Tool Friday #3 — Netlify: I Host 8 Websites for $9 a Month
I host 8 websites. I pay $9 a month.
A React app with maps and a live database. A client’s year-end wrap site. A fashion-tech product site. An onboarding flow. A portfolio. A visual demo page. Two business sites with custom domains. All on Netlify.
I used to pay SiteGround. I killed it. Here’s what changed.
TL;DR: Netlify is a static hosting and deployment platform that turns a GitHub push into a live website — automatically. The free tier handles most solo projects. I upgraded to Personal ($9/mo) when I hit 8 sites and needed more build credits. If you’re building anything that isn’t WordPress or a heavy backend, there’s no reason to overpay for hosting in 2026.
What does Netlify actually do?
Netlify is a static hosting and deployment platform that turns a GitHub push into a live website — automatically, with SSL, CDN, and preview environments included.
Netlify is not a server host. It doesn’t give you a VPS to SSH into. It’s a deployment pipeline — you connect your GitHub repo, tell it how to build your project, and it handles everything else: builds, CDN distribution, SSL, custom domains, preview environments for every pull request.
The model is: code lives in Git, Netlify runs the build, the result goes on their CDN. You never touch a server.
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Auto-deploy | Every push to main triggers a fresh build |
| Branch previews | Every PR gets its own live preview URL |
| Instant rollback | One click to revert to any previous deploy |
| SSL automatic | HTTPS on every site, zero config |
| Forms | Static form submissions without a backend |
| MCP server | Manage sites, check deploys, run commands from your terminal |
How many sites can you host on Netlify?
You can host unlimited sites on Netlify’s free plan. I run 8 production sites — including a React app with a database — for $9/month total on the Personal plan.
Eight sites. $9/month total. Here’s the breakdown:
| Site | Type | Stack |
|---|---|---|
| stratega.co | Business site | Astro + Tailwind |
| trendjourney.ai | Product site | Static + Netlify Forms |
| sample.trendjourney.ai | Client sample | Static report |
| brief.stratega.co | Onboarding flow | React |
| offthepath.net | Side project | React + Supabase + Mapbox |
| Portfolio | Personal | Interactive CV + mindmap |
| Duomo Wrapped | Client deliverable | Static HTML |
| Tool Friday Visual | Demo page | Single HTML |
Off The Path is the interesting one. It’s a React app with real-time data from Supabase and interactive maps via Mapbox. That’s not a simple brochure site — it has a database, auth logic, and dynamic content. Netlify handles the frontend with no issues. The backend lives on Supabase (also free tier).
TrendJourney is a product site with Netlify Forms handling contact submissions — no backend needed. I had forms working in production without writing a single line of server code.
Duomo Wrapped was a client deliverable — a year-end report built as a web experience. I had it live in an afternoon. Client sent me their content, I built it, pushed to GitHub, done. Could have hosted it on SiteGround. Would have taken twice as long and cost more.
How does Netlify deployment work?
This is what most people don’t realize: the deployment step disappears.
Push code to GitHub → Netlify builds automatically → Live in 2 minutesNo FTP. No cPanel. No manual uploads. No “drag files to a server” ritual. You push code — the same way you’d push to any Git repo — and Netlify picks it up, builds it, and deploys it.
When I built stratega.co, I went from zero to live in 48 hours. Netlify was never the bottleneck. I pushed, it deployed, I pushed again. The iteration loop is fast enough to not think about it.
For the client site: I committed changes, pushed, the client had an updated URL in 2 minutes. No calls about “when will it be live.” It just was.
What surprised me
Two things I didn’t expect.
One-click rollback. I broke stratega.co once with a bad deploy. One click in the Netlify dashboard restored the previous version instantly. No backup restoration, no Git reverting and re-pushing. It just works. Every deploy is a snapshot. This alone would justify switching from shared hosting.
The MCP server. This one genuinely changed how I work. Netlify has an official MCP server — which means I can manage my sites from the terminal, inside Claude Code, without ever opening a browser tab.
Managing a deployment from the terminal changes the mental model. Your hosting becomes part of the workflow, not a separate dashboard you have to visit.
I check deploy status, trigger builds, inspect logs — all from the terminal while I’m already working in Claude Code. No context switch. The dashboard exists, but I rarely open it.
What are Netlify’s limitations?
Be honest about the limits or people waste time hitting them.
Heavy backend work. Netlify is for static sites and serverless functions. If you need a persistent server — a WebSocket connection, a long-running process, a database that isn’t external — you need something else. I tried Netlify Functions for TrendJourney’s auto-reply system. The esbuild configuration hit an internal error that’s a known open issue. I moved that specific function to Pabbly Connect instead. Functions work for simple use cases; for anything complex, use a dedicated backend service.
WordPress. Not the right tool. WordPress needs PHP, a database on the same server, file upload access. Netlify doesn’t do any of that. WP Migrate to something like Kinsta or WP Engine.
Shared hosting migrations. If you’re moving an existing site that depends on server-side rendering, you’ll need to refactor it first. Netlify isn’t a drop-in replacement for Apache or Nginx hosting.
How much does Netlify cost in 2026?
Netlify offers a free plan with 300 build credits/month (unlimited sites), a Personal plan at $9/month with 1,000 credits, and Pro at $20/member/month with 3,000 credits.
Netlify moved to a credit-based system. Credits cover everything: deploys, bandwidth, compute, form submissions.
| Plan | Cost | Credits/mo | Key additions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 300 | 1 concurrent build, unlimited sites, SSL, custom domains |
| Personal | $9/mo | 1,000 | Smart secret detection, priority email support |
| Pro | $20/member/mo | 3,000 | 3+ concurrent builds, shared env variables, analytics |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | 99.99% SLA, SSO, dedicated support |
How credits burn: each production deploy costs 15 credits, bandwidth is 10 credits per GB, form submissions cost 1 credit each.
I started on Free. With 8 sites and regular deploys across stratega.co and trendjourney.ai, I upgraded to Personal for $9/month. The 1,000 credits give me enough headroom to push without watching the counter every time. For a solo builder with 1-3 sites, Free is plenty.
Alternatives
| Platform | Best for | Free tier | How it compares |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vercel | Next.js / React apps | Generous | Tighter framework integration, but more opinionated. If you’re all-in on Next.js, Vercel is built for it. |
| Cloudflare Pages | Speed-first static sites | Very generous | Fastest global CDN, unlimited bandwidth on free. Less polished DX than Netlify. |
| GitHub Pages | Simple static sites | Free forever | Zero config for docs or personal sites. No build pipeline, no forms, no functions. |
My take: if you’re building with Next.js, try Vercel first. If you want the fastest CDN and don’t need forms or functions, Cloudflare Pages is hard to beat. For everything else — especially if you want the smoothest DX and don’t want to think about hosting — Netlify wins.
The verdict
I host 8 sites for $9/month. The deployment step doesn’t exist in my workflow anymore.
For anything that isn’t WordPress or a heavy backend application, Netlify is the answer. Free to start, cheap to scale, with the workflow integration that makes deployment feel like nothing.
The MCP server is the thing I didn’t see coming. It’s not the reason to use Netlify — the core product is already good enough. But being able to manage my hosting from the terminal, as part of my existing development workflow, is genuinely better than any dashboard I’ve used.
Score: 9.2/10
The 0.8 points off: Netlify Functions has rough edges (the esbuild issue is real and open), and the credit system means you need to monitor usage if you’re pushing frequently across multiple sites. Neither is a dealbreaker. For static sites and frontend-heavy projects, it’s the best option available.
Tool Friday is a weekly series where I review one tool I actually use in my workflow. Just tools that made my work better.