What happens when my Netlify credits run out, and does every deploy cost credits?
Quick answer
Every project on the account pauses: Netlify's billing FAQ, updated October 7, 2026, says “all of your web projects (sites/apps) are paused” once the credits are used up, until the next billing cycle or an upgrade. Not every deploy costs credits: a production deploy costs 15, previews and rollbacks 0.
Free plan: no credit card, 1 published page, 50 form entries a month.
On this page
When your Netlify credits run out, Netlify's billing FAQ, updated October 7, 2026, says “all of your web projects (sites/apps) are paused and visitors to your web projects will find a Site not available page at each of your web project’s URLs.” That covers every project on the account, not only the one that used the credits. They come back at the start of the next billing cycle, or as soon as you upgrade.
Not every deploy costs credits. A production deploy costs 15. Deploy Previews, branch deploys, failed deploys, and rollbacks cost nothing.
Netlify's pricing page and docs were read on October 23, 2026. The docs carry their own dates: How credits work, updated August 12, 2026; Credit-based pricing plans, September 1, 2026; Resume paused projects, September 3, 2026; the billing FAQ, October 7, 2026; and Production deploy, October 8, 2026. Prices are in US dollars. For what Netlify's Free plan includes overall, see Is Netlify free?; this page covers the deploys, the pause, and the reset.
Which deploys cost credits
Netlify's How credits work says “each successful production deploy consumes 15 credits during that month's billing cycle.” A production deploy is the one that goes live at your main address. The table applies that rule to each way of deploying.
| Deploy | What Netlify's docs say | Costs credits? |
|---|---|---|
| Git push to your production branch | “Production deploys are automatically created when you push changes to your production branch” (Production deploy) | Yes, 15 |
| Netlify Drop to a claimed project, or dragging an updated folder under Production deploys | “You can publish to production using Netlify Drop” (Production deploy) | Yes, 15 |
netlify deploy --prod from the CLI | You can “deploy directly to your production site from the command line with netlify deploy --prod” (Create deploys) | Yes, 15 |
| Deploy Preview of a pull request | Deploy Previews or branch deploys: “0 credits” (How credits work) | No |
| Branch deploy | Same row: “0 credits” | No |
| Failed deploy | “Failed deploys and rolling back a production deploy to a previous production deploy does not consume credits” | No |
| Rollback to an earlier production deploy | Same sentence: it “does not consume credits” | No |
| New production deploy while auto publishing is locked | “If you have locked your project to an older production deploy, only published production deploys will still cost 15 credits” (Credit-based pricing plans) | Not until you publish it |
netlify deploy without --prod, a draft deploy | The CLI docs call it a deploy to “a unique draft URL for previewing and testing” (Get started with the CLI). The credit docs don't name draft deploys | Netlify doesn't say |
| A form submission | “Netlify’s web forms service is free and unlimited for all credit-based plans” | No |
Deploys aren't the only meter. Bandwidth costs 20 credits per GB, web requests 2 per 10,000, and compute for functions 10 per GB-hour. Build minutes are no longer counted. All of it comes out of one balance: 300 credits a month on Free, “Hard limit.”
A month on Netlify Free, worked from its rates
Netlify's billing FAQ says the projects on your team, up to 500, share one allotment: “all your projects share the same monthly credit allotment.” Here is one month for an account with 2 small sites, using only the rates in Netlify's docs.
| What happens during the month | Netlify's rate | Credits used | Left of 300 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 production deploys across both sites | 15 each | 120 | 180 |
| 12 Deploy Previews of pull requests | 0 | 0 | 180 |
| 1 rollback after a broken deploy | 0 | 0 | 180 |
| 4 GB of bandwidth | 20 per GB | 80 | 100 |
| 250,000 web requests | 2 per 10,000 | 50 | 50 |
| A post links one site: 2 GB and 50,000 more requests | 20 per GB, 2 per 10,000 | 50 | 0, and both sites pause |
Netlify's emails come along the way. Its billing FAQ says you hear at “50%, 75%, 90%, and 100%” of the allotment, here at 150, 225, 270, and 300 credits used. The pricing page and the Monitor usage doc list only 50%, 75%, and 100%.
Two numbers to keep in mind:
- 20 production deploys use the whole month if nothing else does: 20 × 15 = 300. Previews and rollbacks don't count toward them.
- 15 GB of bandwidth uses the whole month if nothing else does: 300 ÷ 20 = 15.
