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Flatpage vs Netlify Drop
Both turn a folder you drag into the browser into a live link. Netlify Drop is the front door to a full developer platform, billed in credits. Flatpage is only for publishing pages and PDFs, at a flat price. Here is how they differ, with each Netlify fact linked to Netlify's own pages as they read on 2 November 2026.
Last checked 2 November 2026
Side by side
| Feature | Flatpage | Netlify Drop |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free for one site. Starter $9 a month (5 sites), Plus $19 a month (10 sites). Flat prices, no usage charges. | Free $0, Personal $9 a month, Pro $20 a month. Usage is measured in credits; extra credits can be bought on paid plans. Source |
| Trying it | Sign in with your email or Google before you upload. The link is yours from the first upload. | Drop works without an account. Claim the site to keep it; the claim window has been one hour since 2022, and an unclaimed drop isn't public. Source |
| Free plan limits | 1 site, HTML or zip up to 10 MB, PDFs up to 25 MB, 3 uploads a day, 10,000 views a month, a small badge. | 300 credits a month, a hard limit. A production deploy uses 15 credits, bandwidth 20 credits per GB, and every 10,000 web requests 2 credits. Source |
| When the free plan runs out | Paid plans: no view limits. Free: 10,000 views a month, and the site keeps serving past that with a larger badge. | All projects on the account are paused and show “Site not available” until credits reset at the next billing cycle. Source |
| Expiry | No time limit. A free site is only removed if it gets under 50 visits in three months and you haven't signed in for a year, and we email you twice first. | A claimed site has no time limit, as long as the account has credits. Source |
| PDFs | PDFs open in a built-in viewer on phones and computers, on every plan. | Served as a file for the browser to open; no PDF viewer is listed among the plan features. Source |
| QR codes | A QR code for every site, on every plan. It points at the site's own link, so it keeps working when you replace the file. | Not listed among the plan features. Source |
| Passwords | Starter and Plus: one password per site. Visitors need no account. | Pro plan ($20 a month). Not available on Free or Personal, where a project can only be private to the account owner. Source |
| Custom domain | Not yet. Every site gets its own HTTPS link on our domain. | Included on every plan, with SSL. Source |
| Builds and functions | Static files only: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, fonts, media and PDFs. No build step, no server code. | Builds framework projects, and runs functions, a database and AI features, billed in credits. Source |
When Netlify is the better choice
- Your project needs a build, such as a React or Astro app you haven't built yet. Netlify builds it for you.
- You need forms, functions or redirects that run on the host. Flatpage serves static files only.
- You work from Git and want deploy previews for every change, or a team working on the same sites.
- You want a custom domain on a free plan. Netlify includes one on Free.
When Flatpage is the better choice
- You want to know what you'll pay. No credits and no meters: a busy month or twenty uploads costs the same.
- You're sharing a PDF or printing a QR code. PDFs open in a viewer and every site has a QR code that keeps working when you replace the file.
- You need a password for a client without paying for a team plan.
Questions
- Is Netlify Drop free?
- Yes, Netlify's Free plan costs nothing. It comes with 300 credits a month, and every production deploy, gigabyte of bandwidth and batch of requests uses some. When they run out, Netlify pauses the account's sites until the next cycle.
- Can I move a Netlify Drop site here?
- Yes, if it's static. Download the deploy as a zip in Netlify (Deploys, then your latest deploy), then drop the zip on Flatpage. Forms, functions and redirect rules don't come with it.
- Which one is cheaper?
- For one small site, both are free. For a busy site or frequent updates, Flatpage's flat price doesn't change with traffic or uploads, while Netlify's credit use grows with deploys and bandwidth. For a site that needs builds or functions, Netlify is the one that can run it.
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Free for one site. Flat monthly prices, no credits.
Get your link in under a minute
Sign in with your email or Google, drop your file, and share the link. The free plan needs no card.