You built a website with Lovable, Bolt, Replit, v0, Claude or by hand, and it looks right on a preview link. The next job is giving it a permanent home on your own domain. Almost every option says it's free until you read the fine print.
There are six realistic places to put it. You can keep it on the builder that made it, move it to Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages or GitHub Pages, or pay a managed host to run it for you. Each one has a different free plan, a different rule about business use, and a different point where the bill starts.
Below, each option is compared on cost, free-tier limits, commercial-use rules, who it suits and the catch. Prices are in US dollars as the vendors list them, at the time of writing (October 2026), unless marked A$. A short guide to choosing comes after the list.
1. The builder's own hosting: Lovable, Bolt and Replit
The simplest option is to stay where you built it. Lovable, Bolt and Replit all have a Publish button that puts your site on a web address straight away. Getting it onto your own domain is usually where the paid plan comes in.
- Lovable: publishing to a lovable.app address is free on every plan, and publishing from the Publish dialog doesn't use credits. A custom domain and removing the "Edit with Lovable" badge need Pro, which is US$25 a month for 100 credits. If your site uses Lovable Cloud (its built-in database and logins), that runs on credits. When the credits run out, the backend pauses, while the published site stays live.
- Bolt: hosting is included on the Free plan, with Bolt branding on the site and up to 333K web requests. Pro, at US$25 a month billed monthly, adds custom domains, removes the branding and raises the cap to 1 million web requests.
- Replit: the free Starter plan includes one published app, which expires after 30 days unless you publish it again. Static hosting (plain files that look the same to every visitor) is free, with data transfer at US$0.05 per GB. Apps built with Replit Agent can't use static hosting, so they run on Autoscale, from a US$2 monthly base fee plus usage, or a Reserved VM from US$15 a month. Core is US$20 a month and its monthly credits also cover publishing costs.
- Who it suits: anyone still making changes by chatting with the builder, who wants editing and the live site in one place.
- The catch: your hosting is tied to your building subscription. You keep paying the plan price to hold a custom domain, even in months you change nothing, and the site lives on the builder's platform. Moving later means exporting the code and setting it up somewhere else.
2. Vercel: strong for Next.js and v0, but Hobby is non-commercial
Vercel is where v0, Vercel's own AI builder, publishes sites, and it's a common home for Next.js, React and Vite projects. You connect a GitHub repository, and every change you push is built and put live, with a preview link for each one.
- Cost: Hobby is free. Pro is US$20 a month per developer seat and includes US$20 of usage credit, with pay-as-you-go pricing for usage after that.
- Free-tier limits: Hobby includes 100 GB of fast data transfer, 1 million function invocations (small pieces of server code that run on demand, such as sending a contact form) and 1 million CDN requests a month. Hobby accounts can't buy extra usage beyond those amounts.
- Commercial use: Hobby is for personal, non-commercial use only. Vercel's definition is broad. It covers any site that advertises a product or service, takes payments or shows ads, and any site where someone was paid to build, update or host it. A tradie's brochure site counts. So does a site you built for a paying client.
- Who it suits: builders working in Next.js or v0 who want preview links for every change, and who will pay for Pro once the site is for a business.
- The catch: nearly every business website counts as commercial, so the free plan rarely applies. Pro is billed per developer seat, and usage beyond the included credit is charged as it happens. Turn on Spend Management in billing settings, which can alert you or pause your projects at an amount you set.
3. Netlify: a usable free plan that pauses when credits run out
Netlify works much like Vercel, and its free plan isn't limited to personal sites. It now runs on monthly credits, so it pays to know how they're spent.
- Cost: Free is US$0 with 300 credits a month. Personal is US$9 a month with 1,000 credits. Pro is US$20 a month with 3,000 credits.
- How credits are spent: each production deploy (putting a new version live) costs 15 credits. Bandwidth costs 20 credits per GB and web requests 2 credits per 10,000. Deploy previews and form submissions are free. Ten production deploys in a month use 150 credits, which leaves room for about 7.5 GB of bandwidth before requests are counted.
- Free-tier limits: the Free plan is a hard limit. When the credits run out, every site on the account is paused and visitors see a "Site not available" page until the next billing cycle. Free plans can't buy more credits.
- Commercial use: Netlify staff have said on its support forums that the free plan can be used for commercial projects, as long as you don't resell the hosting. That last part matters if you charge clients for hosting. Check the current terms if your plans depend on it.
- Who it suits: small static sites that change a few times a month, and anyone who wants simple form handling built in.
- The catch: a busy month of edits or a burst of traffic can take the site offline until the credits reset. If the site brings in enquiries, budget for Personal or Pro.
4. Cloudflare Pages: the most generous free plan for static sites
Cloudflare Pages serves static files free, with no bandwidth bill. For a brochure site, portfolio or landing page, that makes it the strongest free option on this list.
- Cost: free for static sites. Requests to static files are free and unlimited on both free and paid plans. If your site uses Pages Functions (server code), the Workers Paid plan costs a minimum of US$5 a month and includes 10 million requests.
- Free-tier limits: 500 builds a month, one build at a time, 20,000 files per site, 25 MiB per file and 100 custom domains per project. Functions share the Workers free quota of 100,000 requests a day.
- Commercial use: Cloudflare's Pages limits and pricing pages set no personal-use rule like Vercel's Hobby plan.
- Who it suits: business sites that are mostly static, and anyone who expects traffic spikes and doesn't want a surprise bill.