What happens when the balance reaches zero
- Every project goes offline, not only the busy one. The billing FAQ says “if one site/web project exceeds its limits, all sites/projects on your account will be paused.” Visitors see a
Site not availablepage at each project's URLs. - Forms and deploys stop. Paused projects “will not receive new web requests, web traffic, or form submissions and you cannot trigger new production deploys.” The Resume paused projects doc adds that “all deploys will pause, including Deploy Previews and branch deploys.”
- Free can't buy its way out. The same doc says “The free plan does not allow you to purchase more credits.” Free has no auto recharge.
When credits reset, and how to get the sites back
- Wait for the reset. “Monthly plan credits are included with your plan each billing cycle. The balance resets at the start of each cycle.” The cycle isn't the calendar month: “The start of your monthly billing cycle is customized for when you open and start your Netlify team account.” Netlify doesn't name the day of the month; read that way, a team opened on March 12 resets around the 12th. Then “your web projects will automatically resume and start accepting form submissions, web requests, and more.”
- Upgrade to come back now. Netlify's pricing page says “You can re-enable your sites at any time by upgrading your plan. Your projects will automatically resume normal operation after upgrading.” Personal costs $9 a month with 1,000 credits. Pro starts at $20 a month with 3,000.
- On Personal or Pro, buy credits. A credit pack adds 500 credits for $5 on Personal, or 1,500 for $10 on Pro, and pack credits don't expire. Auto recharge buys the same amounts whenever the balance runs out. It's off by default.
Unused monthly credits don't roll over on Free or Personal. On Pro with 5,000 or more monthly credits, they roll over for 1 billing cycle.
Accounts opened before September 4, 2025 are on Netlify's Legacy plans unless they switched. Legacy Free has no credits: it stops at 100 GB of bandwidth or 300 build minutes a month, both hard limits (Legacy pricing plans, updated January 10, 2026). Its way back is the same: wait for the next cycle, or move to a credit-based plan, which Netlify says you can't undo.
How to keep a Netlify site from pausing
- Test on previews, publish less often. Deploy Previews and branch deploys cost 0, so a change can be checked there and sent to production once.
- Lock auto publishing while you work. With the project locked, Netlify still builds new deploys but charges 15 only for the ones you publish (Manage deploys).
- Roll back instead of redeploying. Going back to an earlier production deploy costs nothing.
- Watch the balance. Usage & billing → Credit balance in your team dashboard shows what is left.
- On Personal or Pro, turn on auto recharge if a pause would cost you more than $5 or $10 of credits.
Other free hosts at their limit
| Host and plan | What's metered | At the limit | When it comes back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netlify Free | 300 credits a month, shared by deploys, bandwidth, requests, and functions | Every project on the account shows “Site not available” | At the next billing cycle, or on upgrade |
| Vercel Hobby | Included usage, such as the first 100 GB of Fast Data Transfer and 100 deployments a day; non-commercial use only | “In most cases, if you exceed your usage limits on the Hobby plan, you will have to wait until 30 days have passed before you can use the feature again” | After 30 days |
| GitHub Pages | Soft limits: 100 GB of bandwidth a month and 10 builds an hour | GitHub “may not be able to serve your site,” or GitHub Support emails you | GitHub doesn't say |
| Cloudflare Pages Free | 500 builds a month. “Requests to static assets are free and unlimited” | The static files keep serving; the limits page doesn't say what a 501st build does | Cloudflare doesn't say |
| Convika Free | 10,000 pageviews a month. Publishing has no meter: up to 30 publishes a day | Editing and analytics pause, and 7 days later the pages stop until the month ends or you upgrade | At the start of the next month, or on upgrade |
The same page on Convika
Convika hosts landing pages, one HTML page each, and keeps what happens on them. It has no credit balance, so publishing a new version never draws one down. For one HTML page made with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, that changes 5 things.
- Publishing has no meter. Free allows 30 publishes a day. Ask your AI for 10 rounds of changes and publish each one; nothing counts down.
- Pageviews are counted instead. Free includes 10,000 pageviews a month. Once your pages reach that in a month, editing and analytics pause, and 7 days later the pages stop until the month ends or you upgrade; Convika emails you at 80% first.
- The form keeps the entries. Click Add a form to my page, and Convika adds a form that stores each entry, emails it to you, and exports to CSV.
- 90 days of visitor stats. You get visits, referrers, UTM campaigns, devices, countries, and button clicks.
