TL;DR:

If you're deploying a static site (Astro, Eleventy, Hugo, Next.js) in 2026:

  1. Vercel — Best developer experience. Fastest setup, best preview deployments, great CI integration. Can get expensive at scale.
  2. Cloudflare Pages — Fastest global delivery, generous free tier, cheapest at scale. DX is good but not as polished as Vercel.
  3. Netlify — Solid middle ground. Reliable, good DX, decent free tier. Not the fastest, not the cheapest at scale.
  4. Railway — Great for full-stack apps with a database. Overkill for pure static sites.

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How We Tested

We deployed the same Astro 6 site (with React islands, view transitions, and a few API routes) to all four platforms. We measured:

  • Time to first deployment — setup + first push to live
  • Preview deployments — how they work per PR/branch
  • Build speed — from push to live
  • Global performance — Lighthouse on 4 continents (US, EU, Asia, Australia)
  • Pricing — free tier limits, overage costs, bandwidth/compute pricing
  • DX — CLI, GitHub integration, environment variables, rollbacks

We did not test enterprise features or team permissions at scale.

The Comparison Table

Host Free Tier Global Edge Preview Deployments Setup Time DX Score Best For
Vercel 100GB bandwidth/mo, unlimited sites Yes (Edge) Yes, per-branch, per-PR 5 min 9/10 DX-first, teams, Next.js
Cloudflare Pages 500 builds/mo, unlimited sites Yes (Global) Yes, per-branch 10 min 7/10 Speed + cost at scale
Netlify 100GB bandwidth/mo, 300 build min Yes (CDN) Yes, per-branch 10 min 8/10 Reliable middle
Railway ~$5 credit, then pay-as-you-go No (regional) No (manual envs) 15 min 6/10 Full-stack + DB

Vercel — Best Developer Experience

Free tier: 100GB bandwidth/month, unlimited sites, unlimited preview deployments
Pricing at scale: Pro $20/seat/month + usage-based bandwidth/compute
Global: Edge network, yes
DX: Best in class

Vercel is the default for a reason. Setup takes about 5 minutes — connect GitHub, pick the repo, and you're live. Preview deployments per branch/PR are genuinely useful for reviewing changes before merge.

What we liked:

  • Setup is genuinely fast
  • Preview deployments per PR make review easy
  • Edge functions for dynamic bits
  • Great Next.js support (if you use it)
  • Rollbacks are one-click

What we didn't like:

  • Can get expensive at scale — bandwidth overages add up
  • Analytics/pricing dashboard can be confusing
  • Vendor lock-in — their framework-specific features (Next.js optimizations) tie you to Vercel
  • Support is tiered — free tier gets community support

Best for: Teams who value DX, projects that benefit from preview deployments, Next.js apps, or any project where the DX tradeoff is worth it.

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Cloudflare Pages — Fastest + Cheapest at Scale

Free tier: 500 builds/month, unlimited sites, generous bandwidth
Pricing at scale: Pay-as-you-go, often cheaper than Vercel/Netlify at high traffic
Global: Yes — Cloudflare's global network, one of the fastest CDNs
DX: Good, but less polished than Vercel

Cloudflare Pages deploys to Cloudflare's global edge — one of the fastest CDNs in the world. The free tier is generous, and at-scale pricing tends to beat competitors.

What we liked:

  • Global edge delivery is genuinely fast
  • Free tier is generous for individuals/small projects
  • At-scale pricing is competitive
  • Integrates with Cloudflare's broader stack (DNS, Workers, security)
  • Raw HTML/asset caching is excellent

What we didn't like:

  • Setup is not as slick as Vercel — more config
  • Preview deployments exist but feel less integrated
  • DX is "good enough" not "great"
  • If you're not using Cloudflare's DNS/CDN elsewhere, the value prop is narrower

Best for: Projects where speed and cost matter, sites that can benefit from Cloudflare's global network, or anyone already using Cloudflare for DNS/CDN.

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Netlify — The Reliable Middle

Free tier: 100GB bandwidth/month, 300 build minutes
Pricing at scale: Pro $19/seat/month + usage
Global: CDN-based, good but not edge-fastest
DX: Solid, well-established

Netlify has been around longer than most and is reliable. The DX is good — not Vercel-level polished, but more than "good enough." Form handling and serverless functions are built in.

What we liked:

  • Reliable, well-documented
  • Decent free tier
  • Forms and serverless functions built in
  • Large ecosystem of plugins
  • Good Git integration

What we didn't like:

  • Not the fastest at global delivery (CDN vs edge)
  • Build minutes on free tier can run out for active projects
  • At-scale pricing is in the middle — not cheapest, not most expensive
  • Some DX feels older than Vercel

Best for: Projects that need reliability and a mature platform, sites that benefit from built-in forms/serverless, or teams who want a well-trodden path.

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Railway — Best for Full-Stack (Not Pure Static)

Free tier: ~$5 trial credit, then pay-as-you-go
Pricing at scale: Usage-based, can be reasonable
Global: Regional (not edge)
DX: Good for full-stack, overkill for static

Railway is excellent for full-stack apps with databases, workers, and background jobs. For pure static sites, it's overkill — you're paying for infrastructure you don't need.

What we liked:

  • Incredible for full-stack apps with DBs
  • Easy to spin up databases, Redis, background workers
  • Clean UI, good DX for the full-stack case

What we didn't like:

  • Not built for static site hosting — no edge, no built-in CDN optimization for static
  • Overkill cost/complexity for a pure static site
  • No preview deployments in the static-site sense

Best for: Full-stack apps, APIs + databases + background workers. Not the right fit for a pure static marketing site or docs site.

FAQ

Q: Which is fastest for a static site?
A: Cloudflare Pages, because it deploys to Cloudflare's global edge network — one of the fastest CDNs. Vercel is close and has better DX. For a marketing site, the difference is measurable but often not noticeable to users. For something where every millisecond matters, Cloudflare's edge wins.

Q: Which has the best free tier?
A: Cloudflare Pages has the most generous free tier (500 builds/month, unlimited sites). Vercel's free tier is good (100GB bandwidth) but can hit limits on busy sites. Netlify's free tier is solid but build-minute-limited.

Q: Should I use Vercel if I'm already on Next.js?
A: Yes — Vercel's Next.js integration is the most polished. But if you're on Astro or Eleventy, Vercel is still excellent DX, and Cloudflare Pages is the speed/cost winner.

Q: Can I switch later?
A: Yes. All four support custom domains and standard static output. Switching hosts is mostly a matter of redeploying and updating DNS. Your biggest risk is framework-specific features (like Vercel's Next.js optimizations) that don't transfer.

Q: Is vendor lock-in real?
A: Partially. Framework-specific features (Vercel + Next.js, Netlify + certain plugin configs) can make it annoying to leave. Pure static output (HTML/CSS/JS) is portable across all of them. The real lock-in is workflow — preview deployments, environment config, team permissions.

Related

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. We earn commission from some links — at no extra cost to you. Our rankings are based on testing, not commissions. We only recommend tools we'd use ourselves.