Compare / Netlify
The Netlify alternative with a backend attached
Netlify hosts the frontend beautifully and stops there: the API and the worker are somewhere else, on someone else’s bill. Lizard runs the frontend, the backend, and the database in one project, one command, and one invoice.
Why developers look for a Netlify alternative
It is a frontend platform
Static sites, edge functions, and serverless functions. A queue consumer, a WebSocket server, or a Django API is not something Netlify runs.
Credits replaced plans for new accounts in September 2025
Deploys, compute, bandwidth, and requests have drawn on a monthly credit pool since September 2025, and an April 2026 repricing doubled the rates for bandwidth and compute. Pro is $20 for 3,000 credits, tiering up to about $126 for 20,000.
Bandwidth is the expensive line
At published rates a GB of bandwidth is roughly 20 credits, about $0.13. Lizard includes 50 GB a month on Hobby and 300 GB on Pro, then charges $0.05 per GB.
The data layer is serverless Postgres and nothing else
Netlify Database is first-party and draws on the same credit pool, so there is no second account and no second bill. What is missing is everything around it: no Redis, no bucket with your own keys, and Pro caps each database at 16 compute units, 100 GB of storage, and 100 GB of bandwidth.
Lizard vs Netlify
Every figure read off Netlify’s published pricing and our own. Last verified: 27 August 2026.
| Compared by | Lizard | Netlify |
|---|---|---|
| What it runs | Frontends, APIs, workers, WebSocket servers, long-running background loops | Static sites, edge functions, serverless functions |
| Long-lived processes | Yes, with no time limit | No |
| Pricing model | Per second on measured CPU, memory, and disk | Monthly credit pool — deploys, compute, bandwidth and requests all draw on it |
| Entry price | Free with $5 of credit, then $5 a month | Free with 300 credits, Personal $9, Pro $20 for 3,000 credits |
| Bandwidth | 50 GB a month included on Hobby, 300 GB on Pro, then $0.05 per GB | About 20 credits per GB, roughly $0.13 |
| Seats | Not billed | Not billed on Pro since April 2026 |
| Database | First-party Postgres, Redis, S3-compatible storage | First-party Postgres and blob storage, no Redis, Postgres capped at 100 GB on Pro |
| Run a command in a running app | lizard ssh -s api -- <cmd>, one command at a time, no interactive session | Not applicable — there is no long-lived container |
When Netlify is the better choice
A marketing site, a documentation site, or a JAMstack frontend with no backend of its own. Netlify’s build pipeline, deploy previews, form handling, and edge network are mature and well-priced for exactly that, and staying inside a fixed credit pool is cheaper than any per-second bill. Free is a hard 300 credits a month — about 20 production deploys or 15 GB of bandwidth — and Netlify pauses the site once they run out.
Moving from Netlify
No Dockerfile required — lizardpack detects the stack and writes one on the build node. If your repo already has a Dockerfile, it is used as it stands.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on what you are hosting. For a pure static site, Cloudflare Pages and Vercel are direct swaps. For a site that has grown a backend — an API, a worker, a database — you want a platform that runs processes, such as Lizard, Railway, or Render.
Netlify moved to a credit model on 4 September 2025 for new accounts, then repriced it on 14 April 2026: bandwidth doubled to 20 credits per GB, compute to 10 credits per GB-hour, and seat charges went away. Production deploys, compute, bandwidth, web requests, and AI inference all draw on a monthly credit pool: Free includes 300 credits, Personal is $9, and Pro is $20 for 3,000 credits with unlimited team members, tiering up to about $126 for 20,000 credits.
Only as serverless or edge functions, with their execution limits and no state between calls. A long-running API process, a queue consumer, or a WebSocket server has to live on another platform.
Yes. lizardpack detects a static site and serves it from its own container with TLS on the first deploy. If the site is genuinely static and always will be, a CDN-first host is the cheaper tool.
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