- Commercial use is allowed on every plan. Free is included under section 7 of the terms, including a client's page you build, host, and bill for.
Free includes 1 published page and 1 custom subdomain, such as www.yourbrand.com, with a small “Convika: share your HTML as a link, free” badge. Pro removes the badge and the monthly cap on form entries, and costs $12 a month.
Where Netlify fits better: a framework app, functions, or a site with several routes. Convika hosts one HTML page per site.
Drop the .html file below, up to 2 MB, or paste its code to see your page on Convika before signing up. You get a private preview link that works for 3 minutes, with the page's scripts and forms off until you keep it with a free account.
Frequently asked questions
Does my Netlify site go down when the credits run out?
Yes. Once the monthly credits are used up, Netlify pauses every web project on the account, and visitors see a “Site not available” page at each project's URLs. Paused projects take no web requests or form submissions, and you can't publish new production deploys until they resume.
Does every deploy on Netlify use credits?
No. Only a successful production deploy costs credits, 15 each. Deploy Previews, branch deploys, failed deploys, and rollbacks to an earlier production deploy cost 0. With auto publishing locked, only the production deploys you publish cost 15.
Does Netlify Drop use credits?
Yes. Netlify's production deploy doc, updated October 8, 2026, says “You can publish to production using Netlify Drop,” and each production deploy costs 15 credits. Dragging an updated folder under Production deploys publishes a new production version, so each update costs 15 too.
Do Netlify credits reset every month?
Yes, at the start of each billing cycle. Netlify says the cycle is set by when you opened your Netlify team, so it isn't the 1st of the month for most accounts; it doesn't name the day. Unused monthly credits don't roll over on Free or Personal; on Pro with 5,000 or more monthly credits, they roll over for 1 billing cycle.
Can I buy more credits on Netlify's free plan?
No. Netlify's docs say “The free plan does not allow you to purchase more credits,” and Free has no auto recharge. On Free, you wait for the next billing cycle or upgrade. Personal can buy 500 credits for $5, and Pro 1,500 for $10.
Will my paused Netlify site come back on its own?
Yes. Netlify's docs say that at the start of your next billing cycle, “your web projects will automatically resume and start accepting form submissions, web requests, and more.” Nothing needs to be redeployed.
Does upgrading bring a paused Netlify site back right away?
Yes. Netlify's pricing page says “Your projects will automatically resume normal operation after upgrading.” Personal costs $9 a month with 1,000 credits, and Pro starts at $20 a month with 3,000.
Does Netlify warn me before the credits run out?
Yes. Netlify emails you and shows an in-app notice at 50%, 75%, and 100% of the monthly credits; its billing FAQ adds a notice at 90%. On Free's 300 credits, that is at 150, 225, 270, and 300 credits used.
Do Netlify Forms still take submissions when the credits run out?
No. A paused project receives no form submissions until it resumes. While the project is live, form submissions are free and unlimited on every credit-based plan.
Is there a free host where publishing a new version costs nothing?
Yes. Convika's Free plan has no credit meter: it allows 30 publishes a day and includes 10,000 pageviews a month, 1 published page, 50 form entries a month, 90 days of visitor stats, and 1 custom subdomain. Cloudflare Pages also serves static files with free, unlimited requests, within 500 builds a month.
Sources
- Netlify: How credits work, updated August 12, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
- Netlify: Credit-based pricing plans, updated September 1, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
- Netlify: Billing FAQ for credit-based plans, updated October 7, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
- Netlify: Resume paused projects, updated September 3, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
- Netlify: Production deploy, updated October 8, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
- Netlify: Manage deploys, updated September 30, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
- Netlify: Create deploys, updated October 21, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
- Netlify: Get started with the CLI, updated October 3, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
- Netlify: Monitor usage for credit-based plans, updated September 30, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
- Netlify: Buy credit packs, updated July 14, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
- Netlify: Legacy pricing plans, updated January 10, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
- Netlify pricing, no date on the page (checked October 23, 2026)
- Vercel: Hobby plan, updated September 14, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
- GitHub Pages limits, no date on the page (checked October 23, 2026)
- Cloudflare Pages limits, updated September 5, 2026, and static assets billing, updated April 23, 2026 (checked October 23, 2026)
Next step
How to share an HTML file as a link that opens on any phone
Email and Google Drive open HTML files on a phone without scripts. Compare 5 hosts (Netlify Drop, Tiiny Host, GitHub Pages, Convika) and follow 4 steps.
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