Which free hosting lets me run a business site? GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages: what each one's terms say

Two of the four: Netlify's Free plan and Cloudflare Pages allow a business site, while GitHub's terms, effective August 27, 2026, say Pages is not for “your online business, e-commerce site,” and Vercel's fair use guidelines, last updated September 14, 2026, restrict Hobby to “non-commercial personal use only.” Netlify's Free plan announcement says “you can deploy commercial projects.” Cloudflare's agreement, last updated September 12, 2025, sets no personal-use limit but bars collecting card details on free services.

Each host's terms and docs were read again on November 5, 2026. Netlify updated its agreement and its Acceptable Use Policy on November 4, 2026, and its changelog says “The changes take effect on December 4, 2026.” A new account accepts the updated terms when it signs up; existing accounts keep the old ones until that date. This page sets the 4 rules side by side and applies them to 10 kinds of site. Each host has its own page here that goes through it case by case, linked below. Terms change, so check the host's own page before you launch.

The rule at each host

• GitHub Pages: no. GitHub's Terms for Additional Products and Features, effective August 27, 2026, say Pages “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).” The terms allow “donation buttons and crowdfunding links.” No paid GitHub plan is named as an exception. Details: Can you use GitHub Pages for a commercial or business site?
• Netlify Free: yes. Netlify's Free plan announcement of November 12, 2024 says “On the Free plan, you can deploy commercial projects, personal sites, or other creative explorations.” Its Self-Serve Subscription Agreement, updated November 4, 2026 (accepted by a new account at sign-up, and in effect for existing accounts from December 4, 2026, per Netlify's changelog), sets no use-type limit, bars making the Services available to third parties “as a standalone service” but lets you “build, deploy, and host sites and applications for third parties,” and lets Netlify “suspend, disable, or remove any site or application on the Free Usage Tier at any time, with or without notice.” The limit that bites is the budget: 300 credits a month on accounts created since September 4, 2025. Details: Is Netlify free?
• Vercel Hobby: no. Vercel's fair use guidelines, last updated September 14, 2026, 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 a deployment “used for the purpose of financial gain of anyone involved,” and “Asking for Donations does not fall under commercial usage.” Details: Can you use Vercel's Hobby plan for a commercial site?
• Cloudflare Pages Free: yes, with a card rule. Cloudflare's Self-Serve Subscription Agreement, last updated September 12, 2025, lists 10 things you may not do, and none of them bars running a business site. One of them: you may not “process or collect personal or business credit card information on any web property that is receiving Free Services.” Cloudflare's plans page pitches the Free plan “For personal or hobby projects that aren't business-critical,” and Cloudflare doesn't say whether that line limits use. Details: Is Cloudflare Pages free for commercial use?

Case by case at the 4 hosts

Each ruling links to the host document it comes from. Yes means the host allows business use in general, or lists no rule against the site, and names no exception. No means a host rule names the site. “Doesn't say” means a host rule may reach the site and the host doesn't name it, so the host has the final say. Netlify's cells follow its updated Acceptable Use Policy, which a new account accepts at sign-up; the client cell says when it reaches existing accounts, December 4, 2026, the date Netlify's changelog gives.

What decides the rows:

• GitHub rules out stores, checkouts, and SaaS by name, and its limits doc adds that Pages shouldn't handle “credit card numbers.” For the rest, its Acceptable Use Policies say the primary focus of what you post, Pages included, “should not be advertising or promotional marketing,” which leaves landing pages, local-business sites, ads, and affiliate sites unruled.
• Netlify states commercial use in one general sentence and names no exception, so most rows read Yes. Its updated Acceptable Use Policy, which a new account accepts at sign-up, settles two rows. On client work it says “Users must not resell, sublicense, white-label, or provide the Netlify Services to third parties as a standalone hosting service, including through framing, except as permitted under a written agreement with Netlify, such as a partner or agency program. Users may, however, use the Netlify Services to build, deploy, and host sites and applications for third parties.” On cards, users must not use Netlify Forms, Functions, logs, or the other services it lists “to collect, store, process, or transmit payment card account data,” which “must be collected directly by a PCI DSS-compliant payment provider through a hosted payment page, iframe, redirect, or client-side tokenization.” Existing accounts keep the policy dated March 8, 2023 until December 4, 2026, the date Netlify's changelog gives; it says “Users must not modify, create derivative works based on or in any manner commercially exploit the Netlify Services or website,” and doesn't name client work. On accounts created since September 4, 2025, the 300 monthly credits, not the terms, end a busy Free site: when they run out, “all of your web projects (sites/apps) are paused,” per Netlify's credit docs.
• Vercel names 5 examples of commercial use: payment from visitors, “Advertising the sale of a product or service,” “Receiving payment to create, update, or host the site,” affiliate linking as the primary purpose, and ads. A local business's site advertises what it sells, so that row reads No. A portfolio that offers your services is close to “Advertising the sale of a product or service,” but Vercel doesn't name it, so ask Vercel Support.
• Cloudflare lists what you may not do, and running a business isn't on the list. The card rule stops a checkout form on your own site, and it doesn't mention a checkout or donate page on the payment provider's own site. The rule against signing up “on behalf of a third party” leaves client accounts unclear.

