Netlify
Netlify popularised the workflow most static sites now take for granted: push to Git, get a deploy preview per pull request, merge to publish, roll back with a click. The guides below cover using it well at scale — headers and cache rules that actually reach the CDN, redirect files with thousands of rules, build hooks for CMS content, build caches for generators Netlify does not recognise, and edge functions for the few requests that need code.
Where Netlify and Vercel differ in ways that matter for a static site, the comparisons at the top measure both on the same project.
Choosing the Right Static Site Generator for Production
- robots.txt and noindex for Preview and StagingHow-toKeep preview, staging and platform-host copies of a static site out of search results with X-Robots-Tag headers on Netlify, Vercel and Cloudflare.
Core Web Vitals Optimization for SSGs
- Building an Image CDN Pipeline for Static SitesHow-toWhen to offload image transforms to an image CDN versus build time: URL-based transforms, edge caching, and cost, compared across Cloudflare Images, imgix, and Netlify.
- Proper Cache Headers on Netlify for SSGsHow-toConfigure Cache-Control headers in Netlify _headers files — fingerprinted assets cached for a year, HTML revalidated every request, with exact Netlify syntax and curl verification.
Production-Ready Deployment & CI/CD for SSGs
- Netlify Functions vs Cloudflare WorkersComparisonThe same three functions on Netlify and Cloudflare, measured: cold starts, global latency, limits, local development, storage and cost for a static site.
- Static Site Bandwidth Pricing: Netlify, Vercel, CloudflareComparisonModel monthly hosting cost for a static site on Netlify, Vercel and Cloudflare at four traffic levels, with the levers that cut bandwidth by half or more.
- Vercel ISR vs Static Generation for SSGsComparisonISR rebuilds pages on demand; static generation builds everything upfront. Astro, Eleventy, Hugo, and Jekyll have no ISR — they rebuild and purge at the CDN.
- Build Caching on Netlify and VercelHow-toMake Netlify and Vercel reuse dependency, framework and image caches between static site builds, verify cache hits in logs, and measure the savings.
- Netlify Build Hooks for Content UpdatesHow-toTrigger Netlify rebuilds from a headless CMS without a Git push. Create, secure, time, and debug Netlify build hooks for automated static site content updates.
- Netlify Deploy Previews for Every Pull RequestHow-toTurn on Netlify Deploy Previews so every PR gets its own built URL — config, the unique deploy-preview link, scoped env vars, and the automatic PR comment.
- Netlify Edge Functions for Static SitesHow-toAdd small pieces of request-time logic to a static site on Netlify with Edge Functions: geolocation, rewrites, header changes and HTML transforms, scoped and cached.
- Netlify Redirects and Rewrites for Static SitesHow-toWrite Netlify redirects and rewrites in _redirects or netlify.toml: status codes, splats, placeholders, shadowing, proxying and country or language rules.
- Rolling Back Netlify Deploys From the CLI and APIHow-toRoll back a Netlify site to an earlier deploy from the API, the CLI or a GitHub Actions button, lock auto-publishing during incidents, and verify the restore.
- Securing Deploy Credentials with GitHub OIDCHow-toReplace long-lived deploy tokens with short-lived OIDC credentials in GitHub Actions for AWS, Cloudflare and Netlify, scoped to one branch and one deploy job.
- Testing Redirects and Headers Before DeployHow-toTable-driven tests for redirects, cache and security headers on a static site, generated from the redirect map and run against every preview before production.
- Vercel Build Output API for Custom SSGsHow-toDeploy any static site generator to Vercel with the Build Output API: static files, headers, redirects, cache rules and an optional edge function.
- Fixing Cold Starts in Netlify Functions for FormsFixMeasure and cut cold-start latency in a Netlify Function behind a static site's form: smaller bundles, lazy imports, regions and honest UI states.
- Fixing Netlify Builds That Exceed the Time LimitFixDiagnose Netlify builds cancelled for exceeding the time limit, then cut build time with caching, skipped work and leaner dependency installs.
Often used with Netlify
- Vercel6 shared guidesNon-Next.js generators, the Build Output API and caching.
- Cloudflare5 shared guidesPages and Workers hosting, cache rules and edge functions.
- Astro2 shared guidesIslands, content collections, astro:assets and deployment.
- Eleventy2 shared guidesIncremental builds, image pipelines and the data cascade.
- Hugo2 shared guidesBuild time at scale, image caches, modules and multilingual sites.
- Jekyll1 shared guidesPlugins, reproducible builds, upgrades and migration away.