Netlify Web Development Cloud

My main use case for Netlify Platform  would be to create a quick mockup, and then use that mockup as a base for further development by connecting to Git . When I create any new kind of mockup or a small demo product that I want to showcase to clients or any prospective party as a web app, I create it on Netlify Platform .

The primary project I actually showcased with one of the clients was about a chat using Netlify Platform. It's a real-time chat, almost WhatsApp but with a twist. It is not a personal chat; it's a social chat where anyone can see who is available right now. There I've integrated different types of technologies, whether it is a completely serverless database or real-time communication using WebSockets as well as very low latency response using the best practices for ReactJS coding. I did use support from AI tools, whether it is Claude or Gemini  or Copilot, but most of the work was handled by me and how I configured Netlify Platform for that.

I have used Netlify Platform for more than 10 types of products that I have created as web apps. Some of them were heavily dependent on the browser. Some use TensorFlow  to detect faces with the camera, so using a webcam, it detects faces. There are many products and different types of web apps that I have created. One is a dashboard, one has a kind of map, almost a gaming engine where you see a huge globe in the background and you can click on each of the globe points to see the details. Others are related to my portfolio that I showcase while applying for new jobs. I do have a lot of experience on Netlify Platform. At least 10 to 15 products are there which I control.

For me, the best feature that I see on Netlify Platform is the serverless functions. It is very simple. Previously, when you want to simulate a back-end API, you have to set up a separate service running continuously. Most of the time it might not be free. There are also other services that I've used like render.com where you can host all your API services there, but that has its own limitations. If you don't use it for one or two days, it gets scaled down. So again, if you want to use it, it needs to scale up again. That will take 5 to 10 minutes. Instead of that, you can implement Netlify functions. These are always instant. They don't have any downtime. Of course, you can always go to an upper tier subscription where you can have a higher VM allocated to you or higher RAM that you could use. Overall, this is the best part.

Then of course, the CI/CD, continuous integration and continuous development, and most importantly, you can control each and every product that you have. For example, I'm having 10 different GitHub  repos, but that doesn't mean all of these changes need to trigger builds. I can control which repository can trigger a build. I don't want to exhaust my Netlify free tier usage. I have control of almost every part of the CI/CD pipeline. That's what I like the most.

The main impact that Netlify Platform had on me is how quickly I can deploy a solution. I can create a small demo to show how I could implement something. There would be many people coming to me with some requirements. A business analyst or a product owner can show up to me and say they want a certain kind of functionality on a page. I cannot just create a static web page. I need to make it dynamic. If I want to show them or share it with people, I need to have a unique URL which is already hosted. If I want to deploy my app or solution, it could be very simple, as simple as creating a scroller and the ability to edit an image within the browser and do markup on that. For all of that, Netlify Platform is the best. There are also other services, but I feel Netlify Platform has scaled up very well.

There could be a simple interface where I can turn on and off CI/CD in a single place on Netlify Platform. Right now I have to go to each and every instance that I'm using and get into the settings and turn on and off that auto-deployment mode or all of that becomes a little time-taking. Since I know the user interface, it's easy for me, but for newcomers, going into that granular level of control might be on the higher side. It will take a lot of time. If there could have a kind of dashboard where I can pause the CI/CD for each product or for each project instance, that will be better.

The free tier of Netlify Platform itself is enough for most of the users. If at all they want to do more, they could increase the free tier limit. Currently it's around 300 minutes per month. If they could increase it or set a daily limit, that will be better instead of setting a monthly limit. Most of the times I lose track of how much I have used this.

I've been using Netlify Platform for the past three to four years.

I haven't seen a single downtime for Netlify Platform. The only downtime would be something I don't even see any downtime even during deployment because till the new version gets deployed, the older version is still working. It doesn't show any 404 error or something. I haven't tested it continuously, but whenever I use it, it's always on. I never saw any 404 error or service or resource unavailable. It's completely, in my view, 100% stable and always available.

