Can you use Vercel's Hobby plan for a commercial site?
Short answer
No. Vercel's fair use guidelines say “Hobby teams are restricted to non-commercial personal use only.” Commercial means a site used for anyone's financial gain: advertising a product or service, taking payment from visitors, running ads, a site built around affiliate links, or a site someone is paid to build or host. Asking for donations is fine. A commercial site needs Vercel Pro, $20 a month for 1 deploying seat with $20 of usage credit, and you can try it free for 14 days. Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, and Convika have free plans without a non-commercial rule, each with limits of its own.
Free plan: no credit card, 10 pages, 50 form entries a month.
Vercel's Hobby plan is free and meant for personal projects. A site that's meant to make money for anyone involved is outside the plan. The fair use guidelines, last updated September 14, 2026, say it in 2 sentences: “Hobby teams are restricted to non-commercial personal use only. All commercial usage of the platform requires either a Pro or Enterprise plan.” The FAQ on Vercel's pricing page puts it the same way: “Our Hobby plan is for personal, non-commercial use.”
This page covers what Vercel counts as commercial, what happens to a Hobby site that crosses the line, and where to put the site instead: Vercel Pro, or a free plan from a host without a non-commercial rule. Each vendor's docs and terms were read on October 11, 2026. Terms change, so check them before you launch.
What Vercel counts as commercial
The guidelines define commercial usage as “any Deployment that is used for the purpose of financial gain of anyone involved in any part of the production of the project, including a paid employee or consultant writing the code.” They give 5 examples and say the list isn't complete:
- “Any method of requesting or processing payment from visitors of the site”
- “Advertising the sale of a product or service”
- “Receiving payment to create, update, or host the site”
- “Affiliate linking is the primary purpose of the site”
- “The inclusion of advertisements, including but not limited to online advertising platforms like Google AdSense”
One exception is spelled out: “Asking for Donations does not fall under commercial usage.” For anything in between, Vercel's help article on paused accounts says: “When you're unsure if your project counts as commercial, contact Vercel Support before deployment.”
Here's how those rules apply to the sites people ask about most. Where the guidelines don't name a kind of site, the last column is this page's reading, and Vercel Support has the final say.
| Site on Hobby | What the guidelines say | Fine on Hobby? |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page for a product or service you sell | “Advertising the sale of a product or service” | No |
| Startup landing page or waitlist for a product you'll charge for | Not named. The definition covers any deployment “used for the purpose of financial gain” of anyone involved | Treat it as commercial |
| Online store, or a page with a checkout or payment link | “Any method of requesting or processing payment from visitors of the site” | No |
| A site you're paid to build or run for a client | “Receiving payment to create, update, or host the site,” and the definition includes “a paid employee or consultant writing the code” | No, even if the client's site sells nothing |
| Portfolio that offers your services for hire | Not named. Offering your services is close to “Advertising the sale of a product or service” | Likely commercial; ask Vercel Support |
| Portfolio that only shows your work | Not named, and none of the 5 examples fits | Not addressed; ask Vercel Support |
| Blog with Google AdSense or other ads | “The inclusion of advertisements” | No |
| Review site built around affiliate links | “Affiliate linking is the primary purpose of the site” | No |
| Personal project with a donate button | “Asking for Donations does not fall under commercial usage” | Yes |
What happens to a commercial site on Hobby
Vercel's help article on paused accounts, updated October 2, 2026, says: “One frequent trigger is commercial use on a Hobby plan.” A policy pause works like this: “When a deployment breaches the Terms of Service, the Acceptable Use Policy, or the Fair Use Guidelines, Vercel's team may pause the account or deployment directly.” A paused production site stops serving, and visitors see a 503 DEPLOYMENT_PAUSED error. Vercel emails you “with the specifics and the steps to resolve it,” and for commercial use the article's answer is a Pro or Enterprise plan.
Hobby also has usage limits, separate from this rule. The Hobby plan docs include 100 GB of data transfer and 1,000,000 CDN requests a month, and “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.”