Free plans side by side

More free hosts, including Tiiny Host, Carrd, and Google Sites, are in free landing page hosting with a form. How each host behaves when a page gets busy is in free hosting traffic limits compared. GitHub Pages vs Netlify compares those two on builds, forms, and private repositories too.

Convika for a one-page business site

Convika hosts landing pages, one HTML page each, with a form that keeps entries and stats on who visited. Section 7 of its terms allows commercial use on every plan, Free included: a page that sells or advertises a product or service, a startup or waitlist page, a portfolio that offers your services for hire, or a client's page you build, host, and bill the client for. On commercial use, the one thing it bars is reselling Convika itself without permission, for example selling access to Convika accounts, its API, or its MCP server as your own hosting product.

Drop the page's HTML file in the box, up to 2 MB, to see it on a preview link with no account. The link works for 3 minutes. To keep the page, sign up free and publish it: Convika adds a form that shows 50 entries a month on Free, emails you each of them, and keeps later ones for Pro. It shows visits, referrers, UTM campaigns, devices, countries, and button clicks for 90 days, and connects 1 custom subdomain, such as www.yourbrand.com.

Free includes 1 published page and 10,000 page views a month, with a small Convika bar at the bottom. Pro removes the bar and shows every form entry. Pro costs $12 a month. Convika hosts each page as one HTML file at its own path on a subdomain such as www, and redirects the bare domain to it, so a site built from a folder of files or a build step fits Netlify or Cloudflare Pages better.

Which one to pick

• One landing page that sells, takes signups, or advertises your business: Pick Convika's Free plan, with the form and stats built in.
• A business site with several pages or a build step: Pick Netlify's Free plan, counting deploys against the 300 monthly credits of accounts created since September 4, 2025, or Cloudflare Pages. On either, leave card numbers to a payment provider: Netlify's updated policy requires it, and Cloudflare bars collecting them on your own pages, though its rule doesn't name a checkout on the payment provider's site.
• A Next.js app or anything already on Vercel: Pick Vercel Pro at $20 a month. Hobby is for non-commercial use only.
• An open-source project's site, docs, or a personal blog: Stay on GitHub Pages.

For an app with a server, Render's terms set no personal-use limit, but its docs say of free instances “Do not use them for production applications” (Can you run a production app on Render's free tier?).

Frequently asked questions

Is there free hosting that allows commercial use?

Yes. Netlify's Free plan announcement says “you can deploy commercial projects,” and Cloudflare's agreement sets no personal-use limit on free services, though it bars collecting card details on them. Convika's terms allow commercial use on every plan, Free included. GitHub rules out running an online business or store on Pages, and Vercel Hobby is for non-commercial personal use only.

Can I use GitHub Pages for a business website?

No, not to run the business online. GitHub's terms rule out “your online business, e-commerce site,” any site “primarily directed at … facilitating commercial transactions,” and SaaS. A page that only describes a local business isn't named either way. The page GitHub Pages commercial use goes through 10 kinds of site.

Can I use Vercel's free plan for a business site?

No. Vercel's fair use guidelines say “Hobby teams are restricted to non-commercial personal use only.” Advertising a product or service, taking payment, running ads, and being paid to build the site all count as commercial. A business site needs Vercel Pro, $20 a month.

Is Netlify's free plan OK for a business site?

Yes. Netlify's Free plan announcement says “you can deploy commercial projects,” and Netlify's terms set no use-type limit. The catch is the budget: on accounts created since September 4, 2025, Netlify Free has 300 credits a month, a production deploy costs 15, and every project pauses when the credits run out.

Is Cloudflare Pages OK for a business site?

