalization at sub-millisecond latency. At enterprise scale, Netlify offers SOC 2 compliance, SSO, private CDN, and on-premises runners for builds. The platform's API lets teams automate deploys, manage sites, and query analytics programmatically.
Real-world examples
At home
Jerome deployed his Hugo blog to Netlify from GitHub. Now when he writes a new post and pushes it, Netlify rebuilds and deploys the site in about 30 seconds. He uses Netlify Forms to collect contact form submissions without writing any backend code.
At work
Marcus's marketing team uses Netlify for their company website. Developers deploy code changes, and the marketing team uses Netlify's deploy locks to time launches with campaigns. A/B testing between landing page variants is configured directly in the Netlify dashboard.
Common confusions
- Netlify and Vercel are the same product — They're close competitors with similar features, but Netlify focuses more on marketing and content sites with form handling and identity built in. Vercel optimizes for Next.js and edge rendering performance. Both are strong choices.
- Netlify only hosts static sites — Netlify supports dynamic server-side rendering via serverless functions and Edge Functions. It's no longer limited to static HTML -- you can build full-stack apps on Netlify.
For analysts
Netlify's Forms feature captures web form submissions without a backend -- useful for internal landing pages or survey forms. Submissions appear in the Netlify dashboard and can be forwarded to email or webhook.
History & origin
Netlify was founded in 2014 by Mathias Biilmann and Christian Bach. It pioneered the concept of deploying directly from Git and coined the term 'JAMstack' (JavaScript, APIs, and Markup) to describe the architecture. Netlify popularized deploy previews, split testing, form handling, and serverless functions as first-class features in a hosting platform. It raised significant venture capital and maintains a generous free tier that made it the default choice for static site hosting among developers.