Option 1: upgrade to Vercel Pro
Vercel's pricing FAQ says Pro “is designed for professional developers, freelancers, and businesses.” It's the least work if the site already runs on Vercel: the same project, deploys, and domain. What it costs, from the Pro plan docs, updated September 15, 2026:
- A $20 monthly platform fee. It includes 1 seat that can deploy and $20 of usage credit a month. Usage past the credit is billed on demand.
- $20 a month for each extra seat that deploys. Read-only viewer seats are free.
- A 14-day trial, once per user account. It ends after 14 days or when the team goes over the trial's usage limits, whichever comes first. Without a payment method, the team goes back to Hobby.
- A free domain for the first year on a paid Pro team, from
.app,.dev,.online,.site,.space,.store,.tech, or.website. The trial doesn't include it.
To upgrade, open Settings, then Billing, in the Vercel dashboard, and click Upgrade under Plan.
Option 2: a free plan without a non-commercial rule
If the site is a landing page or another static site, these free plans don't limit you to personal use. Each has its own catch.
| Host (free plan) | What its terms say about commercial use | What happens at the free limits | Form that stores entries | Visitor stats | Custom domain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netlify | Its Free plan announcement: “you can deploy commercial projects, personal sites, or other creative explorations” | Running out of the 300 monthly credits pauses every project on the account until next month | Yes, unlimited | Web Analytics, 1 day of data | Yes |
| Cloudflare Pages | No personal-use limit, but you may not “process or collect personal or business credit card information on any web property that is receiving Free Services” | Requests to static files are free and unlimited | No; the Static Forms plugin passes entries to code you write | Web Analytics, free | Yes, up to 100 per project |
| Convika | The terms bar illegal content, spam, malware, phishing, and reselling the service without permission, and don't limit any plan to personal use | The page stays up. Past 50 entries a month, the form refuses new ones until the next month; past 10,000 pageviews a month, stats stop and visitors see a traffic-limit notice | Yes, 50 a month, with CSV export and an email for each | Visits, referrers, UTM campaigns, devices, countries, and button clicks for 90 days | 1 subdomain, such as www |
Netlify
Netlify's Free plan is the closest match to Hobby for a developer: deploys from Git, an API, or an AI tool, unlimited deploy previews, functions, and custom domains with SSL. Its Free plan announcement from November 12, 2024 says “you can deploy commercial projects” on it. That post predates the credit-based plans, and the credit-based plan docs add no limit on the kind of use. The limit is the budget: 300 credits a month, 15 per production deploy and 20 per GB of bandwidth. Once they're used up, “all of your web projects (sites/apps) are paused” (Netlify's credit docs). Forms are “free and unlimited for all credit-based plans.” Web Analytics keeps 1 day of data on Free. Netlify's Personal plan costs $9 a month for 1,000 credits.
Cloudflare Pages
Cloudflare's Self-Serve Subscription Agreement, last updated September 12, 2025, doesn't limit free services to personal use. It does rule out one thing a commercial site might do: you may not “process or collect personal or business credit card information on any web property that is receiving Free Services.” Read that clause before you put a payment form on the page. Otherwise, static files cost nothing: “Requests to static assets are free and unlimited.” A Pages project takes up to 100 custom domains, the Free plan allows 500 builds a month, and Web Analytics is free. There's no form that stores entries; the Static Forms plugin hands each submission to code you write. Cloudflare's Pages docs now say “Start new projects with Workers.”
Convika
Convika hosts landing pages, one HTML page each, with a form that keeps entries and stats on who visited. Its terms bar illegal content, spam, malware, phishing, and reselling the service without permission, and don't limit any plan to personal use. Upload the page's HTML file, up to 2 MB, or paste its code in the dashboard; Claude, Claude Code, or Codex can also save it through Convika's MCP server. Free includes 10 pages, 10,000 pageviews a month, 50 form entries a month with CSV export and an email for each, 90 days of visit stats, and 1 custom subdomain such as www.yourbrand.com, with a small “Powered by Convika” badge. Pro costs $12 a month after a 14-day free trial and removes the badge and the form cap.