Yes. Cloudflare's agreement sets no personal-use limit on free services, and no rule in it bars the site. The one rule aimed at selling: you may not “process or collect personal or business credit card information on any web property that is receiving Free Services.” Cloudflare's plans page pitches the Free plan “For personal or hobby projects that aren't business-critical,” and Cloudflare doesn't say whether that line limits use. Requests to static files are free and unlimited.

Can I take payments on a free host?

Yes, on Netlify's Free plan, which allows commercial projects. Netlify's updated Acceptable Use Policy says card data “must be collected directly by a PCI DSS-compliant payment provider through a hosted payment page, iframe, redirect, or client-side tokenization.” On Cloudflare's free services, card numbers may not be collected on your own site, and a checkout on the payment provider's own site isn't named either way. GitHub Pages rules out sites built for “commercial transactions,” and Vercel Hobby rules out “Any method of requesting or processing payment from visitors of the site.”

Can I host a client's website on a free plan?

Yes, on Convika's Free plan, whose terms let freelancers and agencies build a client's page, host it, and bill the client, on every plan. Netlify's updated Acceptable Use Policy, which a new account accepts at sign-up, says “Users must not resell, sublicense, white-label, or provide the Netlify Services to third parties as a standalone hosting service, including through framing, except as permitted under a written agreement with Netlify, such as a partner or agency program. Users may, however, use the Netlify Services to build, deploy, and host sites and applications for third parties”; existing accounts keep its policy of March 8, 2023 until December 4, 2026, the date Netlify's changelog gives, and it says users must not “in any manner commercially exploit the Netlify Services or website.” Vercel Hobby rules out “Receiving payment to create, update, or host the site.” Cloudflare bars signing up for an account “on behalf of a third party” without its written permission, and GitHub doesn't name client work.

Does a paid plan lift GitHub Pages' business rule?

No. GitHub's terms give Pages to “Each Account” and name no paid plan as an exception. GitHub Pro, Team, and Enterprise Cloud can publish Pages from a private repository, but the business rule still applies.

Can I run a business site on Lovable's free plan?

Yes. Lovable's terms license its services “for your personal or internal business purposes,” including websites you build and make available. On Lovable's Free plan the site lives on a lovable.app address, and connecting your own domain needs a paid plan. The page Can I use Lovable's free plan for a business site? goes through it.

Can I use my own domain on a free host for a business?

Yes. Netlify's Free plan includes custom domains with SSL, Cloudflare Pages connects up to 100 per project, and Convika's Free plan connects 1 custom subdomain, such as www.yourbrand.com. GitHub Pages and Vercel Hobby connect custom domains too, but GitHub rules out running an online business or store on Pages, and Vercel Hobby is for non-commercial personal use only. You still buy the domain from a registrar.

Sources

Each source was read on November 5, 2026 (JST). Dates in parentheses are the document's own.

• GitHub Terms for Additional Products and Features (effective August 27, 2026)
• GitHub Pages limits (no date on the page)
• GitHub Acceptable Use Policies (no date on the page)
• GitHub Pages custom domains (no date on the page)
• Creating a GitHub Pages site (no date on the page)
• Netlify Free plan announcement (November 12, 2024)
• Netlify Self-Serve Subscription Agreement (last updated November 4, 2026; for existing accounts in effect from December 4, 2026, per Netlify's changelog; read in its PDF)
• Netlify changelog: Updates to our Self-Serve Subscription Agreement, Privacy Statement, and Acceptable Use Policy (November 4, 2026)
• Netlify pricing (no date on the page; prices as a signed-out visitor sees them)
• Netlify: How credits work (last updated August 12, 2026)
• Netlify: Credit-based pricing plans (last updated October 30, 2026; it gives no prices and points to the pricing page)
• Netlify Acceptable Use Policy (last updated November 4, 2026; for existing accounts in effect from December 4, 2026, per Netlify's changelog; the version before it is dated March 8, 2023)
• Vercel fair use guidelines (last updated September 14, 2026)
• Vercel Hobby plan (last updated September 14, 2026)
• Vercel Pro plan (last updated September 15, 2026)
• Cloudflare Self-Serve Subscription Agreement (last updated September 12, 2025)
• Cloudflare plans (no date on the page)
• Cloudflare Pages limits (last updated September 5, 2026)
• Cloudflare Pages Functions pricing (last updated September 8, 2026)
• Cloudflare Workers pricing (last updated October 2, 2026)
• Lovable Terms of Service (last updated August 28, 2026)