Netlify Platform is definitely scalable because there's one project I remember where the user can go to a metro site and they can actually buy a ticket. I mean it's a dummy ticket anyway. They can buy a ticket from their wallet. There will be a valid balance and they can buy there. I kept adding features one by one, adding a dummy wallet balance and also a kind of passbook functionality where they can see each and every transaction, when it was bought, and I added more and more fields to it and some new pages. I also added some authentication there and connected that to Google Firebase  so that I can save all that data there. For example, if you want to add a new ticket, it will be persistent in the database. It doesn't get lost. All of that is part of my scalability activity that I did in Netlify Platform. Definitely it handled it very well. There are no issues regarding scalability.

I never had a chance to connect with the customer support of Netlify Platform because there was no issue basically. Everything is transparent from the page itself. Once I log in to Netlify, I see what's happening, how much is my quota, and how much is left. Moreover, it's all stable. So there's no need for me to go to their customer support.

Previously, I used render.com before Netlify Platform. The architecture is completely different. The way you use the product is different. It has everything on there. If you want to host a Python API, you can do it there. If you want to host just a static page, you can do it. Everything is on the page, on the dashboard itself, but I felt it's more cluttered there. Some of the limitations are very unacceptable. If you don't use that service for some time, not just some time, if you don't use it for one or two days, it automatically scales down. If you have created an API that gets a list of users or, for example, a list of employees in a company, after a certain time it scales down. Initially it might work fine, but after that it scales down and you have to wait for 5 to 10 minutes for that service to give you an output. Till then you have to keep showing a loader icon. That's definitely not a good experience. It has a larger scale than Netlify because it actually supports real APIs. Render  supports anything that you want. But the problem is it has that limitation in the free tier and I don't want to unnecessarily pay for that because that's not my primary goal. My primary goal is to create the POCs.

The investment on Netlify Platform is definitely on the time side because I haven't invested any monetary part on this. I haven't bought any license for anything. I'm using the free version. That itself is enough to cut the time that I take to showcase some of the POCs that I have created.

I have tried some other options. I don't exactly remember the other products that I have used, but I definitely went through some of the others. I tried with AWS  as well, because it has its own CI/CD pipeline kind of architecture. I did trial versions of AWS  where I used Amplify service as well. I didn't feel it to be so comfortable because all are tied to my AWS account and I don't know when the consumption starts. On top of it, it always says it's free tier, but there are so many hidden components which start adding to your billing. I don't want that to happen. I want to keep it simple and straightforward. That's the reason I came to Netlify Platform.

One of the features that I used as a serverless function on Netlify Platform was the chat application that's called Anil Machine Chat. There, instead of using a separate back-end, I use a serverless function where you don't have a separate API layer. The database itself has a serverless function. It is just a function you call. For example, if you want to get some list of the most recent chats, there is a URL for that which says get chats or something. Again, if you want to post or add to that chat list, you have just slash post and give that. There is a very unique URL for each of those functions. You don't need to worry about hosting it and all the usage of it. It's all built in.

I would also to mention some of the important databases I've used is PostgreSQL  online. I don't remember the exact name of that service, but it's completely serverless. You don't need to set up any VM or anything. You just keep that unique URL and client IDs and secrets and put that in the environment variables. That's very convenient for me. The service name is Supabase. That's the one I use. It has built-in functions. You don't need to specifically write an API to connect to that database. You can directly connect to the database using these serverless functions.

I would say use Netlify Platform for quick creation of POCs. Suppose I know a lot of people talk about AI and just generate it within the AI products. For example, Replit  is in a different league completely. They are all completely using AI for their functionality, but they are in a different league. Basically, comparing apples with oranges here. But if you have an idea, you can use any tool you want. Once you connect to Git  and then you connect the GitHub  to Netlify Platform, it becomes much easier to manage your versions. You can undo whatever you want. You will have a proper structure from where you can develop more and more features. I would rate my overall experience with Netlify Platform as an 8 out of 10.