Not a fit for: a Next.js or other framework app, server code, or a site with several routes. Convika hosts a single HTML document per page. The page's scripts can only fetch data from its own address, apart from analytics tools such as Google Analytics on Pro and above. There's no checkout built in; a Buy button can link to a checkout page you set up elsewhere. Custom domains must be subdomains such as www. To see the page on Convika before you sign up, the free HTML publishing tool gives you a 7-day preview link with no account.
GitHub Pages isn't an option
GitHub Pages is free, but its usage limits say it is “not intended for or allowed to be used as a free web-hosting service to run your online business, e-commerce site, or any other website that is primarily directed at either facilitating commercial transactions or providing commercial software as a service (SaaS).”
More free hosts, including Tiiny Host, Carrd, and Google Sites, are compared in free landing page hosting with a form and Netlify Drop alternatives.
Which one to pick
- The site is a Next.js app, uses Vercel Functions, or a team deploys it: Vercel Pro at $20 a month for the first seat. Start with the 14-day trial.
- A static site you redeploy a few times a month, with a form: Netlify's Free plan. Count your deploys against the 300 monthly credits.
- A static site with heavy traffic, and you'll handle the form yourself: Cloudflare. Read the card-data clause before adding a payment form.
- A single landing page that has to collect signups and show where visitors came from: Convika's Free plan. Its form takes 50 entries a month and refuses new ones until the next month; Pro, at $12 a month, has no cap.
- A personal project that only asks for donations: stay on Vercel Hobby.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use Vercel Hobby for commercial use?
No. Vercel's fair use guidelines say “Hobby teams are restricted to non-commercial personal use only. All commercial usage of the platform requires either a Pro or Enterprise plan.” Commercial means any deployment used for the financial gain of anyone involved in making it, including a paid employee or consultant writing the code.
What counts as commercial use on Vercel?
Vercel's examples are taking payment from visitors, advertising the sale of a product or service, being paid to create, update, or host the site, a site whose main purpose is affiliate links, and ads such as Google AdSense. The list isn't complete. Asking for donations doesn't count as commercial.
Can I host a client's website on Vercel Hobby?
No. “Receiving payment to create, update, or host the site” is one of Vercel's examples of commercial use, and the definition includes “a paid employee or consultant writing the code.” That holds even if the client's site sells nothing, so it needs a Pro or Enterprise plan.
Can I put my portfolio on Vercel Hobby?
The guidelines don't mention portfolios. One that offers your services for hire likely counts as commercial, because that's close to “Advertising the sale of a product or service,” one of Vercel's examples. One that only shows your work matches none of the examples. If you're unsure, Vercel's help center says to contact Vercel Support before you deploy.
Is a startup landing page or waitlist commercial use on Vercel?
Vercel doesn't name either. The definition covers any deployment used “for the purpose of financial gain” of anyone involved, and advertising a product or service is one of the examples. Plan on Pro for a page about a product you'll charge for, ask Vercel Support, or host it on a free plan without the rule.
What happens if I use Vercel Hobby commercially?
Vercel may pause the account or the deployment. Its help article names commercial use on a Hobby plan as a frequent reason for a policy pause. Visitors then see a 503 DEPLOYMENT_PAUSED error, and Vercel emails you the details and the steps to resolve it, which for commercial use means a Pro or Enterprise plan.
How much does Vercel Pro cost?
The platform fee is $20 a month, which includes 1 deploying seat and $20 of usage credit. Each extra deploying seat costs $20 a month, viewer seats are free, and usage past the credit is billed on demand. You can try Pro for 14 days, once per user account; a team without a payment method goes back to Hobby when the trial ends.
Which free hosting allows commercial use?
Netlify's Free plan announcement says you can deploy commercial projects on it; it runs on 300 credits a month and pauses every project when they run out. Cloudflare's terms don't limit free services to personal use but forbid collecting credit card details on a site that uses them. Convika's terms don't address commercial use directly: they bar illegal content, spam, malware, phishing, and reselling the service without permission, and don't limit any plan to personal use. Its Free plan has 10 pages, 50 form entries a month, and a badge. GitHub Pages isn't allowed for running an online business.