- The catch: to use your root domain (yourbusiness.com.au rather than www.yourbusiness.com.au), the domain has to become a Cloudflare zone, which means changing its nameservers to Cloudflare. A subdomain like www can stay with your current DNS provider. Cloudflare's own migration guide also says Workers has a broader set of features than Pages, so a site that grows past static pages may need to move to Workers later.
5. GitHub Pages: free, but not for running a business
GitHub Pages publishes HTML, CSS and JavaScript files straight from a GitHub repository. It's free, reliable and simple. Its rules are the problem for business use.
- Cost: free from a public repository on GitHub Free. On a free account the repository must be public, so anyone can read your code. Publishing from a private repository needs a paid GitHub plan.
- Free-tier limits: published sites can be up to 1 GB. There's a soft limit of 100 GB of bandwidth a month and 10 builds an hour, and deployments time out after 10 minutes. HTTPS works on custom domains, and GitHub sets up the certificate automatically once DNS is correct.
- Commercial use: GitHub says Pages isn't intended for, or allowed to be used as, free hosting to run an online business or online shop, or for sites mainly built for commercial transactions or software sold as a service. It also shouldn't hold sensitive data such as passwords or card numbers.
- Who it suits: portfolios, CVs, personal sites, documentation and open-source projects.
- The catch: it only serves static files, so contact forms need a third-party service, and the business-use rule makes it a poor long-term home for a company website.
6. Managed hosting: someone else runs it, for a monthly fee
Managed hosting means a company runs the platform and looks after the site for you. You hand over the code. They deploy it, connect the domain, keep it secure and backed up, and make small changes when you ask. You pay for that work instead of doing it yourself.
Lumeen hosting is one example. It's built for sites made with HTML, Next.js, React, Vite or Astro, and for exports from Lovable, Bolt and v0.
- Cost: Essentials is A$24.99 a month, with SSL, DDoS protection, automatic backups, up to 1 million requests a month and 5 edits a month. Growth is A$49.99 a month, with up to 3 million requests, 15 edits a month, feature development and quarterly speed and SEO work. Both include GST, run month to month and can be cancelled anytime. Moving the site in is free.
- Free-tier limits: there is no free tier. The business pays its plan directly.
- Commercial use: built for business websites, so there's no rule to work around.
- Who it suits: owners who built their own site and don't want to be the person who fixes it, and freelancers who'd rather not manage hosting for clients. If you build sites for clients and don't know where to host them, Lumeen takes them over.
- The catch: it costs more than a free plan you manage yourself. Lumeen doesn't host WordPress or other PHP sites, sites with their own database or server, or online shops. If your site is on Wix, Squarespace or WordPress, get in touch so we can scope the move.
How to choose where to host your site
Two questions settle most of it. Is the site for a business, and who will look after it when something breaks?
- A personal project or portfolio: GitHub Pages, Vercel Hobby and Cloudflare Pages are all free and more than enough.
- A business site, and you're comfortable with DNS: Cloudflare Pages is the strongest free option for a mostly static site. Netlify Free works if you deploy rarely and traffic is modest. If you need Vercel, budget for Pro from day one.
- You're still building by chat: stay on the builder's paid plan until the site settles, then decide whether to move it.
- You'd rather not be the one who fixes it: pay for managed hosting, and check exactly what the plan includes.
- You build sites for clients: Vercel Hobby is off the table for paid work. Our guide to where to host client websites covers the options in more detail.
Check these before you move
- The domain is in your name. For .au names, auDA records the registrant as the holder of the licence. Make sure that's you or your business, not a past developer or a builder account.
- Your email records come with you. Any DNS change should leave the MX records that deliver email exactly as they are.
- You know what happens at the limit. Netlify Free pauses sites, Vercel Hobby can't buy more usage, and Cloudflare Functions share a daily request quota.
- The code lives in a repository you control. Its history is your backup and your way out if you ever change host.
For the steps to connect your domain, see how to put an AI-built website on your own domain. If the site isn't showing on Google after the move, this guide covers the usual causes.
Key takeaways
- (01)
Builder hosting on Lovable, Bolt or Replit is the easiest start, but a custom domain usually means paying the builder's monthly plan.
- (02)
Vercel Hobby is for personal, non-commercial use only, and nearly every business website counts as commercial.
- (03)
Cloudflare Pages is the most generous free plan for a static business site, and Netlify Free works if you watch its credits.
- (04)
Whatever you choose, keep the domain in your name, keep your email records intact and keep the code in a repository you control.
Frequently asked questions
Can I host a business website for free?
Sometimes. Cloudflare Pages serves static files free with no personal-use rule, and Netlify staff have said its free plan can be used commercially. Vercel Hobby and GitHub Pages rule out most business use, so check each provider's terms before you launch.
Do I have to keep paying Lovable or Bolt to keep my site online?
Only if you want to keep it on their hosting with your own domain, which needs a paid plan on both. If you can export the code or sync it to GitHub, you can move it to another host and stop paying for the builder once you've finished editing.
Is Vercel free for a small business website?
Usually not. The free Hobby plan is for personal, non-commercial use, and Vercel counts any site that advertises a product or service, or that someone was paid to build, as commercial. A business site needs Pro, which is US$20 a month per developer seat.
Will moving my website to a new host affect my email?
It shouldn't, as long as your email records are left alone. Email is delivered according to the MX records in your DNS. If a move involves changing nameservers, as Cloudflare Pages does for a root domain, copy every record across first.
More answers on price, hosting and timing in our FAQ.