Netlify

Netlify vs Vercel — which one should you pick?

Both are top-tier deployment platforms, but they have different focuses:

• Vercel: Most optimized for Next.js, built by the same team
• Netlify: More framework-agnostic, with extra features like Forms and Identity

If you're using Next.js and don't mind vendor lock-in → Vercel. If you're on Remix, Gatsby, Hugo, or need built-in form handling → Netlify.

Deploying Next.js to Netlify

💻bash
# Install the Netlify adapter for Next.js
npm install @netlify/plugin-nextjs

💻toml
# netlify.toml
[build]
  command = "npm run build"
  publish = ".next"

[[plugins]]
  package = "@netlify/plugin-nextjs"

Or even simpler: connect your GitHub repo via the Netlify dashboard and it auto-detects Next.js.

Netlify Forms — killer feature

Handle form submissions without any server:

💻html
<!-- HTML form with the netlify attribute -->
<form name="contact" method="POST" data-netlify="true">
  <input type="hidden" name="form-name" value="contact" />
  <input type="email" name="email" placeholder="Email" />
  <textarea name="message"></textarea>
  <button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>

Netlify automatically:

• Receives submissions and stores them in the dashboard
• Sends email notifications
• Filters spam
• Fires webhooks to Zapier, Slack, etc.

Free tier limit: 100 submissions/month.

Deploy Previews

Similar to Vercel Preview Deployments — every PR gets its own URL:

PR #42 → https://deploy-preview-42--your-site.netlify.app

You can leave comments directly on the preview UI with Netlify Collaborative Deploy.

Edge Functions

📘typescript
// netlify/edge-functions/hello.ts
import type { Context } from "netlify:edge";

export default async function handler(req: Request, context: Context) {
  const country = context.geo?.country?.name ?? "Unknown";
  return new Response(`Hello from ${country}!`);
}

export const config = { path: "/hello" };

Edge Functions run at CDN nodes worldwide, not on centralized servers.

Conclusion

Netlify is the right choice if you need built-in form handling, simple authentication, or you're working with a framework other than Next.js. The free plan is quite generous for personal projects.